Jones faces Hartlepool axe

HARTLEPOOL UNITED are expected to confirm today that Dave Jones has left as manager of the club.

He leaves them second bottom of league Two and facing dropping out of the Football league for the first time in their 109-year history.

Hartlepool have picked up just two points from their last seven games and slipped into the relegation zone after Saturday’s 2-0 defeat at home by Barnet. They are now two points behind Newport with just two matches left.

A 2-1 defeat at leyton orient last Monday saw fans call for Jones’s head in front of owner Gary Coxall, who was also present on Saturday where there were more vocal protests.

orient’s 112-year membership of the league came to an end on Saturday with the crisis club facing an uncertain future.

A 3-0 defeat at Crewe confirmed orient’s second relegation in less than three tumultuous years of ownership by Italian Francesco Becchetti.

Since buying the club in 2014 after orient had lost the league one play-off final, Becchetti has taken the club from the third tier to non-league, burning through 10 managers.