THE mere fact that Sky Sports want to show them live is testament to the recent progress made by Hartlepool United.

The club were formed in 1908, the same year as Town, as Hartlepools United.

That reflected the fact that they were created by an amalgamation of teams from West Hartlepool, a `new' town of Victorian development built on the success of the steel industry there, and the original `headland' town of Hartlepool, which had medieval roots.

But the area's football club was far less successful than its industry, and in the old days of Football League re-election, the club, which became plain old Hartlepool in 1968, when the twin towns merged, had to apply 13 times, more than any other.

Nor have Hartlepool, who added the `United' again in 1977, ever won a major trophy.

But there have been three promotions from the basement division, in 1968, with a team built by Brian Clough and Peter Taylor, in 1991, under Cyril Knowles, and in 2003, when Mike Newell picked up the pieces after Chris Turner had left to boss Sheffield Wednesday.

In previous eras, Pool had struggled at the higher level.

But with their character strengthened by three play-off failures in as many years before they finished runners-up to Rushden, former Aberdeen, Rangers and Aston Villa player Neale Cooper, who replaced Newell during the 2003 close-season, guided the club to last season's Division II (now League I) play-offs, bringing a new air of optimism to the old coastal town up the A19.