A LITTLE over 12 months ago and Hartlepool United ended their season in tears as the players knew they had missed out on a glorious opportunity.

As this season drew to a close at the weekend, it was the same story.

The circumstances, however, could not be any different.

At least there was some pride in the Millennium Stadium despair, self-respect in abundance after going so close to a place in the Championship.

The turnaround from being eight minutes from a glorious promotion to indignant relegation to League Two is striking.

The double outcome they needed on Saturday - a win over Port Vale coupled with a MK Dons victory at Rotherham - didn't happen.

But Pool weren't relegated on May 6, it happened at the start of the season when Martin Scott turned a close-knit side playing tidy and attractive football into a fractured side which lumped the ball long from full backs to strikers whenever they could.

And that went against everything Pool had built up over the past six seasons.

So Pool fell two points from safety and it's always a case of what if?

You can cite the long-term injuries to Adam Boyd and Joel Porter, Ritchie Humphreys being wasted for 90 per cent of the season at left back, new signings failing to make the impact expected and the stubbornness of the previous manager.

Perhaps those two points could have come from improvement on a pitiful home performance against Yeovil (or was the away display worse?), an uninspiring home draw with Rotherham or a trip to Nottingham Forest when getting out of their own half was an achievement.

Chairman Ken Hodcroft said on Saturday that he takes "ultimate responsibility" for the situation.

If Hodcroft is guilty of anything, it was giving Scott too much support. And how many owners are culpable of that?

Pool have had the biggest squad in their history, there's 35 names listed. Add in some utterly pointless loan signings and it proves that quantity doesn't necessarily mean quality.

Give a kid too much money to spend in a sweet shop and he will end up being sick. Give the wrong manager too much support in the transfer market and it will leave everyone feeling nauseous.

The first game of the season set the tone, a fractious and disjointed performance as Scott found instant roles for his four main summer recruits.

After the heroics of the previous season there was no need for major surgery.

Instead, that will come this close season. With players out of contract and a squad too big for any division, never mind the bottom one, Pool won't have such a big pool of players come August.

Who is in charge remains to be seen.

Stephenson has impressed with his cheery outlook and he has the dressing room a happy place like it used to be.

Highly-rated as a coach, whatever happens this summer there should be a role for him.

But Stephenson admitted he doesn't know what the future holds.

"I feel like I have handled a difficult situation well. We've had a shortage of coaching and backroom staff and it's not been easy,'' he said.

"I've had to deal with 30 pros and 17 youth players which hasn't been easy. I really don't know what is happening.

"I've never once spoken about it with the chairman, I've just got on with what I have been asked to do and remained as positive as I can because I was coming into a difficult situation.

"The dressing room was in tatters in terms of mental qualities, but apart from one or two every player has been supportive.''

He added: "We have been talking about players, who to keep and who to release because we have a squad which is too big.

"Getting straight back up has to be the aim. It's never easy when you go down, it's a great test of character for everyone and whoever is in charge.

"If that's me, great, if it's not then we have to be ready for next season. We were off to a poor start this season and expectations were high. A good start next time is vital.''

Even victory on Saturday would have left Pool short and Stephenson admitted he feared as much after not winning at Brentford in the penultimate game.

But, as is always the case in failure, it's key decisions which have proved vitally important in shaping the outcome.

"You look back at incidents which have cost us - the goal we had ruled out against Oldham and the penalty they got - and they are supposed to be evened out over a season,'' he reflected.

"But over the 16 games I've been in charge they haven't. We should have had a penalty in this game, I've asked the referee to have a look at it because they don't come any clearer than that.

"He was the only person in the ground who thought it wasn't - the fourth official said it was and so did Martin Foyle.''

After a emotional and appreciative reaction from the crowd - Pool's biggest of the season - they headed tearfully to the sanctuary of the dressing room.

It was a while before anyone reappeared.

"The dressing room was a morgue after the game, no doubt about it,'' said Stephenson. "I just tried to be as positive as I could be and thank them all for their efforts and what they have done for me.

"They have tried to implement what I wanted and we have had improved performances. I think this performance was indicative of our season - how we haven't won I don't know.''

It was the familiar problem of not turning chances into goals which was the downfall, as chances were created and squandered.

Only 44 goals have been scored in 46 games. Last season Adam Boyd, Joel Porter and Antony Sweeney got 50 between them.

Their successes of the last few seasons have been fully merited. Perhaps those who think Pool have over-achieved of late still see it differently and believe the club has reverted to type.

Last August, Scott declared his sole aim was to get Pool out of League One. He may not have been around to see it, but he certainly played his part in ensuring it happened.

Result: Hartlepool United 1, Port Vale 1.

Read more about Hartlepool here.