THERE are a number of Hartlepool United supporters who have already made up their mind. Regardless of the fact that Victoria Park will play host to League One football again next season, there are many fans keen to see director of sport Chris Turner step aside.


Listen to Turner's tears

There have been banners demanding his removal, chants for his sacking and boos of discontent at the way his team have played football this season. All combined, it can take its toll and, after a week of intense pressure, it did.

Followers, pundits and journalists across the land can easily forget the extent of what the strains can be like in professional football. Saturday offered everyone a reminder.

Beneath the money, beneath the egos and beneath the dreams, there are demands, huge demands that need to be met. Whether it is Manchester United or Chelsea staying at the top of the Premier League or the likes of Darlington trying to stay in the Football League, the demands to avoid failure are huge.

So, you can imagine, the build up to Hartlepool’s final day trip to Brentford was as hard as any other in recent times for the club.

Pools are as guilty as the Football League and the Football Association for the mistakes that were made for Gary Liddle’s appearance when he should have been suspended, but aside from the blame game tensions came to a head at Griffin Park.

Just 48 hours after the Football League had plunged Hartlepool back in to a relegation fight by docking them three points for fielding Liddle in the win over Brighton in April, everything seemed to be conspiring against Turner and his team.

First the authorities, who Turner claimed were not entirely blameless over their handling of dealing with alerting the club that Liddle had collected ten bookings, and then the results.

When Exeter and Tranmere, who both started the day below Hartlepool, had claimed the victories that lifted them out of the bottom three, all that was required was a Brentford winner and Turner would have taken the North-East club down.

Instead Hartlepool held on, when even he feared the writing was on the wall, safety was secured and it was Gillingham that had gone down instead. And it all got too much for Turner.

In an emotional post-match interview which would run Kevin Keegan’s outburst close, Turner struggled to get his words out and failed to hold the tears back. The relief, and the frustration of the previous few weeks, all came flooding out.

“I was ashamed to be involved in football this week after what the FA did but the character and determination of my players has restored my faith in my side and the game,” said Turner. “They reacted so professionally to what went on and from staring relegation in the face, they dug in here to earn a point.”

During a five-minute interview – lightened up at the end by his admission that he was going to celebrate by “getting p****d” – he regularly failed to control his emotions; knowing just how close he had come to enduring the depressing feeling of relegation.

This is Turner’s second spell in charge, having been the first appointment of the Increased Oil Recovery era that led Hartlepool out of the doldrums at Victoria Park, and he has become attached to life there.

His reaction to claiming the draw that keeps Hartlepool in League One highlights just how much he cares for the club, which surely must count for a lot in lower league football.

He has made 12 new signings to the squad since the end of last season, perhaps this was the season when the new-look Hartlepool needed time to bed in. Should he be given another chance to prove he is the man for next season? After those tears, why not.