Northern Ireland keeper Trevor Carson was ready to quit if Hartlepool United went down

But he admitted he was prepared to pack the game in.

The 28-year-old was speaking after clinching his latest piece of silverware after the post-match marks, awarded by SportMail’s reporters, were totted up.

Carson walked away from last week’s Pools end-of-season event with the Fans and Players Player of the Year cups as well as the Community Player of the Year.

The keeper, currently away on Northern Ireland squad training, is enjoying the happy ending to the season, but said it could have been so different.

“This is the gospel truth, if we got relegated I was packing in football,” he said. “You can ask all the lads at the club.

“Last season hurt at Cheltenham. Being relegated is bad, but coming out of the Football League is terrible.

“I could not imagine it happening in back-to-back seasons and I was embarrassed.

“I felt so low in January-February time and I told the lads that would be me finished if we went down.

“It’s hypothetical now and I’m grateful I don’t have to contemplate ending my career.”

Carson, who beat Billy Paynter and Jake Gray at the top of the Mail poll, missed the opening 15 matches of the season after suffering a toe injury on the eve of the programme.

Despite the false start, the former Sunderland goalie was soon in top form and ended the season with nine clean sheets, including four in a row in the side’s sensational March run.

And after his success at the club’s awards ceremony at the Grand Hotel, finding a spot for a fourth trophy is not a problem for Carson.

“I’ve always found room for stuff like this,” he said. “They mean a lot to me and I’m really proud of it.”

Carson said he is already looking forward to next season, despite the depressing end to the current campaign.

He was picking the ball out of his net five times on Saturday as Pools succumbed at promotion candidates Plymouth Argyle

“It’s a shame we have gone on a bad run at the end because we wanted to carry our [good] form into next season,” he said.

“[Apart from Saturday] we have shown up pretty well and we’ve been up against top teams, we’re not that far off.”

Carson has made countless breathtaking saves this season, several which have been vital to Pools getting a result.

But he explained his personal best came in a 2-1 home defeat to Stevenage.

“My favourite save was a point-blank header against Stevenage,” he said.

“At the time, it was one of the few saves that I’ve thought ‘how did I make that?’.

“I told my granda all about it and he watched the highlights and he said it wasn’t that good!

“Luckily my brother was at the game and saw it in real-time so he was able to say that it was a good save!”

It was the third time Paynter had ended as runner-up to Carson after being second in the Fans and Player votes.