Since then, we’ve seen the National League season shut down due to a global pandemic and matches played primarily behind closed doors in what has been a chaotic 12 month spell.
But Challinor’s year at Pools, while unpredictable and uncertain, has largely been positive at the side made a late play-off charge last season prior to lockdown and have started the 2020-21 campaign brightly despite the odd hiccup.
Here we look back at some key quotes from Challinor’s tenure so far – scroll down and click through the pages to reveal them...
1. Decision to join Pools
"At that time I had a decision to make whether to take a break or to jump straight back in. If I’m being honest I would have selected a bit of a break but in this job, you can’t pick when your opportunities come about and when this opportunity did come about it was something that I really wanted to explore." Photo: Frank Reid
2. Potential
"I wouldn’t be coming into the job if I wasn’t excited about it and I didn’t think there was potential to be successful." Photo: Frank Reid
3. Being Ruthless
Challinor following FA Trophy defeat at Harrogate Town: “Whether we can’t do it or there’s not enough leadership, or we’ve tried to coast through the second half because the players don’t trust themselves or they’re not fit enough, I don’t know. We’ll see what comes out from it but the bottom line of it is just wanting to win a football match and doing whatever you can to get the result. Regardless of the results we’ve had, you have to have a ruthless mindset of what you need as a team and as horrible as it may sound, you can’t let positive results cloud your judgement." Photo: MI News
4. Everyone is for sale
"Everyone is for sale, including myself. If someone says we want your manager and we’ll give you x amount of money for him then the club has a decision to make." Photo: Paul Paxford