Callum Cooke shares John Askey's Hartlepool United frustration at events off field ahead of relegation

Cooke, like several others, was brought to the club last summer as Pools looked to build on a season of consolidation back in the EFL.

But things would not turn out that way as Hartlepool endured a season to forget ending in relegation back to non-league.

Cooke accepted his role and responsibility in the club's failings this season after he signed off the campaign with a goal against Stockport County in a 1-1 draw.

The former Bradford City midfielder was brought in as a key player for Hartlepool this season and the 26-year-old made 40 appearances, despite dealing with a number of injury issues and despite the club having three different managers throughout the campaign.

But it was events in the closing weeks of the season which raised eyebrows as John Askey would label some of his players as 'selfish' having made their intentions clear over where they saw their future at the club.

One of those players was Mohamad Sylla, who did not feature in either of Hartlepool’s final two games of the season, with Askey left frustrated by the Frenchman's actions.

"Sometimes it just comes down to that individual and you can’t control an individual if they do things like that,” said Askey.

"I’ve not come across it before and I’ve been in football a long time.”

And Cooke, too, shared some frustration with the way things played out towards the end of the season and how much it impacted their survival efforts.

"It didn’t help,” he told The Mail.

"I think, ultimately, it cost us.

"I don’t want to throw lads under the bus, but if things worked out differently then we might not have been in this situation. The gaffer has alluded to it before but it’s not really my business to get involved in so we just have to let him deal with that.”

Cooke added: “There’s loads of theories, loads of fingers could be pointed and loads of questions to be asked. It’s one of them things. I would never have imagined us being in the situation."

But despite certain players expressing their desire to leave the club, Cooke would suggest he would be back for pre-season as normal ahead of the National League campaign and backs Askey to be a success with Hartlepool after insisting Pools may even have beaten the drop had he arrived sooner.

“I don’t know what happened in the sense before the manager came in, but something wasn’t clicking, and it showed on the pitch,” said Cooke.

"But I think if the gaffer was here a month earlier I think we’d have been comfortably safe.

"Hindsight is a wonderful thing but it is what it is. We can’t go back.

"It’s unfortunate how it panned out but I think the club is in good hands with the gaffer. He’s given the club an identity which is the passion and the connection from the pitch to the stands. We just need to build on it.”