Dave Challinor contract Q&A: Hartlepool United boss on new deal guarantees, family, length of stay and more

Now the dust has settled on the new deal, the Pools boss has given some insight into the finer details surrounding his commitment to the club.

Here’s what he had to say…

How did everything come about leading up to the new contract being announced on Friday?

Challinor: “Things have pretty much been sorted for a long time in terms of the crux of the contract, as you know it’s been very close for a while.

“Through no fault of anyone’s, it takes time going back and forward with lawyers at both ends. They were just the fine details but in the main, it was sorted out.

"It then just becomes a case of trying to keep things under wraps and what was the best way to go about things.

"Even coming to the ground to sort everything out on Friday, we had to keep things secret from volunteers who were out cleaning seats and all those types of things.

"Things take time and people are responsible for when the stories are released, it was initially going to be before the game on Saturday but then all of a sudden it was late Friday night but it’s done now and I was always pretty confident things would get sorted and we can look forward.”

Do you feel like a lot of faith has been put in you to take the club forward with a three year deal?

Challinor: “The length of the contract is what it is. I said the same with the previous deal I was on.

"Contracts are hard for me because you could be on a seven year deal with six month termination periods which in my eyes is a six month rolling contract.

"You can have a three year deal with different things in there but it’s about the now for me and football is very short term.

"Regardless of the length, that wasn’t the be all and end all, what was important to me was looking at where we are short term, how we can get better and where our aspirations are moving forward.

"We recognise where we are now and are trying to move forward, but from a personal perspective, a little bit of security and sustainability so I know what I’m doing and my family are doing for the next couple of years certainly.

"Throughout that period you’ll be constantly revisiting. I hope I’m in a situation at some point over the next three years where I’m knocking on the door and saying, ‘hang on, I want a new contract here’.

"But I hope I’m not getting pulled into offices and being told I’m not wanted here anymore. Unfortunately, that’s the nature of football and it can turn quickly but hopefully within it, there is some focus that things are moving in the right direction and the process isn’t just about the short term and what is happening now behind the scenes.

"We’ve built momentum and we need to maximise that and push on because there are going to be times where it’s not as easy to do that as maybe it is now.”

Did you get the assurances you needed that the club is moving in the right direction?

Challinor: “I wouldn’t have been committing if that wasn’t the case. Football changes quickly and it’s a very unpredictable business where nobody knows what is around the corner.

"Things can turn quickly in terms of my position, the team’s position, performances, the chairman’s thoughts on things, there are lots of things that can change and that’s the ruthless part of it and you know that going into it as a player, not just a manager.

"It’s understanding that when I came in it was a National League club with a League One infrastructure, now we’ve gone to being a League Two club but with an infrastructure that needs work and you need to recruit the right people in order to take the club forward and make it sustainable.

"The potential and the opportunities for the club are huge and if you don’t maximise that then you’re doing yourself an injustice and preventing the progress that is capable of being made.

"I’m sure all of those things will be put in place and the building blocks need to be put in place to make sure this upward curve we’re currently on maintains a steady rise.

"There will be bumps in the road, don’t get me wrong, but you’ve got to make sure you don’t fall off a cliff.”

How important was it that the contract was right for your family, not just you?

Challinor: "It was a huge part. We’re still in a situation where things aren’t ideal.

"As a family, the kids are different ages and I wasn’t able to commit to certain things when I first came here. Ellis was in his first year of GCSEs and Ethan in the first year of his A-levels.

"We weren’t going to move schools but now we’ve had Ethan move to Durham University [on Saturday] so saying bye to him for a short time which has been tough for me but even more so for Kate.

"Ellis is in a situation where he’s still playing at Chester so the circumstances aren’t ideal but they are circumstances that we understand as a family and will deal with.

"For everything you do, things need to be right and unfortunately, things can’t always be perfect and we’ll continue to work towards that with the hope that it can be a perfect scenario.

"The support you need to be able to do your job is massive because a lot of it is hard work and time away from the family, preparing and doing trivial tasks that take time but the rewards at the end are potentially huge and it’s important everyone shares them.”

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