Gavan Holohan preparing for 'surreal' Hartlepool United return with Grimsby Town

He will walk along familiar corridors and greet familiar members of staff he used to greet on a weekly basis for three years of his career. But that familiarity will stop when the Irishman turns into the away changing room with Grimsby Town as opposed to the home one of Hartlepool United.

Holohan made 108 appearances for Hartlepool, scoring 23 times, before his exit from the club in March. But today he could line-up against his former side for the first time in what he expects to be a strange experience.

“I suppose it’s going to be a bit surreal,” said Holohan.

“Being in the away changing room is going to be surreal but it’s something I’m looking forward to. I’m looking forward to getting back and seeing some familiar faces and seeing the fans and hopefully it will be a good game all round.

“It’s going to be a bit of a different experience.”

Holohan won the hearts of the Hartlepool faithful during his time with the club as they earned promotion back to the Football League. And, although Holohan admitted to The Mail he held ‘no hard feelings’ over the circumstances of his exit from the club, he concedes not being able to have a more significant goodbye with the Pools supporters was the most upsetting aspect.

“That was the disappointing thing, that I didn’t really kind of get the chance to have that goodbye with them and ended up sneaking out the back door,” said Holohan.

“But I’ve been on record and said it many times about how good the fans were to me. They accepted me into the club and made me feel like part of the club and one of their own. It’s not often that happens.

“With the business of football, and how football works, I count myself very lucky for that to happen and for them to accept me in such a way because I’m not a Hartlepool lad. I’m just some Irish kid who signed for the club out of nowhere.”

But it was not just in the stands where Holohan formed a strong bond at Hartlepool, it was in the dressing room, too.

Holohan, along with Pools captain Nicky Featherstone and Mark Shelton completed what was self-professed as the ‘wolfpack’ of Hartlepool’s midfield - a midfield which would ultimately guide the club to huge success in returning to the Football League.

And Holohan has revealed he remains in touch with his former teammates, while forever being branded with his own ‘wolfpack’ tattoo.

“The wolfpack is still very strong. I don’t think we’ll ever be able to get rid of that. We’re branded as such with the tattoos so that’s for life whether we like it or not,” Holohan joked.

“I still speak to the two boys regularly. I speak to quite a few of them to be fair; Crawfs, Fergie. There’s a few more as well and people who I’m always going to stay in touch with no matter where I go in my career.”