John Askey defends 'selfish' Hartlepool United comments and expands further on Mohamad Sylla situation

Sylla was one of a number of players left out of Askey’s squad for the club’s penultimate game of the season, a 3-1 win over Barrow at the Suit Direct Stadium, for various reasons.

Speaking after their win, Askey would suggest certain players, however, were left out due to their attitude in recent weeks as he, instead, turned to players who he believes want to be at the football club following their relegation back to the National League.

The Frenchman became one of the key talking points having been the focus of an issue over the Easter weekend where he did not travel with the squad for their fixture with Grimsby Town.

After their 4-1 win at Blundell Park, Askey had suggested Sylla was not in the right frame of mind to compete before recently suggesting his actions did not help the club ‘one little bit’ during their relegation run-in.

And asked to expand on the situation, the Hartlepool boss revealed to The Mail he felt the club dealt with things as best they could given the circumstances while admitting it was a difficult decision to bring the 29-year-old back into the squad.

“All you can do as a manager is say what you feel,” said Askey.

“I think if you’re honest with people, you like to get that back. But nobody has said anything [to me since]. I only said it because that’s how I felt.

“It’s difficult to make the call because he’d been playing well,” he added.

“But you try and do what you think is best for the football club. You don’t want personalities, it’s what I felt was right for Hartlepool.

“I still thought when he played he gave his best and that’s all you could ask for.”

Askey would go on to reveal his surprise at when the situation first arose with Sylla, who signed a one-year deal with the club last summer.

“The very first time it happened, I’ve never come across it before,” said Askey.

"For somebody to do that in the position the football club is in was out of order.

“But it’s happened now. I dealt with it the best way I knew how to but that’s something for him to think about. I don’t think it’s the first time it’s happened.”

Askey added: “I wouldn’t do anything differently in that situation. I think we handled it as best we could.

“He missed the Grimsby game and I thought everything had blown over as such and we’d just leave it then until the end of the season, but it didn’t.

“I couldn’t have done anything differently and I don’t think the club could have done anything more than what they have done.

“Sometimes it just comes down to that individual and you can’t control an individual if they do things like that.

“I’ve been in football a long time but I’ve never come across somebody doing that in the situation we were in.

“I’ve had players [like that] but they choose the time to do it. Not the position we were in.”

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