Thursday 7 May 2015 10:27, UK
The town of Hartlepool's support for its football club this season proved an inspiration for manager Ronnie Moore and his players.
Moore, 62, guided the north-east club to an unlikely escape from relegation to the Conference after replacing Paul Murray in December and cites the fans' loyalty as a crucial factor.
"Retaining the club's Football League status for the town was a must," Moore said.
"You could feel it all round the place. The club was doomed and it was in everybody's eyes, but the support we were still getting was tremendous.
"There were 3,500 at Victoria Park and we were bottom of the league. I thought 'how can they turn up and watch this rubbish?'
"Talk about faithful. Their loyalty really struck me. It just seemed so many people were desperate for the club to stay up."
Pools, cast adrift at the foot of the table at the turn of the year, gave fans and their survival bid a major boost when stringing together four straight wins in March and April.
"With their support we managed to get those four wins and then there was 5,000 - and we were still in big trouble!" Moore added.
"The town is full of fantastic people. They gave me lots of support.
"Sometimes when a new manager comes in, you get two or three quick wins, but I had a couple of draws and two defeats and I could understand if one or two were thinking 'what's he doing?'
"But they stuck with us and it made all the difference."
