RUTHLESS Chris Turner yesterday freed nine players as he plotted Hartlepool United's mission to avoid the play-offs next season.

After losing in the play-offs for the second season in succession this week, and being outplayed by Blackpool, Turner wasted no time in starting to reshape his squad.

Darren Knowles, Craig Midgley, Sam Shilton, Lee Fitzpatrick, Gary Strodder, Neil Aspin, Andy McAvoy and Andy Brownrigg were all handed free transfers yesterday.

Norwegian Tim Sperrevik was allowed to rejoin his old club Fana, but Pool will keep tabs on the striker over the summer during the Norwegian season.

Paul Arnison, Chris Westwood, Graeme Lee, Ian Clark, Martin Hollund and Thomas Tennebo have all been offered new deals.

Knowles and Midgley are the biggest casualties of Turner's cull.

They both played in the play-off defeats to Blackpool and Knowles made 23 starts last season, scoring in the 1-1 draw at Darlington; Midgley made 25 starts, scoring eight times.

Midgley was an integral part of the Pool side that went on a 21-game unbeaten run from November to April and formed a potent partnership with Kevin Henderson.

"It's a sad day because these boys who have been freed have players their part for the club in reaching the play-offs over the last two years,'' said Turner. "If it weren't for players like Gary Strodder, we wouldn't be in the League now.

"You get very close to your players and develop good relationships with them.

"It's hard to make those decisions, but we are looking further down the line than the immediate future.

"We want to keep moving forward. I know that if we kept all the players we had this season then we could have done reasonably well again next season - but I want to do better than this year.

"At the end of the day, we weren't good enough to gain promotion with the players we had and we need to move on. We might finish sixth or seventh with the current squad, but you need to keep the players fresh and the fans want to see new players arriving.

"I am sure that the players made available will be able to find new clubs.

"Maybe in the past players have left Hartlepool and struggled to get somewhere, but these are in a strong position because they are better players now and have had some success in the last two seasons.

"We have had an excellent season and the players can take heart from that.''

Tennebo made just four substitute appearances this season before suffering an horrific double leg fracture in a reserve game against Halifax.

He is unlikely to be ready for action until September and Pool will give the Norwegian every chance to regain his fitness.

Pool are likely to announce their pre-season campaign next week, with a return to Norway for a friendly with Brann Bergen and Fana pencilled in for the end of July

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