HONESTY is the best policy for Craig Harrison’s Hartlepool United.

The Pools boss has improved fortunes around Victoria Park since his summer appointment, with the morose outlook of last season now a bad chapter in the club’s history.

While morale was demoralised at the end of the last season, with smiles banished from the club, Harrison’s mantra is a different one.

Players are encouraged to speak, to take responsibility, to be willing and able to help their team-mates out.

There’s no favouritism from the top. Harrison runs a tight and happy ship at the club’s training ground each day. He encourages the players to look after things themselves, to take responsibility for their actions and means.

His office is a hub of information and plans. It’s now a welcoming place with a door always open for the players.

“As a person and as a player I have gone through a lot, despite being 40 last Friday,’’ he reflected.

“I have been involved in pro football since 15, then had to retire, pull myself up then go through the coaching system. It has always been a case of having to work hard for this or work hard for that. Nothing has come easily to get to where I am now.

“I believe whether you are playing or whether you are not, the best or the worst, young or old, treat everyone the same as a person. That is my standards.

“Individuals require different things but I always try to treat every player as a person, and show them all the same level of respect.

“It is something I said from the day I came to this club.’’

As Pools tumbled down last season, the manager was aloof to his players. There was no bond between staff and footballers in the closing months. And while players may not always get on together off the pitch, on it and it has to be a different story.

“Not everyone has to like each other, or socialise together, but what I want every player and member of staff to have is respect for each other's roles, each other, and the club,’’ insisted Harrison.

“This rule applies for those playing and those not in the team.

“One of the cornerstones of my success at TNS was having five or six players at that club who despite not playing were the best trainers on the park.

“That hunger brought everyone up a level. No player was safe in the team and they all trained and played with 100 per cent commitment.

“No player turned up on a Monday morning with a lip on. They all pushed each other to be better. We have that here, now. There is a culture growing.’’

Pools train at the Racecourse in the heart of Durham City and Harrison added: “I like the atmosphere the lads have in the dressing room. The mood is light-hearted and jovial - I like that - but when the work starts, like the flick of a switch, if anyone doesn't give their all, they know they will get it both barrels not only off me and the coaches, but off their fellow players, too.

“There is an accountability here.’’

Pools drew 0-0 at Boreham Wood on Saturday, and now have back to back home games – Aldershot on Saturday and Halifax on Tuesday – to try and propel themselves into the play-off and promotion mix.

Their last successive home games yielded only two points from six. They are seeking six this time.

“Every player wants to play well,’’ added Harrison. “No player goes out on a Saturday to play poorly. “But sometimes it happens, that's part of the game. Every player experiences it, but the important thing is that there are ways and means of doing it.

“If you train and work hard then people can forgive a mistake. If you are not working hard or your attitude is not right, then people are less likely to forgive. Then you have a problem.

The players have bought into that culture. And in a way, that means, the squad look after themselves.’’

He added: “We have no sulkers here. I like to deal with things like men should - if you have a problem come and talk about it.

“You know, honesty is the way forward - we put everything out on the table.

“If you don't like it, don't ask. We talk, then move on.

“It is important to give players something they can do to take away with them and think about.

“Maybe it then triggers them to think 'if I do that, I might get in the team'.’’