THE manager’s job at Hartlepool United is, as Kevin Keegan once said during his time at Newcastle United, not like it said in the brochure.

Craig Harrison moved to Pools in the summer from TNS in the League of Wales. Stability has been replaced by chaos.

Up for sale, out of money, out of form and without a leader at the club in the absence of owners, Harrison, who takes his side to Eastleigh today, is the club figurehead right now.

He’s trying to protect his players from the mess.

“It is not easy focusing on the football when jobs are on the line,’’ he reflected on Thursday, relieved that the month’s wages had been paid.

“As a football manager you grow hardened to it. Your job is under threat every week.

“I have broad shoulders and thick skin - you have to. If you haven't you're in the wrong business.

“It is only this job when everyone has an opinion on your job. But that's the sport you're in.

“I find myself doing it. When I watch Monday Night Football I analyse, why is he doing that, etc.

As a manager you have to be mentally tough.’’

A run of one win in 13 doesn’t help and Harrison has come under fire from supporters in recent weeks as the team has stuttered; none more so than last weekend when Pools meekly surrendered to Wrexham in front of almost 7,000 supporters.

Harrison, however much pressure and flak he is under, won’t hide from the mess. He will stand up to it.

“I’m the manager at the club and the players do come to me,’’ he said. “I’m only 40 myself and probably not old enough to be some of the lads’ dads, but I’ve been involved in football a lot. Highs and lows, full-time and part-time, positive and negative. I take the role on anyway.

“My door is always open and I pride myself on man management and being able to gauge how people feel. They need to be treated well and differently.

“I’m a leader, at the front to take the shots and I will protect the players and staff. I put myself in that role and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

“I do enjoy it, I’ve never been a follower. I like to be myself and not be a sheep. That’s the way I am.

“Pitfalls come with it and I’m a big target at this moment in time, but I wouldn’t change it. I would not want to sit in the background.’’

Pools drew at Chester on Tuesday. The opposition are another club in a financial state. There’s been no progress on the sale front for Pools.

In midweek, the bombshell dropped that Hartlepool-based businessman Chris Musgrave was pulling out of his proposed deal to save the club and secure its future.

The news did, naturally, affect Harrison’s preparations ahead the game.

“We are where we are with the whole situation,’’ he said. “The timing on Tuesday was ridiculous.

“But I can't control it. It is what it is. I don't know a lot. I have not been consulted. There is nothing to add on it .

“It is about fighting fires at the moment, the problem is they are cropping up all over the place at the moment.’’

He recalled: “I’ve been told nothing about the situation since Tuesday. I read the statement, when we were preparing for the game. I got a text off my wife saying I should put a ban on the players’ mobile phones, Batesy got one at the same time too.

“Me, Batesy and Jenks went out to talk about it, we came back in and all the players knew about it. Modern society and there’s nowhere to hide. We all have technology by our side now.’’