WHEN Matthew Bates took charge of Hartlepool United in mid-February, it’s fair to say there was a bit of turmoil around the place.

A team lacking in confidence, short on numbers, who were floundering in the 19th in the National League on the back of two wins from 15 games.

Away from the on-field problems, the very existence of the club was in serious doubt. Players were worried about not being paid, staff were under threat of redundancy, bills were piling up like the goals against column.

In came Bates. He had two games in charge at the back end of last season, but this was a different story.

Then, his job was a short-term fix, putting his finger in the dam in trying to keep Pools in the Football League after the morose disaster that was Dave Jones.

He took the pressure off the players and they almost pulled it off.

This time and he fell into the position. Left alone when Craig Harrison’s disciples Paul Jenkins and Bernard Hirmer walked away, he cut a lonely figure in his first game.

But since then, he’s grown into the role, maturing into a boss.

Bates is a student of the game, a thinker who has played at the highest level. He took Pools into 15th spot in the table and eight points in front of the bottom four, hardly a success to celebrate in the grand scheme of things, but as good as could be expected.

If Pools had, as was the clamour at the time, brought in someone from outside and they had done the job Bates has the noise would be for them to be appointed permanently.

Could Paul Ince or Lee Clark really have done any better than Bates? The three games which let him down were at Victoria Park against relegation candidates Guiseley, Solihull and Torquay. Even the win over Orient which secured their status was hardly a success.

The 31-year-old has been there since Colin Cooper signed the centre-half four years ago. He’s hardly been part of a glorious era at the club, but he knows what the job entails.

He knows the frailties of the squad, understands the problems of playing at Victoria Park and how bad the home record is, sees the issues he’s faced with.

Now he has to make the big calls, it's his turn to find the answers, to move on players he turned out alongside and to recruit some leaders.

Bates becomes the 11th permanent manager since Danny Wilson was dumped in 2008. Only Sunderland can boast such an illuminating number.

When a manager is sacked at Victoria Park – and it’s happened plenty of times over the years – the demands are always for an outsider to come in, someone to see things differently and shake things up.

Well that plan hasn’t worked before has it? Pools – or Jones at least – kicked out the ideal man to take over as manager from inside in Sam Collins, an experienced and respected footballer, someone who had been caretaker boss, an individual who knows the club and its difficulties.

Why not try someone from inside for a change, because bringing in anyone and everyone else over the years hasn’t worked has it?