RONNIE MOORE admits convincing his players they could stay in the Football League this season was a constant part of his job.

The Hartlepool United boss is being talked up for the divisional manager of the year award after turning round fortunes at Victoria Park in some style.

From being ten points short of safety, Moore dragged his players out of the bottom two and they survived in League Two when all was lost.

And even at their lowest ebbs – and there were plenty of them this season – Moore kept believing, his chirpy character and outlook rubbing off on his players.

“If I didn’t believe it then we are in trouble,’’ he admitted. “I had to get them grafting and talking everyday about the Great Escape.

“I can’t win the games though, the players have to produce and to be fair, as a group they have done that.

“I have had one or two moans or groans and shouts and screams but when you consider how low they were, they have done fantastic to pick themselves up and get cracking.’’

Moore, expected to announce the club’s retained list in midweek, joined Pools after an enforced sabbatical.

Sacked by Tranmere following an FA charge over betting irregularities, Moore used the experience of his time out of the game to get a strong message across to his players.

“Every minute, since I have been here, has been like a breath of fresh air,’’ he admitted.

“I was out of work a long time and you think will you ever get back in?

“Especially when you don't think you should be out of work, there was no way in the world I was going to lose this job here.

“I had that motivation every day I was here, that is when I said the players should go and work in a supermarket and do a proper job.

“If I see footballers coming in moping about with their bottom lip out, what is that about? The money they earn, even at Hartlepool....

“If you can’t come in everyday doing something you love, it is a shame.

“I still have that great buzz and hopefully I will have that for a long time.

“Being involved and organising the players, it is nice when it comes off and not so nice when it doesn't but that is what being in management is all about.

“You take the rough with the smooth, it is crackers - it has nothing to do with me.

“I am glad to be back and enjoying every minute and I do not want to be involved in the same position again.”

Pools were bottom of the table from October to March and heading out of the Football League. While results and performances did improve under Moore over time, it was only when they embarked on a stunning four-game winning run did belief start to kick in.

Victory at Morecambe was followed instantly by a win at Oxford – two away wins without conceding in four days after going over a year without keeping a clean sheet on the road and not winning away since October.

And Moore admitted those results changed the players’ outlook.

“Getting away wins was the hardest part, we hadn’t won away and gone 12 months without a clean sheet too,’’ he missed.

“Morecambe, that is when the belief came. After Oxford, that dressing room changed, you could tell.

“We couldn’t sustain it though because we got the collywobbles when we got out of the bottom two.

“Although we lost games 1-0, and we went to York and threw it away, we thought we were Barcelona with the ball.

“But the 3-0 defeat was the one that concerned me more than anything.

“Sometimes as players and staff you can push them so far and then I was just wondering, have we got them to their maximum and they would tinker off to type.

“We just needed that one more game and the players were fantastic against Exeter.’’