ANDY OUT OF POOL AND IN AT DEEP END
ANDREW DAVIES has lifted the lid on his Hartlepool hell – and insists he’s now on a mission to save Dundee from the drop.
The former Ross County centre-back has joined forces again with Jim McIntyre at Dens Park as the toiling Taysiders bid to save their Premiership skin.
Davies joined Hartlepool from County last summer but soon realised he’d made a major mistake, before leaving the English club earlier this week to seal a return to Scotland.
The Englishman admits life in the fifth tier of English football wasn’t for him, so jumped at the chance to come back north of the border and boost Dundee’s battle for top-flight survival.
Davies said: “I had a three-year deal at Hartlepool and had come home from Ross County for family reasons. I gave it six months but I didn’t enjoy playing in that league at all.
“I’ve played in all the leagues in England but I got the shock of my life in the National League.
“Hartlepool are a fantastic club and a big club in that league. But I BY ALAN MARSHALL just wasn’t enjoying it. I think I’d taken a step too far. If it wasn’t for family reasons I probably would have stayed in Scotland anyway.
“So I spoke to the manager at Hartlepool and said I wasn’t going to waste his time, I wanted to leave. I could have sat there for the next few years and dwindled away but I wanted to come back up here.
“I really enjoyed playing under Jim at County, I know what he’s all about and what he looks for from his team.”
Davies was an integral part of County’s historic squad which won the League Cup in 2016.
He has linked up again with former Staggies team-mates Craig Curran and Martin Woods and is convinced McIntyre, who guided them to Hampden glory, can hoist the club to top-flight safety.
He said: “The manager knows the lads and he’s enjoyed working with them.
“He knows what he’s going to get from us and if you can trust them, then it’s sensible to bring them back. It’s going to be tough but we know what we have to do.”