David Foley

During his time as Hartlepool manager, Neale Cooper was always willing to give young players a chance if they were producing the goods for the youth team or the reserves. In the home game against Port Vale in August 2003, David Foley became a beneficiary of this policy when an eight-minute run out as a substitute made him the youngest player in Hartlepool`s history at 16 years and 44 days. That proved to be Foley`s only appearance of the season but he remained on the fringes of the first team squad and during 2004/05 he made his first league start and a handful of other substitute appearances.

Foley continued to progress during the next couple of years and his pace proved a useful asset to the squad, although his role was largely restricted to that of a substitute. He did his cause no harm with goals in both games as Pools eliminated Premier League sides West Brom and Stoke City from 2008/09 cup competitions, but a year later he remained very much on the fringes. In February 2010, having made just two substitute appearances all season, Foley was released from his contract in order to pursue an offer from the US League.