My best eleven

Phil Turnbull gives us the rundown on his most talented team-mates he had played alongside. Phil, player of the year last season, started his career at Hartlepool United and after almost a decade with Gateshead joined Darlington in 2015

Goalkeeper: Adam Bartlett

“I spoke to a few people just before he came to Gateshead and they were raving about him saying how good he was and when he came in he was unbelievable. He is meticulous, so professional, and he should be playing at a higher level, maybe his height goes against him because he’s only about 6ft 1in, but I don’t think I saw him make a mistake in two or three years playing with him.

Defender: Craig Baxter

He’s the most consistent player I’ve played with. I was in the same team as him for eight years and I don’t think I saw him have a bad game. He’s a typical Geordie, loves a bit of a battle, but he likes getting forward as well as he’s got a bit of quality in him. On top of that, he’s a great lad, a belting lad to be in the changing room with you.

It seemed to be the case that every manager who came in would question him, but I never saw him have a bad game.

Defender: James Curtis

In my time at Gateshead he was the most influential in all the success we had. He was unbelievable on and off the pitch, a big character in the changing room. I played with him for eight or nine years and don’t think I saw him lose a header once.

He’s one of my close mates, but in training he would lay one in on you because he was 100 per cent and would not accept anything other than winning.

Defender: Gary Brown

The impact he had on the team when he came to Darlo was massive. I’ve played under some good captains, but there’s something about Gary that makes him a proper leader of men inside and outside of the changing room. He’s got a presence about him and you know that when the going gets tough you can stand behind him.

Defender: Terry Galbraith

His delivery is the best I’ve seen, the left foot is an absolute wand. The trajectory of the ball is always exactly the same so our centre-backs know exactly where to run because it will always be in the same place. He’s another one that doesn’t make mistakes, Mr Consistent.

I got a call in March from a League One club asking my opinion on Terry and I said he could step up to that level not a problem. I’ve played with people who’ve played in League One and Terry’s way better than them in my opinion.

Midfielder: Marcus Maddison

I played with him at when he first came to Gateshead and he was a bit of a Charlie really, but it got to Christmas time and he was phenomenal, probably the best I’ve played with in terms of natural ability. I remember in training once someone played a 40-yard pass to him and he just trapped it between his legs, then took a touch to knock it past the full-back and then scored - I don’t know how he did it. He was just on another level and deserves to play at a higher level.

Midfielder: Kris Gate

The most unselfish midfielder I’ve played with, he used to go around doing everybody’s graft for them. He was constantly positive, always had a smile on his face and you knew that if you were going into a battle you had a good partner alongside you.

Midfielder: Jon Oster

I’ve played with people who’ve played in the Prem and sometimes you can’t see it and you think they’re not that much better than you, but Jon was like a magician. He’d do things and leave you thinking how did he even think of doing that? He was two seconds ahead of everyone. He must’ve been 36 when he came to us, but always had the same build.

Midfielder: Stephen Thompson

He’s the best player at the club and on his day he’s a match-winner. At any level of football having a match-winner is invaluable. He’s got so much quality in his passes, his shots and his volleys and it makes you wonder why he’s not played at a much higher level. For me he could play in the Championship. I’d heard about him before I came to Darlo, and he’s impressed me even more since I came here.

At the end of last season when the pressure was on you needed players to step forward and he did that. One of the games at Spennymoor he took charge and won it for us.

Forward: Lee Novak

We’d got off to a decent start in the Conference North and then Lee came in from Newcastle Blue Star and he was scoring goals for fun and we went on an unbeaten run. I think he scored a hat-trick in four minutes and you couldn’t begrudge him his move to Huddersfield because he deserved to play higher. He’s an absolute tank, he’s athletic and he’s a quick, he’s got a bit of everything.

Forward: James Brown

Probably the unluckiest player I played with because when he first came on the scene his ability was unreal, but he had two cruciate injuries and did his ankle once and he never recovered. He would go past people as though they weren’t there. Celtic and West Brom both had £1.5m bids accepted, I think it was on a Friday, and the next day Hartlepool had a friendly. I think he had a crap pair of boots on, there was nobody near him and he went over and did his cruciate. It’s horrible to say it but he was never the same again.

Substitutes

Stephen Turnbull

When we played in youth team games together he used to run games and we had a telepathic relationship, we knew what each were going to do.

Ben Clark

He was a great captain to play for and did big things at Gateshead, a pleasure to play with.

John Brackstone

When I was a kid coming through at Hartlepool and he had the best left foot I’ve seen until I saw Tez. We played in a youth team tournament in America and people were raving about him.

Mark Tinkler

I used to look up to him when I was coming through at Hartlepool. He used to look after all the young lads and he had the best diagonal pass I’ve ever seen, he would spray balls all over the park.

Manager

Martin Gray and Gary Mills

If you combine them two you’d have a Premier League manager. Martin’s meticulous and is 100 per cent, if you don’t do the business he’ll be down your throat. You don’t get a rest day under Martin Gray.

Gary Mills does a lot on the psychology of the game – he talks about being mentally tough. He’d say you have to be mentally strong for 90 minutes and I had my most successful couple of seasons under him.