By Albatross
June 12 2003

Roadmaps seem to be the in thing at the moment, so here's the Hartlepool United one: it looks like we'll be waiting for a while yet to find out who the new manager will be.

The new boss will apparently be appointed in the next two weeks; a timescale that puts us at the back end of June. In a statement released on the Official Site, Hodcroft explained that the expected large pile of applications has been whittled down to a couple of dozen serious applicants, and first interviews should take place shortly; there will then be a reduction to a shortlist, with an evaluation and reference check taking place before (if necessary) a second round of interviews.

With more than 24 candidates to choose from, IOR have obviously decided that it's important to get this appointment right - and in so many ways you can't argue with that. The history of managers at Pools has more than it's fair share of hurried appointments that turn out to be disasterous. On the other hand, we're at a vital part of the pre-season, and it doesn't do much for Pools' chances of signing up some quality talent. Other clubs are already signing people up; Tony Crane has just joined Grimsby for example.

Any candidate that comes in will have to work very quickly indeed to assess the current squad, and then try and sign any new players he feels we need - and I can't honestly see us staying up with the squad as it stands at the moment. My opinion is that if he doesn't get the job, Martin Scott HAS to remain at the club at least in the short term; whoever comes in will find that Scott is in a great position to provide a detailed analysis of the players already at Pools. Given the limited timescale before the pre-season programme kicks off - our first game of this year's excursion to Holland is the middle of July - there won't be a lot of time to play with.

One other thing is that the club are - surprise, surprise - not going to give out the names of the people who have applied. All that Hodcroft has said is that some of the names mentioned in the media and on the message boards haven't even applied. So it's going to be two more weeks of rumours, claims to inside info - already people have said that it's official that Chris Waddle, and Colin Todd are about to be announced, and no little frustration as we wait to find out who will become our third manager in eight months.