By Albatross
July 9 2003

Former Northampton defender Richard Hope is training with the club, having done the same recently with Darlington. He's going to have to seriously impress Neale Cooper if he wants a more permanent arrangement at Hartlepool United. And some of our former players have been in action as well. Hope has joined in the training at Pools after previously doing the same at local rivals Darlington. The Stockton-born defender played for the Quakers after being released by Blackburn without making an appearance, before joining Northampton and playing more than 150 times for the Cobblers. He left earlier in the summer.

He's not especially well thought of by some at Northampton though; apparently he was prone to lapses of concentration, and gave away a good few goals. Having been part of a defence that's suffered relegation to the Third Division is not necessarily a good commendation....

It looks a lot like Hope wanted somewhere to keep his fitness up, and possibly have a chance of signing a deal; that doesn't mean he's going to get one at Pools, and the comments from Neale Cooper indicate that it's more a case of allowing him to train as a courtesy and having a brief look than a serious trial. The real test of whether he and Paul Robinson have a chance of joining Pools is likely to be whether they are taken on the Holland trip.

Cooper has also said though that he's not going to be rushed into making signings; and the time to panic is not now anyway. Although clubs are starting to sign people up, there are still plenty looking for new contracts, and I still think players will hold out as long as possible before lowering their wage demands; only then will we see many clubs making serious moves for players.

Elsewhere, three players who started last season in our colours appeared for Sheffield Wednesday in Holland last night. Graeme Lee scored a hat-trick of headers, with Paul Smith providing the ammunition from the corner flag, while the on-trial Gordon Watson netted the final goal of the 5-0 defeat of VV Dovo. Whether this will be enough to help Flash join the growing band of former Poolies in Sheffield is another matter.

Our own Dutch Tour will kick off next Wednesday against TOP Oss of the Dutch second division, and then we play Heerenveen of the Dutch first on Friday. Both teams should offer considerably more opposition than Nootdorp and Theole last season, and with any luck Cooper will learn more about the players under his command than Chris Turner did from last year's back to back 12-0 wins.