By Albatross
July 2 2004

Hartlepool United will be playing in kit supplied by Nike in 2004/5, as widely rumoured. However, we are still waiting to find out what the new shirts will look like. There will also no doubt be complaints from the fans - it's the fourth home shirt in as many years. The deal with Nike has been long rumoured, but we are still waiting to find out officially what the new kits look like. Rumour has it that the home shirt will have broad stripes again, as opposed to the current pinstripe effect, possibly with a blue band at the bottom of it.

This does mean however that we will have a new home shirt for the third season running - and a new away shirt at the same time. With the price of a new shirt unlikely to be any cheaper, there's going to be more than a few fans unhappy with this decision - and with reason: at £40 a throw, this will be another expensive time for those that want to wear their club shirt with pride. One of the big questions as far as I'm concerned though is about supply of the new shirts - will Nike (via the Durham-based Just Sport Pro Club) be able to provide us with a decent stock where so many others - most recently TFG - have failed? We're a month away from the start of the new season, the kit hasn't been launched yet, and it usually takes several weeks to get a stock of shirts in - the signs are not good.

The other thing we're waiting to hear about on the Shirt front (sorry) is our new sponsor. DNO took on the deal when no-one else seemed to be interested, but have now ended their involvement; and once again rumours abound. KFC seems to be the name many fans are touting - although there has also been speculation that another of the IOR group of companies is going to step in.

Elsewhere, there's been good news for Chris Westwood. The scan he had on Monday has been more positive, and an operation will not be needed for the Pools defender. He may yet be ready for the start of the new season, depending on how quickly he can step up his training.