Looking back - a momentous week

By Albatross
May 19 2004

Has there ever been a better time to be a Hartlepool United fan? Second Division Playoffs, a successful youth team and reserve team, international callup for one of our players.... the answer is that we've never had it so good.

I don't know, you lose Internet Access for a week and everything happens! Pools make the playoffs after a distinctly unfixed but highly favoured draw, we're going to be live on Sky not once but twice, Eifion Williams gets called into the Welsh squad, Jim Provett wins Player of the Season, Jermaine Easter is released....

First of all a few reactions to last Saturday's result and playoff qualification. To say that every Poolie must have been highly delighted that we've finished in the top six is surely an understatement - we've proved pretty much every pundit and every fan of our opponents wrong, and have exceeded the expectations of all but the most optimistic supporters. Incredibly, it's the middle of May and the prospect of the opening fixture of next season being HUFC v Leeds United is still a possibility - we are still living the dream. With the Reserves and Youth Team picking up trophies this season as well, it's hard to argue that there has ever been a better time at the club - we have a strong squad, and players in the Youth Team proving that they are capable of stepping up to the seniors.

A remarkable achievement, and one that shows that Hartlepool, so long one of the joke clubs, the Cinderella of the Fourth Division complete with begging bowl and cast-off players, is now a force to be reckoned with. We may still be one of the minnows relatively speaking, and it's unlikely that we'll ever be giving the likes of Arsenal or even Tottenham regular hidings - but we mean business, and demand respect. The rest of Division 2 is only now waking up to that fact, and as a result playoff defeat would make next season all the tougher - but who would doubt Neale Cooper at the moment?

A sign of our increased status was the calling-up of Eifion Williams to the Welsh squad. While he would miss out should we make the playoff final, and you feel he is unlikely to become the regular partner up front for Robbie Earnshaw, it goes to show that we are attracting attention for the right reasons - and it may even make it easier to persuade some players to come to Pools, knowing that success at the Vic may well lead to further things. The first Pools Player in a Full International sqaud since Amby Fogarty - and I'd argue that Eifion's achievement is greater. Fogarty was already an international for Eire when he joined Pools - and on those days he was as likely to be called up on reputation as performances at club level; Eifion has managed to force his way into the full squad for the first time while playing for Pools.

The awards for Jim Provett were well deserved, and recognise the fantastic contribution he's made this season. When Cooper arrived, Provett was a rookie with one senior appearance to his name, and many Poolies (including this one!) considered Goalkeeper to be a problem position. Provett has turned that on his head, with keeping that has been in general consistent, competent and occasionally simply exceptional - I doubt whether anyone who saw his double save in the away game at Barnsley could honestly say they'd seen a Pools goalkeeper make a better one. Provett's ability and determination to take the chance he was finally given has been one of the highlights of a season littered with them.

Meanwhile, a number of players have ended their Pools career this season, most recently Jermaine Easter. Easter had never really made the impact we expected him to at Pools, and it was one of the most highly questionable decisions of Mike Newell's reign to give him a two year deal. That deal has now been terminated, and Easter will be hoping his performances while on loan at Cambridge will be enough to earn him a deal - if not at the Abbey, then elsewhere. Easter has joined the likes of Marcus Richardson, Paul Arnison, and Kevin Henderson in leaving the Vic, and there will no doubt be others following shortly - Mark Robinson and Anthony Williams almost certainly, but maybe others too.

For the moment though, Pools must concentrate on Bristol City and the playoffs. It's the fourth time in five seasons that we've had this situation: this time though the prize is immeasurably bigger. We may be the outsiders, but there's hope yet....