All Bets off as Kevin signs for Oldham

By Albatross
September 8 2004

After a few days of speculation, the news that Hartlepool United fans were hoping not to hear was confirmed this afternoon: Kevin Betsy has chosen to sign for Oldham Athletic ahead of Pools. Not only that - he could be playing against us on Saturday.

The news that Betsy is not going to be signing for Pools is sure to be met with some dismay and more anger by some Poolies - and the fact that he's gone to another team in the same division makes it that bit harder to swallow. Instead of lining up for Pools on Saturday, he's instead going to be playing against us - and with injury problems still rife in the Pools squad it's a blow that we could have done without.

Rumour had it that Oldham had offered a contract until the end of the season, while Pools had offered less money per week but a two year deal; whatever the negotiations that had been going on though, somewhere along the line a decision has been made on Betsy's value to the club and it's not been high enough to persuade him to stay.

The club's owners will undoubtedly be in for a bit of flak from some quarters; as I said a couple of days ago the signing or otherwise of Betsy was seen as a litmus test, and Pools have failed to make a substantial enough offer to get the player to sign up at Victoria Park. Other factors may be in play too, but having spent a month at Pools should really have put things in our favour. Opinion is split - some will no doubt forecast a return to the bad old days of players seeming to sign for anyone but Pools, while others will prefer to point out that it's far better for the club to live within it's means now than suffer in the way so many other clubs have when the money to pay the wages runs out - as, ironically, Oldham discovered last season when their squad was decimated and their manager left.

As for me, I'm not quite sure what to think. Betsy would have been a more than useful addition on the right, a position we currently lack depth in, but without knowing the economics of the situation it's hard to come down on the side of condemnation of IOR - who have after all supported and developed the club significantly over the last few years, without an obvious sign of any financial return. Would I have liked to see Betsy lining up for Pools? Of course, but not at any cost. And unless Ken Hodcroft decides to "do a Reynolds" and publish all the details of what went on, we will never know what that cost was.

The next question then is who if anyone Cooper can bring in. Our squad is looking thin, and with Hugh Robertson still suffering with a foot injury, Mickey Barron only coming back for the last 20 minutes for the reserves today, Tinkler likely to be missing for a bit longer and Darrell Clarke also out of action we are short on experience in the first team. Add in the fact that Eifion Williams looks likely to be out of action for the weekend, and some anxiety is to be expected. Coops has apparently handed a list of targets to Ken Hodroft- but would there be time to bring any of them in before the weekend anyway? Unless he can, Cooper could be faced with giving another youth teamer a squad number just to make sure we have a full complement of substitutes....