News Roundup: Sweens, Ross to stay?

By Albatross
January 24 2005

It may be the Transfer Window, but the talk seems to be more of players staying at Victoria Park rather than moving on. Antony Sweeney has stated his desire to extend his contract, and at the moment at least it looks like Jack Ross will have to wait until the summer to move back to Scotland.

With the Evening Gazette reporting that Tony Sweeney is keen to extend his contract at Pools, it's to be hoped that the club will tie him down to a contract a bit longer than the twelve month option that they currently have. Sweens is certainly going about things in the right way as far as I'm concerned - he's scoring goals, making a real case for himself, and in the article seems to be saying that he's trying to prove himself worthy of a longer deal rather than simply assuming that he's deserving of one. With Sweeney increasingly looking like a vital cog in the team - how many points would we have missed out on if not for his goals - the fact that he's saying that he wants to commit his future to Pools is a big plus.

Sweeney has apparently been attracting attention from clubs in higher divisions - not surprising, as midfielders with an eye for goal are always likely to be in demand - and while he says he wants to play at a higher level, he also seems to think that he'd be best served by staying at Pools at least for the near future. The parallel to be drawn would seem to be with Tommy Miller - Sweens appreciates what Pools have done for his career, has a genuine affection for the club, and if he's under contract then even if he does move on Pools will benefit from a large transfer fee.

With Konstantopoulos and Boyd both attracting attention as well, we may soon have to have a Baden-Powell area for the visiting scouts - but it's also a sign of how well we are doing. Ten successive home wins in the league, coupled with improving away form, leave us looking solid as playoff contenders and with Hull and Luton not quite as far ahead as they were, a continued good run could see us looking at the teams ahead rather than the ones behind. We're currently one of the form teams in the division, and arguably Neale Cooper might be in line for Manager of the Month - although the two games that have had to be rearranged due to our FA Cup progress may prevent him picking up that award.

January has been a profitable month for Pools then, and it could get better if we can reach the FA Cup 5th round for the first time. Brentford will no doubt have something to say about that though, and given their home record - eleven wins from 14 in the league - Pools are unlikely to be favourites. However with a home defeat to Torquay on Boxing Day on their record, and Pools unbeaten in five away games, there's every chance that we will progress at Griffin Park. A full preview of the game will follow later in the week.

Meanwhile Darrell Clarke is preparing for his knee operation this week with the prognosis being that he'll be out for four weeks. Effectively this means his return to first team action is unlikely to be until early March, and whether he has another loan spell at that point is open to question; but with his contract rapidly running out he's running out of opportunities to prove that he's worthy of a new deal. I can't help but feel for Darrell; and hopefully the club will at least offer him a six month "Prove Yourself" deal to him if he doesn't get much first team action before the end of the season.

Elsewhere the other story this week looks likely to concern the movement (or otherwise) of Jack Ross. Falkirk are still supposed to be interested, but time is running out - we now have one week until the end of the transfer window, and Ross is still part of the Pools set-up. The indications seem to be that Ross will have to stay at Pools until the summer, if only because Cooper can ill afford to lose the former Clyde skipper at this stage - even with Barron looking to be fit in the near future, we'd be desperately short of cover. For the moment then, it looks like Jack will be wearing blue and white until the summer at least.