Provett withdraws Transfer Request

Staying
By Albatross
June 2 2005

Hartlepool United keeper Jim Provett has withdrawn the transfer request he made in April. The written request was turned down by the club - and now Provett has decided to tear it up. Meanwhile we still wait for news on the managerial situation.

Provett had originally requested a move towards the end of the season after he was left out in favour of Konstantopoulos for the game at Colchester; according to the statements released at the time he felt he was being made a scapegoat for a few things, and was unhappy at being dropped. Now however the Trimdon-born keeper has decided he's better off staying at Pools.

The problem Provett has though is that although he's apparently keen to fight for his place you won't find many that would pick him ahead of Dimi. His performance in the second leg at Tranmere was possibly the best I've seen from a Hartlepool United keeper; even without his penalty saves, he pulled off a string of stunning stops. His command of the area tends to be more convincing than Provett too.

So what has changed? Is Dimi on his way to bigger and better things, as has been speculated over the last few months, leaving Jim as the number one again? Has his agent been sounding clubs out without success? Has he simply decided that he'd prefer to stay in the North-East and fight for his place?

One thing I can't help wondering is whether there's anything in Provett's decision related to Cooper's departure. One theory (and I admit I'm speculating here) about what happened was that Coops had lost the dressing room - that effectively he'd fallen out with some or maybe even all of the players. Certainly we haven't always looked a happy ship this season; the team spirit that is apparently so sound at Pools has had to survive Nelson and Ross also handing in transfer requests, albeit for differing reasons. Meanwhile Mickey Barron seemed to be out of the picture as far as the first team was concerned for two months before Coops left - before playing a part in all of the games after his departure. Humphreys only signed his new contract after Cooper had gone. Yes it's circumstancial evidence if that - but it might explain a few things. Could it be that Scott is managing to sooth a few ruffled feathers? He certainly made a point when interviewed on Sky after the first leg of commenting on the fact that we had two good keepers at the club, and that it's not easy keeping both of them happy; if I were Provett, I'd be encouraged to hear that.

While there's no news officially yet on the Managerial situation, I still find it hard to look beyond Martin Scott. He's done his time with youth and reserve teams, steered us into the playoffs and then the final, and had the good sense after the final to steer clear of saying anything controversial about the penalty that might have got him into trouble. Given the way IOR tend to work, I think we can expect either Scotty to get the job or an invitiation for applications to be issued in the very near future - early next week if not this.

Meanwhile it looks as though Thomas Butler may well be staying at Pools; he's told the Hartlepool Mail that he wants to stay in the North-East, and it sounds like negotiations are on-going.