By Albatross
July 11 2003

Ricardo may be the one associated with us before now, but Marco is the only one that any Poolie will be talking about. The much-travelled striker with over 250 goals to his credit will be wearing a Hartlepool United shirt next season as Cooper makes his second remarkable signing. The 35 year old put pen to paper on Thursday afternoon, and will probably make his first appearance in Pools colours on the tour of Holland next week.

To say it a surprising move is something of an understatement. Gabbiadini had been training with Darlington, and many of their fans were hoping that the prodigal striker would be returning to them; instead, he's signed for their greatest rivals. Their state of mind at this move can only be imagined.

Of course, he wasn't necessarily popular with Poolies during that time; but it has to be said that a lot of that had to do with the fact that he was shooting the Loids to the edge of promotion, and was always a dangerous player to be facing. He scored three times against us in six games. The season the Loids made the playoffs he notched 28 in total, and of course got a somewhat "heated" reception at the Vic; however, from what Marco has told the official site he's prepared to let bygones be bygones and get on with the business of scoring goals.

Goals have come pretty much throughout Gabbiadini's career. He's averaged pretty much a goal every three games throughout a career that has seen him play (amongst others) for York, Sunderland, Derby, Crystal Palace and Northampton. While his average went down a lot at Northampton, he was in fact played as a wide player or attacking midfielder for much of the first two season rather than an out and out striker; when he reverted to playing up front last season, he scored 14 goals - including almost a third of the Cobbler's league goals - for a side that was by definition the worst in Division 2 by some distance; they finished bottom by 5 points, and were 11 away from safety.

What can we expect from Marco then? Well, he's not got a lot of pace now, and according to some Cobblers he's not a 90 minute player any more. But he will score goals, and should have a big influence on the side in a similar way to how Gordon Watson did; and if he can pass on some of his knowledge and experience to the likes of Eifion, Adam Boyd and others so much the better.

I'd still like to see us sign another forward - Gabbiadini is unlikely to play every minute of every game, so we need good backup for that reason alone - but Cooper is starting to plug the gaps, and with four weeks until the season starts it's looking more and more promising for Pools.