By Albatross
September 6 2004

The race is on: and the prize is the services of Kevin Betsy. After a month on loan at Hartlepool United, Pools find themselves having to compete for the signature of the winger and forward. Will his loan spell at Victoria Park sway him in our direction? With Oldham admitting that they are talking to Betsy and Port Vale also rumoured to be interested, Pools are facing a real battle if we are to sign him. The local Oldham paper seems to believe that Latics might have more money to offer him as apparently they had a sell-on clause with Southampton for Fitz Hall - who has just moved to Crystal Palace for £1.5million.

The thing that Pools will be hoping is an ace in the hole is the fact that Betsy has already played with us for a month and so knows what he would be walking into at the Vic; Oldham meanwhile are more of an unknown quantity. The big question though will of course be wages, and no doubt many will see the signing - or otherwise - of the former Fulham player as a litmus test of whether Cooper has much of a budget for new signings.

The clamour for evidence of money being available to strengthen the squad has grown steadily over the last couple of weeks, and it's fair to say that injuries to some players in key positions have thrown into sharp focus that we are struggling a bit with strength in depth. Barron, Robertson and Tinkler would all probably expect to be playing if fit - and with Clarke missing as well, cover on the right side in particular is limited. As a result Cooper has resorted to playing Williams on the right of midfield - a position that he often looks ineffective in despite his best efforts.

Saturday saw us with a very young bench - only Konstantopoulos over 20 - and to be honest we look down to the bare bones at the moment. Our squad of 22 includes at least four players currently injured - and it may be as high as six, with Jack Wilkinson recovering from knee problems and Andy Jordan also apparently suffering - although it looks doubtful that he'll feature for the first team again at any rate. That leaves the basic 16 - two of whom are still qualified for the youth team, and another three that are still in the first year of their professional careers.

The loan system may be something we can exploit a little more, but the problem facing Cooper on that front is again partly to do with wages and partly to do with who he can get. It's rumoured that Michael Chopra was a target for Pools - which may explain his display after scoring on Saturday - but that the club was put off by Newcastle's insistence that we pay in full his hardly inconsiderable wages, reputed to be a five figure sum weekly. Even then, Chopra is a long way from being the seasoned pro that we need to blend in with our young talent.

With wild rumour and speculation abounding, part of the problem is that quite simply nobody knows what is going on behind the scenes. We don't know how much money Cooper has available, or how much a player like Betsy is looking for; we don't know whether Cooper is spending long hours on the phone trying to bring players in, or sitting frustrated in his office playing with his model planes while trying to work out if he can afford a budget signing. In some ways this side of things is a bit like an Iceberg as far as the fans are concerned: we only see the things that come off, and the squad that's out there on a Saturday, and not the work and dealings that are going on behind the scenes.

In the meantime then we face an anxious wait to see which way Betsy will decide, and no doubt more debate about why Pools aren't bringing other players in. Whatever Kevin decides, we could well be seeing him on the pitch on Saturday - Pools are away at Oldham. Will it be Pools, or will it be Latics? Will it be someone else entirely? We should know by the end of the week - but Friday seems like a long way away....