By Albatross
November 21 2002

After all the speculation of the last 2-3 weeks, HUFC have confirmed this morning that the Colin West - who has been in charge for two weeks since the departure of Chris Turner - is to follow him out of the club. Another announcement is promised today - but will we be counting the cost on Saturday? Colin West is leaving Victoria Park to join up with former boss Chris Turner at Sheffield Wednesday. The club made the announcement this morning initially via their SMS Service. A further announcement is due later today about the Manager role at Pools.

It's been two weeks since it was officially confirmed that Turner had left for Hillsborough, and since then West has been in charge of first team affairs, with Martin Scott stepping up from his Youth Team role to assist. His two games have seen an away win at Exeter and the cup draw at Southend. Rumours have circulated that he was going to take the Pools job - most notably in the Northern Echo last week - and also that his move to Wednesday was "imminent" since the Exeter game.

It had been thought - and the club had given reason to believe this - that West would remain as Caretaker for at least another week, with the games against Orient, Southend and Kiddiminster following in close succession. However things have moved on as the week has progressed, and so we now know that West is following CT.

West originally joined Pools as Turner's Assistant from Northwich Victoria in 2000, having joined the club after being released by Rushden. He made a couple of sub appearances without scoring but was never expected to contribute much on the playing side; his arrival instead marked an improvement in Pools form that saw us sneak into a playoff place for the first time. He'd had a long playing career that included spells with Sunderland, Rangers, Sheffield Wednesday and this Saturday's opponents Leyton Orient.

So where now for Pools? We do not know yet who will be in charge for the game at Brisbane Road, and although in Gordon Watson's words "The bus drives itself" this can't but help but distract the players from the task at hand. Given our abysmal record - and often performances - at Orient over the last few seasons this isn't the sort of news we wanted to hear.

The latest name to be floated on the Official Site's Messageboard is Mike Newell; the former Everton and Blackburn Striker is currently on the coaching staff at Tranmere. Whatever happens though, it's almost certain that there is now little chance of an internal appointment: Scott might find it a big step up from the Youth Team, and of the senior players none has even been on the coaching staff.

How much criticism the club takes will now depend on how fast the new man is put into position, and who that new man is. Hopefully all will be made clear later today.