By Albatross
August 1 2003

Following the signing of Andrew Jordan, another familiar surname will take the field against Newcastle tonight. Gavin "Son of Gordon" Strachan is having a trial at Hartlepool United and will be looking to impress. Cooper of course played with Gordon Strachan at Aberdeen, and the 24 year old Gavin may well have ben guided in Pools direction as a result. He started off at Leeds as a Schoolboy before joining Coventry when his father went there. He made just seven starts and 16 sub appearances at Highfield Road though, and despite impressing on occasion has found himself out on loan to a couple of clubs - Dundee, Motherwell - before being released and then playing for Peterborough and then a brief spell at Southend towards the end of last season.

He was released by Southend by new boss Steve Wignall, who claimed that although he thought the young Scot had plenty of talent, he didn't think he'd fit in with the physical approach in Division 3.

Tonight won't be the first time some Poolies have seen him in action though. Strachan has recently been on trial with Sheffield Wednesday, and in fact played against Pools in the friendly at the Vic just last week.

Strachan has played for Scotland at u21 level, and is a good passer of the ball; when he joined Southend, he was quoted as saying "I like to try and get up and down and get the odd goal but passing is definitely the main part of my game." It could be that he will fit in well and take over the role that Tommy Widdrington did last season, but first he needs to persuade Cooper that he's worth a contract.

Following the signing of Andrew "Son of Joe" Jordan, will we be seeing more sons of famous Scottish Footballers at the club? Paul Dalglish has just signed for Linfield in Northern Ireland, but if he's linked to Pools you know where you heard it first.