By Albatross
February 3 2004

Hartlepool United have announced that right back Jon Bass has agreed a deal to be released from his contract and has left the club. Bass had yet to feature in the first team this season and leaves with less than 30 appearances in two and a half years. With Arnison's move to Carlisle finally completed yesterday, the news that Bass has been released by mutual consent means that we have fewer options on the right of defence than for some time - and just as Barron faces a game suspension. It also signals the end of any lingering hopes the Hartlepool Mail may have had to use "Double Bass" as a headline should the defender score a brace.

Bass arrived from Birmingham in the summer of 2001, following the release of Darren Knowles. Although he had made more than 60 starts for the Blues, he'd only briefly been seen as a regular at St. Andrews; reports were however along the lines of him being able to do a decent job for us.

However, Pools struggled from the start of the season and Bass - playing as a wing-back - was one of the players coming in for a lot of criticism. Although looking relatively solid defensively, he didn't offer much coming forward; and he had to wait until his eleventh game of the campaign to participate in his first win. Although the switch to 4-4-2 helped him, and he remained a regular until the end of November, there were few bright spots - one of those being his first (and indeed only) senior goal with a header against Rochdale. Barron was moved across to right back, and Bass was pretty well frozen out for the rest of the season - after making more than 20 appearances before new year, his last one came in January in the 3-0 defeat at Mansfield.

Since then he's been very much the forgotten man at Pools. He made just three starts last year - against Tranmere in the LDV as part of the reserves, in the disaster at Rochdale (where he had a decent game until a blooper in the second half that cost us a goal), and finally against Oxford when Barron moved into the middle due to Lee being suspended. Although he had played well coming on as a sub for Barron against Carlisle on New Year's Day, Bass faded from view again.

It was something of a shock when he was offered a new one year deal by Mike Newell, and since Cooper's arrival Bass has once more been confined to the reserves. Although his performances have impressed some, he's not done enough to force himself into Cooper's plans and seems to have agreed an early release to give himself the chance to find another club before the summer melee floods the market. At the age of 27 he will feel that he still has something to offer, but where that will be is anyone's guess.

With Barron missing out on Saturday through suspension, some had been thinking that Bass may finally get his chance in the first team - but with both of the obvious replacements leaving the club this week, the smart money must be on Chris Westwood to move across and Scott Walker coming in for his first appearance in the centre. Unless of course Cooper springs another new signing on us - watch this space!

Jon Bass's Pools Career: League - 21 starts, 3 subs, 1 goal; 1 start each in FA Cup, League Cup and LDV Trophy (no goals).