By Albatross
March 8 2004

Hartlepool United are at the centre of some rumours at the moment, as Pools Online rounds up the news. There's been mixed fortunes for some of our loanees, and Cooper is rumoured to be chasing Clyde's Jack Ross - still.... Ross, captain of Clyde, is on record as saying that he's had offers recently to go south - and that with his deal expiring at the end of this season and nothing new currently on the table from his current club, he's seriously considering them. Yesterday's story is just the latest in a long line of rumours connecting Ross with Pools, and it may well be that he's turning out for us next season - transfer windows will prevent him moving any earlier.

That's not the only rumour circulating involving Pools though, with boss Neale Cooper being linked with the vacancy at Plymouth following Paul Sturrock's departure. Cooper himself has denied this, and the press in the South-West seem to think that the leading candidates are more likely to be Torquay's Leroy Rosenior and Yeovil's Gary Johnson; for the moment at least though Plymouth are unlikely to want to rock the boat and it would be no surprise to see Kevin Summerfield appointed until the end of the season.

It's been a busy time on the managerial front, with changes at Barnsley and Grimsby in the last few days to add to Sturrock's move to Southampton. Nicky Law has taken on the role at Blundell Park, while former Forest boss Paul Hart is the new man at Barnsley. This season has already seen ten clubs change managers - three of them due to bigger clubs coming in for them - and there are others starting to come under pressure. Sunday's defeat to local rivals Chesterfield has seen Chris Turner under fire at Sheffield Wednesday - the result being just one of a string of disappointments this season - while Wally Downes Brentford side have plunged into the relegation zone.

Meanwhile, the story Pools fans are waiting to hear about is whether Chris Shuker will stay at the club following his loan spell. When he first arrived, he indicated that he ideally wanted to go to a club in his native North-West - and with no permanent deal yet announced, it may be that Shuker and his agent will be looking at a few options that side of the Pennines before deciding whether they want to talk about a longer-term deal with Pools. If they do that, I doubt that it will cut much ice with Coops...

Elsewhere, Jermaine Easter's loan spell at Cambridge has drawn to a close, and there's an all-too-familiar tale coming out of the Abbey; although he has finally made a couple of first team starts, in a total of six appearance (four as sub) he's failed to find the back of the net despite showing some promise. Hitting the net isn't something Andy Appleby is finding a problem though - the youth teamer scored twice for Whitby on Saturday, taking his tally to six in six games. Mark Robinson has played twice for Scarborough, who have lost both games; and Tony Williams managed his second clean sheet of the season in Stockport's shock win over Bristol City.