By Albatross
June 29 2004

Chris Lumsdon is apparently going to be on trial with Hartlepool United when the players report for training towards the end of the week. The Barnsley player seems to have been stamped "not wanted on voyage" by Tykes boss Paul Hart. Lumsdon is a central midfielder, who was signed from Sunderland for £350K after a successful loan spell back in 2001. He impressed in their struggle against relegation, but then came in for a lot of criticism after he failed to play up to expectations in 2002/3.

The arrival of Gudjon Thordarsson as Manager seemed to rejuvenate the 24 year old though, and he was starting to get back to his best when Thordarsson was sacked and Paul Hart arrived. His face obviously doesn't fit with Hart, and together with our tormentor at the Vic Kevin Betsy, he has been told he can leave despite having twelve months to run on his contract.

Is it simply a case of face not fitting, or are there deeper issues behind Lumsdon's current state of freedom? Well, it is possible that Lumsdon didn't quite see eye to eye with one of his colleagues at the Yorkshire club.... remember the match at Oakwell back in February? Lumsdon was the player sent off for elbowing Chris Shuker - an decision that many Tykes fans at the time claimed was wrong, and saw the loanee winger booed for the rest of the game. Imagine his reaction when he was introduced a few weeks later to a new signing - one Chris Shuker!

This alone is unlikely to be behind the decision to release the Newcastle-born player, but it won't have helped his case. Barnsley are having a major clear-out over the summer and he is likely to have been one of the higher wage earners given he was signed by Steve Parkin in their Division 1 days for a sizeable fee.

It seems that Lumsdon gets on better with some managers than others, but Pools have little to lose by taking him on trial. As a central midfielder coming into a squad where we are already wondering whether someone like Gavin Strachan will make it beyond the bench on a regular basis, he'll have to be pretty special to convince Coops that he's worth a deal. In fact, it may be that Lumsdon is simply looking for someone close to home to train with while he looks for a deal. Watch this space....