8:49am Tuesday 16th December 2008
By Nick Loughlin
WHEN it comes to managers, Increased Oil Recovery – the owners of Hartlepool United – don’t do it the simple way.
Chairman Ken Hodcroft caught everyone, boss Danny Wilson included, out yesterday when he relieved the manager of his duties.
And it was the same story when Mike Newell and Neale Cooper were told they didn’t have a future with the club either.
It’s not the sort of mark Hodcroft wanted to make during the club’s centenary season, but one he felt was necessary.
Wilson was establishing Pools as a League One club – and that working with a reduced squad and a smaller budget this season.
It won’t be long before Wilson is back in football. One of the game’s nice guys, few managers have a reputation and standing in the game like he enjoys.
His arrival at Victoria Park in 2006 was something of a coup and, after a stuttering start, he got the club back on track in the aftermath of relegation.
Club records galore were broken and, while they fell short of winning the title, it was a season to savour.
The last campaign was a frustrating one for many.
Pools could and probably should have finished higher than 15th. They were pegged back by their rotten away form, but is the fourth highest finishing position in the club’s 99-year history really a bad thing?
This season, however, things didn’t take off or progress as H o d c r o f t wanted and things on and off the pitch had gone a bit stale.
B u t P o o l s a r e b e i n g expect - ed to compete against the likes of Leeds, Leicester and Huddersfield this season – clubs with far greater budgets, fanbases and potential.
In the summer, Wilson wasn’t given a free hand to reshape or revamp his squad, instead the same players he was in control of last time out were staying.
Three summer signings were permitted, only one of which, Ritchie Jones, has become a first-team regular.
Some of his previous signings didn’t work out – the arrivals of Danny Coles and Godwin Antwi on loan, Robbie Elliott and Ali Gibb amongst them.
But he also got Jones, Darryl Duffy on loan, Gary Liddle and Andy Monkhouse – while the £80,000 spent on Ritchie Barker proved the catalyst to promotion and his goals were a major part of last season too.
Equally Wilson puzzled many with his liking for playing players out of position and Antony Sweeney may now be eyeing up a return to midfield instead of learning how to become a defender.
Sometimes, however, it was out of necessity rather than choice.
Now the choice is Hodcroft’s as he looks to appoint his sixth manager. And don’t be suprised if he goes full circle and turns to the man who started IOR’s revolution – Chris Turner.
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