Nicky Featherstone reveals why Pat Jones opted for Scunthorpe instead of Hartlepool United
The latest Hartlepool United transfer news ahead of the near 900-mile round trip to Truro this weekend.
Hartlepool United boss Nicky Featherstone has been reflecting on the decision of exciting winger Pat Jones to join National League rivals Scunthorpe United instead of Pools.
As previously reported by the Mail, Pools and Featherstone were keen to bring Jones to the North East and had a couple of bids rejected by Chester for the seven-times capped Wales Under-21 international. Rivals Scunthorpe eventually won the battle, the Iron officially agreed an undisclosed fee with the National League North club on Monday and the 22-year-old winger officially put pen to paper on a deal with the Iron on Tuesday and was handed an immediate debut as he came off the bench as a half-time substitute in his new side’s 2-1 home defeat against Sutton United just hours later.
Featherstone has confirmed that Jones was a target and while he was disappointed to miss out, he had a positive message for Pools fans ahead of next season. Featherstone was speaking ahead of the 870-mile round trip to Truro City this weekend. Pools are splitting the journey, they set off on Thursday and will stay the night in Bristol, before then training in Bristol on Friday and then completing the long journey to the south-west side managed by former Pools boss John Askey.
Speaking to BBC Tees at his pre-match press conference, Featherstone was asked about the club’s interest in Jones and he said: “Yeah, he was someone that we wanted to bring in. He's decided to go to Scunthorpe. I actually spoke to Pat after and asked if there was anything more we could have done to get him, just so we can learn from these things in the future.
“The decision was pretty much out of our hands in terms of, he felt Scunthorpe had the best opportunity this season of going up. I believe the club will move forward, us move forward into the next year and be a real force in the division if we don't make the play-offs this season. He's made a decision, he said it was a tough one and it was pretty much taken out of our hands if that's the case in terms of this season.”
Featherstone added: “He said it was a difficult decision, gutted to miss out on him because he is a player that I think the fans would take to, very direct. He's front-footed and he's aggressive with his play. We've lost out on a player, that's all it is. We'll get loads of different calibre of players and higher calibre of players wanting to come to us now. Things are changing slightly at the club. We miss out on this one but there will be other opportunities that come up for us.”
And the Pools boss confirmed the club remains active in the transfer market. He said: “All of a sudden we've gone from a really strong looking squad to pretty much picking itself and the squad this week. We've had a few injuries and setbacks. We'll be looking to improve. Defensively we're short on numbers so it's an area that we need to improve.” He added: “We're always looking to improve, like I've said in the past, we'll only bring players in if we feel that they will improve the squad.”
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