The first in the a new series of opinion articles takes a look our Trimdon born keeper and asks can he be the man to fill Dimi’s shoes.
With Dimitrios Konstantopolous set to move to a championship side in the coming days many have expected manager Danny Wilson to bring in a fresh face to replace him, these people forget we already have a player who has played 88 times for the first team, Jim Provett.
Jim first made a impact when he was thrown in by former manager Neale Cooper in a League Cup game at Sheffield Wednesday. (This wasn’t his debut, that was an LDV Vans trophy game at Tranmere where he conceded five but who really cares about that?) He defended heroically that night keeping out Sheffield Wednesday and saving a penalty as Pools beat the former giants on penalties.
He was kept in the side for the next game and went on to keep 16 clean sheets that season, pulling off world class saves including a spectacular double save against Wycombe in October. He was awarded both the Players and Fans Player of the year awards after his stunning first season.
As Anthony Williams left the club Greek goalkeeper Dimitrios Konstantopolous was brought in to challenge Provett and they battled for number 1 jersey in the 2004/05. Provett handed in a transfer request citing his desire for first team football but this was eventually withdrawn.
Since then Dimi has gone from strength to strength yet I’ve always felt that if he went out of form or got injured we would be able to cope easily.
Although his height (5’10’) may be a problem on corners we have two strong central defenders capable of coping without needing a keeper rushing out to catch. In fact I would say that his height can help in some ways, it makes him very agile and means he can get down to the ground very easily.
He is also a fantastic shot stopper and I certainly can’t remember him rushing off the line for no particular reason like a certain other keeper did on occasion.
At very least he should be given a chance in pre season to get the #1 jersey, we’re going to have to bring in a keeper anyway if Dimi leaves and I’d rather some one who is at the club for the long term rather than a season long loan from Newcastle because that would leave us facing the same problems this time next year.
PooliePoolie
