The New Signings - Part 3

Andy Morrell

Before - 8 Out Of 10
After - 8 Out Of 10

Not too dissimilar to winger Adrian Forbes who also recently signed, Andy hasn`t the greatest amount of skill but is a willing runner and always gives 100%, without fail. He seems to be a hit with Pool fans, especially after he salvaged a point for The Seasiders against rivals Oldham last month after he slotted home with moments left.

Since then, he and Big Ben Burgess have hit it off up front. The big and little combination is clearly working, and it remains to be seen how far they can go together.

Morrell started his league career at Wrexham (he was snapped up from Newcastle B-S) and scored 40 goals in just 76 starts. Andy was a late developer in football, and was signed for The Red Dragons when he was 24. He is now 32, after Pool clinched his signature in August from Coventry on a free. The Sky Blues hadn`t paid a fee either. He went onto score 17 in 53 starts for them. This wasn`t mainly as a striker however, as the management at Coventry played him on the right hand side of midfield.



Ben Burgess

Before - 9 Out Of 10
After - 9 Out Of 10

Big Ben is 'the` striker to have in League 1. I haven`t yet seen him lose a header, and he brings others into play excellently. Granted, his touch is a bit heavy, but that`s to be expected given his height and size, otherwise he`d be Peter Crouch. Him and Andy Morrell are a perfect foil for each other, and BBB needs a goal to get him going.

Fees totalling to around 600K have been spent on him so far, with Hull City and The Seasiders believed to have spent 100K each on the big target man. Stockport when they had a cheque book signed him for a whooping 400K in 2003 from Blackburn after his successful loan spell with Brentford. The distances he travelled when on loan were astounding. He first went out on loan to Northern Spirit in Australia (on loan!) then made the somewhat shorter trip to London and Griffin Park with Brentford - which is still a long way from Blackburn to go out on loan for a couple of months. Travelling these distances proves that Burgess was willing to learn his trade wherever and hopefully that hunger for football hasn't left the 25 year old.



Toronto`s The Man In The Chair

Right after the three part series, my team for The Seasiders to play would be.

GK - Rhys Evans
RB - Danny Coid CD - Ian Evatt CD - Shuan Barker LB - Paul Tierney
RM - Simon Gillett CM -Keith Southern CM - Claus Jorgensen LM - Wes Hoolahan
ST - Ben Burgess ST - Andy Morrell


You`re The Gaffer!!

Ok, I`ve said what I think on the Blackpool squad, now it`s your chance to show the World Wide Web who you think should be putting the tangerine (or maroon!) shirt on when Saturday comes. All you have to do is write a comment under this article and state who should be playing.



To relate back to the previous two articles in the series, click HERE FOR PART 1 OR HERE FOR PART 2

Click here to join in the debate on the club forum.