im yet to see anything to suggest he can hack it at this level at this moment in time.

I know chip and madjohn have seen him a lot more and strongly disagree with me.

If we are playing 5 in midfield then that may increase his chances of playing at some point.

I also rate him, but only as a prospect. At this moment in time that is all he is and all he is allowed to be. Only a run in the team will really answer your question.
The reserves are at Rotherham this week and the away support will probably consist of me, unless you care to join me, Dibbs. Then you can have a look at him yourself.
Just to expand the discussion..........I am surprised Mr Rowell hasn't been loaned out a bit more. A few games getting roughed up in the non league environment wouldn't go amiss.

yes but these people see humphreys and sweeney getting a game when neither of them probably deserve too so far this season. Rowell seems to have very little chance of breaking into the 1st team at the minute irrelevant of how well the midfield are playing.

He should be loaned out.

The lad is by all accounts a class act and not a baby any more, he's 20 ffs!

I've heard it said that he is better than James Brown so why he isn't in the team baffles me.

the few times I've seen him in the reserves he looks easily a cut above
His cameo appearance v Leicester in the JPT game last season showed what he can do - he immediately shone against their midfield who had been taking the piss all game

But we'll stick with Sweeney who hardly ever touches the ball, and when he does he has to chase after it cos he can't control the thing - and Humphreys who hasn't made a tackle for 2 years now. Time moves on and if the team wants to progress then it has to be "out with the old" at some stage

I see Sweeney is talking nice and positively in the Hartlepool Mail today.............

i have seen him for the reserves quite a few times and impressed by his passing and running.

I find him, at times, defensivley naive which is why he would benefit from playing in a five man midfield in the first team to toughen him up both physically and cognitively.

He should not be allowed to follow the routes of the likes of rae, tymon, young, jones ad inifinitum.

No doubt he'll end up on loan at Blyth soon

From the Northern Echo.....

With Pools dropping closer to the League One drop zone after just two wins in 13 games, they face Leeds, Huddersfield and Millwall in their next three matches.

"We’re playing a few teams who, at the start of the season, nobody would have expected us to get any points against,’’

That is Sweeney in the Echo today. Is it just me then who expects that over 6 games we will takes some points off these teams? Certainly at least against Millwall and Huddersfield. Was our 3 nil win over Millwall in December a big upset? Huddersfield we have played many times in the past and won.

Is this a reflection on the teams attitude toward these games? If it is then CT's mindset has obviously rubbed off.

I think it is abundantly clear it has
Is this the same Sweeney that played in the 2 play off seasons at L1 level?

Get him in there now, freshen things up and give him a chance toshow people what he is all about. Otherwise he will end up like the others who in some cases are not giving a fair crack. the turnbull twins were certainly good enough. rae scored goals and was never given a go. whats happend to tymon and foley? gott looked as though he could handle this level, tait was another who i liked the look of, billy gruelic come on aginst kettering and hasn't featured since. i just think that with 2 wins from the last 13 we eed to change things some how, so why not give some of the yungsters a chance

forgive me for picking faults, but if they were certainly good enough, why aren't they playing league football now?

that i cannot explain. they are both playing at a reasonable level if i am correct in thinking that one is at gateshead the other at blyhte? i certainly feel from what i saw of steven under paul stephenson that he was our best player towards the end of our relegation season.

Our policy is to keep youngsters firmly in check until weve coached any modicum of flair or inginuity out of them. Then stand back and watch their fortunes tumble, till they end up playing in the Whitehaven and District Sunday League Third Division, and can only keep a rugby ball up for 2 kicks.

Man Utd/Chelsea/Arsenal and Liverpool actually subsidize us to do this, for fear of future competition.

Given our pisspoor form Rowell deserves a start. I'm not sure he's completely ready for League One yet but given the performances of a number of the first team squad I think he deserves a chance.
I've seen him progress over the last 3 years or so & he is certainly a player who is constantly improving.

Cook
Sharples
Cherel
Clark
Purvis
Foley
Rowell
Humphreys
JAF
Tymon
Greulich

Could be the team for next season.

Mr ADG, you have a pm.

the pisspoor form could also break the lads confidence it would be easier to play him in a winning team instead of one thats scratching around for points

say if we sent rowell on loan would you allow him to go to darlow?

[quote="MadJohn"]

Turner appears to judge him using different criteria to other midfielders, which I don't think is fair. All of our other midfielders make errors but in their cases it seems they are just errors; in Rowell's it is inexperience. /quote]


I think this is a fascinating point. There's so much 'individual psychology' giong on in football and many people don't realise that what they're 'seeing' says as much about them as it does about 'reality'.

What we need is an objective manager with no preconceptions........a bit like a theatre director with an eye for talent, plot and team-work .