Robbie Stelling discusses Reyes Cleary's starring role at Hartlepool United

Hartlepool Mail

On the latest episode of the Poolie Podcast, Rich Mennear and Robbie Stelling discuss Reyes Cleary's impact during his time at Hartlepool United.

Transcript

00:00Those three players you mentioned have certainly had an impact in the last few weeks,

00:02none more so than Cleary, on loan from West Brom.

00:05I know Lindbergh was asked to post-match the chances of keeping him for next season.

00:11Fair to say, he probably skated around it a little bit,

00:13but no doubt he would love to have him, or whoever the next Pilsmander is,

00:15would love to have him, if it's not to be Lindbergh,

00:18and those are the hopeful new owners.

00:21I'm sure whoever is in charge next season would love to have Cleary as part of the squad,

00:25but he does look quite the player, doesn't he?

00:27He probably, you would say, deserves a push a bit higher up the EFL pyramid next season.

00:35Yeah, it's an interesting one.

00:36The first thing I'd just say there, Rich, is I really do believe that Lindbergh has done enough

00:40to warrant leading the team next season, whoever that is making the decisions.

00:45I think he's navigated a really difficult spell really well,

00:49and I think fans are beginning to warm to him.

00:50So I certainly hope he's the man we see in the dugout next season.

00:54Whether he's going to be able to pick Cleary,

00:56well, you'd certainly suggest that that would be unlikely.

00:59Actually, from looking at the response to the article we did on the possibility of Cleary staying next season,

01:06I think a couple of fans pointed out that potentially the likeliest route

01:09is if he were to earn a new contract at West Brom and then come back on loan.

01:15You would imagine that if that were to happen,

01:17if he were to earn a new contract at West Brom,

01:19he's out of contract this season,

01:21but he said before that he wants to earn a new deal at the Hawthorns.

01:24That's his primary aim at the moment.

01:27I think if West Brom were to send him on loan,

01:29they'd probably favour a Football League move.

01:32Obviously, he spent the first half of this season on loan at Walsall

01:35and really struggled to make much of an impact there.

01:37I think only three substitute appearances in League Two,

01:40albeit for a Walsall side who, despite a difficult run of late,

01:43were really flying at the beginning of the season.

01:46I think we're 10 points clear at the top of League Two at one stage.

01:50We spoke to Cleary about that.

01:51He really had no problem with the fact that he wasn't able to break into such a successful winning side.

01:57That's sometimes just how football works.

02:00He's clearly a vastly talented player, isn't he?

02:02He's the archetypal sort of bums-off-seats style player.

02:06Whenever he gets the ball, you feel that collective intake of breath from Pools fans.

02:12He really always looks like he's going to try and make something happen.

02:15He's full of inventiveness.

02:17He's full of skill.

02:18He's full of flair.

02:19I think something that's probably gone unnoticed is that he does his defensive work really diligently as well

02:25because, of course, he's been played as a wing-back when throughout his fledgling career so far,

02:29he's operated either as a winger or a central striker sometimes for West Brom in the Premier League Two.

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