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