According to a report by Alex Crook for TalkSport, Nick Pope has decided that he wants to stay at Newcastle United this summer...
Now don't get me wrong, I don't want to disrespect Pope in any way because the years he gave us while he was good, boy was he good. But what feasibly could be the reason behind that decision?
Now I don't want to take the report as gospel, mainly becaue it comes from a source who claimed we'd have an 'uphill battle' on our hands to retain the services of Lewis Hall with Manchester United willing to pay up to £60m...
But we'll humour it nonetheless because if it is true, it is a completely ridiculous decision for Pope himself.
Why would Pope want to stay??
I hope for his own sake that any substance behind him wanting to stay doesn't come from a place of genuinely thinking he can challenge for a starting spot this season because he is quite simply nowhere near.
Maybe he doesn't quite realise it yet but both of those goalkeepers we signed this summer have been brought in because of how poor he has been over the past couple of seasons. I mean, we'd have had close to double figures more points if we'd have had a competent pair of hands between the sticks last season alone.
And this is perhaps why I don't necessarily believe the reports, despite how wide they have spread. In what universe would, firstly, any sane person be delusional enough to believe they are still in contention or even able to regain a starting spot from the 3rd choice position behind two young and exceptionally talented goalkeepers?
And secondly, why would a 34-year-old coming to the end of his career not want to seek out a club where he can be first choice and enjoy his last few years before winding down into retirement... although the job of a third choice keeper is rather appealing to be fair.
Could keeping Pope around actually make sense?
Now this is probably a much more plausible reason for Pope sticking around, at least in my eyes.
If Newcastle were to let Pope go, that would automatically promote Mark Gillespie to third choice. Which, let's say in some freakish world both Hornicek and Jaouen get injured, would be a rather disastrous outcome.
So, although nothing about Pope has even whispered competent in the last year, maybe allowing him to stay on the books to protect against any possible shenanigans actually makes a bit of sense. If it absolutely came down to it I'd much prefer him for three or four games than Gillespie.
Many fans would conceptualise any decision to keep Pope as a travesty and a further indication that the club is going in the wrong direction, but to me, having him as a third choice and a little bit of a mentor to the new young blood brought to the club wouldn't be as big of a nightmare as the surface may suggest.
The negative message it does send
From the club's perspective, I suppose the main negative presented if Pope decides he wants to stay and does so as a result is that we've essentially then let a player who we wanted to get rid of entirely dictate their future.
I get in certain circumstances back tracking on the decision to find a new home for a player, but for Pope that doesn't really seem to make much sense.
Now there's the possibility of not enough interest, which could be the case but you'd magine you could find some sort of suitor for a man with the experience of Pope. But barring that there doesn't seem to be any valid reason why the club would allow him to snub a move away.
Especially when Pope's contract runs out next year, so the alternative to getting at least some influx of cash is losing him on a free and having to replace him with yet another goalkeeper signing from the transfer kitty - a situation which feels almost worst case scenario at present.
Should the club adhere to Pope's wish to stick around, that would add him to a list of Bruno getting his wish, Sandro getting his wish, Gordon getting his wish and Isak getting his wish all in the last year - doesn't exactly present the club as a particularly strong force does it? More like a dog who has been taught how to roll over if anything.
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