Hoops off to be a Hoop

There was plenty of speculation about the future of former Shrimper striker Gary Hooper at Championship side Scunthorpe United, as his manager Nigel Adkins named him on the subs bench for a friendly against Sheffield Wednesday, but Hoops did not appear for even the pre-match warm up, and certainly never looked likely to enter the field of play!

And after the game, Adkins confirmed that Scottish media reports saying Hooper was to join SPL giants Glasgow Celtic were correct.

Adkins told www.scunthorpe-united.co.uk: "I think there has been talks between Celtic and our chairman (Steve Wharton) but the fact of the matter is Gary has not signed anything yet. I would imagine something will materialise over the course of the weekend and that is why Gary did not figure for us today. I had planned to play Gary but I was made aware of the situation before the game and I did not want to put him in a situation where he could risk injury.

The transfer now looks odds-on to be completed, with the 22-year-old striker on his way to Glasgow for a fee of £2.4m once he passes his medical on Monday.

And when it happens, chairman Ron Martin, sorry I mean Southend, would pick up around £450,000 due to a sell-on clause in his contract when the former Grays hitman signed for the Irons a couple of years ago for £175,000 in the summer of 2008.

Which is not bad as we got less than 200k for Lee Barnard, while ex-Captain Adam, Macca, Mildy and Simon Francis have gone for nothing to save on wages.

Add the Bailey payback dosh which should be on it's way from Charlton very soon and that could mean a three quarters of a million windfall heading down the Arterial!

That might help making the high court believe we're solvent!

So please Ron, give the PFA their loan back so the transfer embargo is lifted and we can keep our new management team, as well as the twelve players they've signed so far!

Hooper has scored 50 goals in 95 appearances for the Irons, smashing in 30 when they gained promotion through the League One play-offs last season, and 20 more in the Championship when he was playing in a struggling side.

It's no wonder then that Celtic, who have been favourites for Gary's signature for a while now, have been sniffing around the player that only scored 4 times in 44 games in his time at Roots Hall, most of those coming on as a sub, though I was at Bournemouth he scored one of those in a 4-1 win, and for one game showed what he could have done for us.

Hoops was very good that day, and good luck to him on his latest move if it comes off, and Uncle Ron will be praying it does.

The Hooper Files

Personal information
Full name	Gary Hooper
Date of birth	26 January 1988 (1988-01-26) (age 22)
Place of birth	Loughton, England
Height	1.77 m (5 ft 9+1⁄2 in)
Playing position	Striker
Club information
Current club	Scunthorpe United
Number	10
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
2004-2006	Grays Athletic	69	(20)
2006-2008	Southend United	32	(2)
2007	→ Leyton Orient (loan)	4	(2)
2008	→ Hereford United (loan)	19	(11)
2008-	Scunthorpe United	80	(43)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 16:01, 18 May 2010 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals).

(Player information supplied by Wikipedia, for the full article go here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Hooper)