Ex-Newcastle United and Sunderland man joins struggling non-league side after shock departure
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Newcastle United latest news: Former Newcastle United and Sunderland coach, Elliott Dickman, has joined Hartlepool United.
Former Newcastle United Under-21’s lead coach Elliott Dickman has joined non-league side Hartlepool United as Simon Grayson’s new assistant manager.
Dickman joins the coaching set up at Pools just a few months after leaving South Shields FC. The former Magpies and Sunderland coach had spent two years at the Mariners, but was relieved of his duties as first-team manager in May.
Speaking about joining Pools, Dickman said: “I am thrilled to be given the opportunity to work with Simon and everyone at the club,” he told the official Pools website following his appointment.
“The chance to get back into senior football is exciting. This club has a great set of players with excellent potential, so I look forward to working with them. I'd like to thank everyone at Hartlepool United for the opportunity to get back on the grass.”
Dickman joins Pools after the shock departure of Neil McDonald. McDonald was named as Grayson’s assistant manager back in August but parted ways with the club on Sunday.
As a player, McDonald represented Newcastle United, Everton, Oldham Athletic, Bolton Wanderers and Preston North End before moving into coaching after retiring from playing. After brief spells as a manager himself, McDonald has predominantly spent his coaching career as an assistant coach, working under Sam Allardyce, Phil Brown, Graham Alexander and most recently Grayson.
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Nicky Featherstone will continue to work alongside Grayson with Dickman also assisting the Pools head coach as they aim to turn around their fortunes after a poor run of results.
Hartlepool United’s Enterprise National League struggles
Pools currently find themselves in 12th place in the Enterprise National League table having taken 18 points from 14 matches. However, defeat against York City at the weekend saw Grayson’s side suffer successive league defeats and extend an unwanted record that has seen them win just one in ten league games.
Hartlepool United are also the division’s second lowest scorers, having found the net just 13 times in their 14 outings thus far: “We played against a really good team,” Grayson told The Red Radio following Saturday’s defeat against York City.
“We know what they can do, they're one of the favourites for the division. I thought we got a lot of aspects of things that we'd worked on right, we pressed high and we got after them early on in the game.
“Once they had the ball, we wanted to make sure that we dropped and made it difficult but we still looked a big threat going forward at times.”
Former Newcastle United academy player Jamie Miley is on the books at Pools, and it was a controversial incident involving the midfielder that led to York’s first goal on Saturday: “The goal was a disappointing goal because Jamie Miley's kicked the ball out of play deliberately because it was flat,” Grayson continued.
“Someone hasn't relayed the message, the referee or whatever, and they've thrown it into play, 30 seconds later they've scored.
“It's all ifs, buts and maybes and stuff, but that didn't give us the opportunity to get the first goal. We kept going, I don't think I can fault the players for their effort, desire and hunger.”