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When caretaker manager Micky Barron introduced 17-year-old Amble born Luke James to Hartlepool United’s first team on the 17th December 2011 against Colchester United, not many people knew who he was. He made his debut coming off the bench in that game to replace James Brown (remember him?) in the 46th minute in a 1-0 defeat for Pools but impressed the Victoria Park faithful. Luke James made his first starting appearance on Boxing Day of 2011 in a 1-0 win over Oldham Athletic, winning the Man of the Match award.
Following the appointment of Neale Cooper as first-team coach in January 2012, James continued to impress and winning Man of the Match performances in a Pools team that was struggling after a great start to 2011/12. Pools needed a new lease of life, a new star they could look forward to watching every Saturday, and the fans were impressed by this youngster who was certainly the talk of the terraces. If his performances didn’t impress fans, what came up in January certainly would have. James scored his first Hartlepool goal in a 2-0 win over Rochdale in January 2011 – a 25-yard-old volley that killed off the game and raised the roof off Victoria Park.
At 17 years and 64 days, Luke became the youngest ever player to score for Hartlepool United. He was already a fans favourite within two months of making his first-team debut and eventually attracted interest from Celtic, Newcastle United and Bolton Wanderers . James ended up winning Pools’ Goal of the Season and finished the season making 19 appearances and scoring three goals. The next season was a disappointing one for Hartlepool United and Luke in particular. Hartlepool started the season by beating Scunthorpe United at home in a 2-0 win in which James scored the second goal after new singing Jonathan Franks scored the first. That was Hartlepool’s last win until December 29th when Pools were in a relegation fight. Manager Neale Cooper resigned in October and John Hughes became the new manager after leaving Livingston in Scotland, faced with the challenge of keeping Hartlepool up – one he failed to accomplish.
John Hughes didn’t play James a lot and was restricted to playing games after coming on from the bench and when he did come on, it was too late to make an impact. Pools went on a good spell in February and staying up looked likely. Pools came from behind to beat Leyton Orient with two late goals, one from Peter Hartley in the 88th minute and one from Luke James in the 94th. There was a genuine belief and feelgood factor around Hartlepool United again and John Hughes had pressure on him from the fans to start playing Luke James a lot more. Hughes’ response was that he wanted to protect James from injury, as he had a recent history of picking up niggles. The Hartlepool fans and Luke James himself were frustrated not to see the 18-year-old play more as it was evident he was becoming Pools’ main man, a player who could light games up with his hard working efforts and his knowledge of football. Despite Hartlepool’s best efforts, in April they were relegated to League Two with two games left to play. One of the games prior to relegating was away to Tranmere Rovers, a game where Luke James did start and boy, did he impress!
Pools won the game at Prenton Park 1-0 via a Neil Austin goal from a neat follow up as Simon Walton’s penalty was parried back out into the box. Luke James put his usual 110% effort in, terrorising Tranmere’s defence and creating a number of opportunities. He was subbed off towards the end of the game to a standing ovation from the whole ground, Tranmere and Hartlepool fans applauding James off after an impressive performance. Then came the game against Brentford at Victoria Park in a game which meant nothing to Hartlepool but meant promotion for Brentford if they won. Pools took the lead in the first 2o minutes when Luke James scored and once again impressed everyone in the stadium.
Facebook and Twitter went crazy for Luke. Fans across the country were telling their clubs to sign Luke James from Hartlepool. This was the start of the plaudits he undoubtedly deserved. Pools ended the season with a 2-2 draw at Crawley Town in which Luke James set up one of Andy Monkhouse’s goals to draw the teams level. He made 25 league appearances and again scored thre goals. He also picked up the League One Apprentice of the Year Award in March 2013 at The Football League Awards andattracted more interest from Championship and League One clubs. In May, John Hughes and Micky Barron had their contracts terminated by mutual consent and the Monkey Hangers brought in Colin Cooper and Craig Hignett.
Cooper, 46, was Middlesbrough’s youth coach prior to taking the Hartlepool job and was linked with the job when his namesake Neale Cooper resigned in October 2012. Pools started off slowly to life in League Two in a 3-0 defeat to Rochdale on the opening day, in which James didn’t start. Hartlepool went on a terrible run of form in which they barely scored, but that run emphatically ended in September when Hartlepool thumped Bradford 5-0 in the Johnstones Paint Trophy, James scoring the first with a cool header from close range. Finally, we had scored a goal!
Luke James continued his good form, scoring both goals as Pools drew 2-2 against Bristol Rovers at the Memorial Stadium. Seven days later, he scored in a 2-1 defeat to Oxford United. A great addition to his consistent hard working performances as he certainly deserved the goals. After the Oxford disappointment, Pools beat Mansfield Town 4-1 at The OneCall Stadium in a shocking win, Pools ending their bad run of form. Luke was back on the scoresheet the next week in a 3-0 win at Exeter City when he scored a cheeky chip over the goalkeeper after an outstanding ball from winger Jack Compton.
Pools then had Plymouth Argyle at home, a game where Pools were on the back-foot for most of the game after Jack Compton was dismissed for a stupid lunge on Plymouth’s Jamie Reckford. Pools needed inspiration and a hero on the pitch to help them win the game. Up stepped Luke. He dragged two defenders along with him and found his way into the 18 yard box to slot a cool finish home. James’ goal was compared to Michael Owen’s against Argentina in 1998, which is a brilliant compliment if you’re a budding goalscorer.
Luke James is now the name on everyone’s lips in League Two at the moment. Adrian Durham from talkSPORT has been raving about him and Jeff Stelling has since made a lot of Luke James references in his tweets on the social networking site Twitter, which shows he’s evidently a fan of James.
I’ve always been a fan of the youngster. I see him as that special player that can be the catalyst in a game and help you win games. I laugh at fellow Pools fans when they brand him as ‘over-rated’ as I think he is genuinely what we’ve lacked in recent years at Hartlepool United. A prolific goalscorer. Yes, his finishing may need some work and he may need to hit the gym a bit but he’s still young. His movement, heading, jumping and determination is all second-to-none and what makes him a brilliant striker, he’s the closest we’ve had to Pools legend Joel Porter we’ve had in years and he earns praise from his fellow team-mates everyday, so it’s clear to see how much he’s liked and how good his team-mates see him. I think the interest from better clubs than us is good to see and I hope that can motivate him to keep impressing and keep scoring many goals.
