Nathan Luscombe

Gateshead born midfielder Nathan Luscombe came through the ranks at Sunderland, and impressed against Pools reserves on a couple of occasions during his time on Wearside. His last couple of years at the Stadium of Light were interrupted by injury and he wasn`t surprised to be released in April 2011. He had joined Pools on trial earlier that same month and played a couple of matches for the second string. He did enough during his time at the Vic to be offered a permanent deal, and joined the club in the summer.

There were some initial concerns regarding fitness, with the player himself admitting to being “embarrassed” by photos showing him to be overweight in pre-season training. He vowed to put this right with extra training though this did not appear to come to fruition. Luscombe was excluded from the 2012 summer tour of Holland, with manager Neale Cooper reported as “raging” over the condition in which the midfielder returned to training. Luscombe was released in the summer of 2013 having started just six competitive games during his two years at the club. He scored once, and excellent strike against Exeter City.