Young centre-back Gordon Simms spent much of the 2001/02 season on the fringes of the Pools first team squad. With Micky Barron, Graeme Lee and Chris Westwood all excelling at centre-back, Simms found opportunities hard to come by, and he left the club in 2002 to return to his native Northern Ireland, a country he had represented many times at youth and under-21 levels.