ALAN Gow was officially offered a contract to become a Blackpool player today.
The Seasiders have agreed a £200,000 deal with Rangers and all they need is the five-goal striker to sign on the dotted line.
The Gazette understands that Gow, who has started both matches since Tony Parkes took charge, has asked for a couple of days to mull over his options and could still pull out of the deal – either to try his luck back at Rangers or to wait and see if another English club comes in.
Burnley and Leeds are rumoured to be monitoring the situation.
But new boss Tony Parkes can't afford to concentrate solely on Gow.
He has the future of all his loan players to sort out, and although the caretaker boss is still hopeful of tying deals down, it appears that Pool may lose as many as five.
Steve Kabba has returned to Watford; Zesh Rehman is back at QPR; and keeper Graham Stack has rejoined Plymouth.
>> Edwards backs Parkes for Pool job>> Blackpool 2 Wolves 2 - full match report>> Canavan's blog: 'You don't know what you're doing'Lee Hendrie is unlikely to be a target, while the future of Adam Hammill is looking increasingly uncertain after the Liverpool winger was axed from the squad which faced Wolves last night.
That leaves Liam Dickinson and Kyel Reid, and both look likely to stay for a further month.
Dickinson, who scored four goals in his first two Seasiders appearances, has got the go-ahead from Derby caretaker boss Chris Hutchings to extend his loan to a second month.
However, the 23-year-old won't be available for Saturday's FA Cup tie at Torquay – he is suspended after picking up five bookings.
Reid went back to West Ham today for talks with Gianfranco Zola but Pool are very optimistic that the Italian will tell the left winger that his development is best served by remaining at Bloomfield Road for at least another month of first-team football.
That will be a big boost to Parkes, who has seen the left winger become a key player.
Parkes said: "We are on top of the loan situation and are working hard to sort out as many as we can.
"Alan Gow will be offered a contract and we'll see where we go from there. I'm quite optimistic about a few of the other players."
Asked why Hammill didn't feature against Wolves, Parkes replied: "I wanted David Vaughan on the bench and to get him involved.
"If you are a player and you've never been left out, then you're not a player.
"There is no divine right to be in the team. Once you've got the shirt, look after it and you will stay in the side."
Of the battling draw with Wolves, Parkes added: "We were the better team in the first half.
Wolves came back into it a little bit in the second half, but to come back twice against the league leaders shows a lot of heart and spirit."
