Confrimed - Abbey and Holmes going

[YorkshireRoyal99]

I think he might do well at Pompey, I wouldn't be surprised if they looked to utilise him as a holding midfielder, although that's because I've always thought he could do a decent job there. If you need a good tackler to literally just sit and protect your CB's whilst shifting the ball to the more creative footballers in the team, he would do well.

However when we used him there he never convinced, and did not look as comfortable as Craig does in the same role.

I think part of his weakness is that he wanders and does not have positional discipline. That's not so much of an issue when playing in a creative attacking role, but often left us exposed at the back without the pace to recover.

Yeah he'd still need work to develop into that role, but always thought he has a nice range of passing and a lack of mobility might support him in that role if he could just be that shield in front of the defence, again though, he'd need the right support alongside him but I could certainly see him being an effective player as a holding midfielder.

[WestYorksRoyal]

Courtney Friday reporting that Plymouth have enquired over Azeez, and decision is with Dai Yongge.

Big moment. If he's serious about selling the club, selling a player who would seriously harm our chances of staying in L1 is a grave error.

[Stranded]

Courtney Friday reporting that Plymouth have enquired over Azeez, and decision is with Dai Yongge.

Big moment. If he's serious about selling the club, selling a player who would seriously harm our chances of staying in L1 is a grave error.

If this is true, then wave bye-bye, will be stunned if he is a Reading player on Friday morning if so.

Azeez has 6 months left and will be very unlikely to sign a new deal unless a new owner really makes it worth his while - if Plymouth are offering a couple of grand it will be gratefully received even though Azeez is one of the few players actually worth taking the hit on losing for free as his goals/assists could be the difference between L1 and L2 next season (of we survive that long).

[Brogue]

Courtney Friday reporting that Plymouth have enquired over Azeez, and decision is with Dai Yongge.

Big moment. If he's serious about selling the club, selling a player who would seriously harm our chances of staying in L1 is a grave error.

If this is true, then wave bye-bye, will be stunned if he is a Reading player on Friday morning if so.

Azeez has 6 months left and will be very unlikely to sign a new deal unless a new owner really makes it worth his while - if Plymouth are offering a couple of grand it will be gratefully received even though Azeez is one of the few players actually worth taking the hit on losing for free as his goals/assists could be the difference between L1 and L2 next season (of we survive that long).

would we get more if it went to a compensation tribunal than what Plymouth is offering? if he ran down his contract but we offered him a new one, being an academy product and all that we would get a compensation fee. This is just a musing of mine rather than me expecting you to answer stranded, as obviously we don't know what Plymouth are offering, but perhaps that's something dai should consider.

[Stranded]

Courtney Friday reporting that Plymouth have enquired over Azeez, and decision is with Dai Yongge.

Big moment. If he's serious about selling the club, selling a player who would seriously harm our chances of staying in L1 is a grave error.

If this is true, then wave bye-bye, will be stunned if he is a Reading player on Friday morning if so.

Azeez has 6 months left and will be very unlikely to sign a new deal unless a new owner really makes it worth his while - if Plymouth are offering a couple of grand it will be gratefully received even though Azeez is one of the few players actually worth taking the hit on losing for free as his goals/assists could be the difference between L1 and L2 next season (of we survive that long).

would we get more if it went to a compensation tribunal than what Plymouth is offering? if he ran down his contract but we offered him a new one, being an academy product and all that we would get a compensation fee. This is just a musing of mine rather than me expecting you to answer stranded, as obviously we don't know what Plymouth are offering, but perhaps that's something dai should consider.

Very possible Brogue - I guess it may come down to if getting X now is more needed than Y in a few months.

[WestYorksRoyal]

Can see the doom loop coming. Key players sold to keep us afloat, relegation more likely, bids for the club fall in value and don't meet Dai's valuation, no sale, what happens next?

[Snowflake Royal]

Ideally he would play on the left of a back 3, or alongside a pacey CB in a back 4 who can cover him. His strength is his ability to help build play from the back which we desperately miss in our team.

There's a good player in there, quite possibly a Championship one. We just didn't consistently see that here, through a mix of injuries, playing out of position and the club's malaise. What he really needs is an extended run in the team in a settled position, which I see as CB. Not LB or DM. I hope it works out for him at Portsmouth, but I suspect it won't if his squad role is utility man off the bench.

You're spot on.

[blythspartan]

A while ago I would have been happy to see Azeez go, but not now. If we can keep him fit he could be the difference between being in League One or Two next season.

As mentioned by another poster apart from Abbey we have lost everyone who fell out with Selles after the Vale game. Surely, Selles and Bowen knew about their transfers beforehand.

[Hendo]

Anyone criticising the players is dim as fcuk by the way

Agreed, it is quite embarrassing.

Just seen someone on Twitter call him "Snakeintyre" and others hoping he gets injured.

[tmesis]

Can see the doom loop coming. Key players sold to keep us afloat, relegation more likely, bids for the club fall in value and don't meet Dai's valuation, no sale, what happens next?

It's difficult to see beyond liquidation. I guess he might strip the club back to the bare bones, thinking he can at least get another £1.5 million in rent next season, with no care of how badly the team does, but if the EFL go back to that independent board and they agree to ban him from football, I say we get expelled from the league.

[Elm Park Kid]

Courtney Friday reporting that Plymouth have enquired over Azeez, and decision is with Dai Yongge.

Big moment. If he's serious about selling the club, selling a player who would seriously harm our chances of staying in L1 is a grave error.

My understanding is that Azeez would rather stay until the end of the season and then look at his options.

But, generally speaking, the entire squad does want out.

[Stranded]

Courtney Friday reporting that Plymouth have enquired over Azeez, and decision is with Dai Yongge.

Big moment. If he's serious about selling the club, selling a player who would seriously harm our chances of staying in L1 is a grave error.

Means nothing of course but this remains the sole tweet about it. Not even being discussed under the Plymouth hashtag.

In fact, a quick look suggests they are actually wondering if they were after Finn Azaz (very unlikely) - only 2 posts on the Plymouth fans forum as well and they seem massively underwhelmed.

So in short, this may be true but nobody in Devon seems to know or care about it at the moment at least.

[rabidbee]

As mentioned by another poster apart from Abbey we have lost everyone who fell out with Selles after the Vale game. Surely, Selles and Bowen knew about their transfers beforehand.

Not necessarily. It wouldn't be hard to compare salaries to games started, and work out who was superfluous. That's also assuming that the players themselves didn't ask their agents to put their names about.

[MartinRdg]

Anyone criticising the players is dim as fcuk by the way

Agreed, it is quite embarrassing.

Just seen someone on Twitter call him "Snakeintyre" and others hoping he gets injured.

Most players look excited when they sign for a new club - does he look happy? https://www.portsmouthfc.co.uk/news/2024/january/mcintyre-signs-from-reading/

[Brogue]

Anyone criticising the players is dim as fcuk by the way

Agreed, it is quite embarrassing.

Just seen someone on Twitter call him "Snakeintyre" and others hoping he gets injured.

Most players look excited when they sign for a new club - does he look happy? https://www.portsmouthfc.co.uk/news/2024/january/mcintyre-signs-from-reading/

i never noticed how low his ears are, you know what they say about people with ears lower than thier eyes

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low-set_ears

[WestYorksRoyal]

As mentioned by another poster apart from Abbey we have lost everyone who fell out with Selles after the Vale game. Surely, Selles and Bowen knew about their transfers beforehand.

Not necessarily. It wouldn't be hard to compare salaries to games started, and work out who was superfluous. That's also assuming that the players themselves didn't ask their agents to put their names about.

Also, Selles called out how excellent Holmes attitude and training had been in December and said he had earned his place in the team. So clearly the issues were behind them.

[Orion1871]

Anyone criticising the players is dim as fcuk by the way

Agreed, it is quite embarrassing.

Just seen someone on Twitter call him "Snakeintyre" and others hoping he gets injured.

Most players look excited when they sign for a new club - does he look happy? https://www.portsmouthfc.co.uk/news/2024/january/mcintyre-signs-from-reading/

He posted other photos on his Instagram where he was smiling.

[morganb]

Agreed, it is quite embarrassing.

Just seen someone on Twitter call him "Snakeintyre" and others hoping he gets injured.

Most players look excited when they sign for a new club - does he look happy? https://www.portsmouthfc.co.uk/news/2024/january/mcintyre-signs-from-reading/

He posted other photos on his Instagram where he was smiling.

You don't really want smiley centre backs though - you want them to look all moody and 'hard' and TMac is giving it his best shot.

I wonder which position should have the happiest-looking players (those who always play with a smile on their face)?

[Stranded]

Courtney Friday reporting that Plymouth have enquired over Azeez, and decision is with Dai Yongge.

Big moment. If he's serious about selling the club, selling a player who would seriously harm our chances of staying in L1 is a grave error.

My understanding is that Azeez would rather stay until the end of the season and then look at his options.

But, generally speaking, the entire squad does want out.

Of course they want out, who wouldn't but for someone like Azeez it would make perfect sense to hang around, do a decent job and see what offers in England/overseas come up rather than jumping at the first club who bat their eyelids. Who knows, if the ownership does finally change hands, it might actually become the club that was sold to them in the first place.

[Snowflake Royal]

As mentioned by another poster apart from Abbey we have lost everyone who fell out with Selles after the Vale game. Surely, Selles and Bowen knew about their transfers beforehand.

Not necessarily. It wouldn't be hard to compare salaries to games started, and work out who was superfluous. That's also assuming that the players themselves didn't ask their agents to put their names about.

Also, Selles called out how excellent Holmes attitude and training had been in December and said he had earned his place in the team. So clearly the issues were behind them.

Did you hear Dellor's interview with Holmes? It was very clear there was no love lost on Holmes side, he thought he had been treated badly and resented it, but that he had no option but to be professional about it and work with Selles anyway.