Grant Ward

I'm sure with Ward 8ts a simple if issue of deciding whether he is for enough to be given a contract. The club will have taken medical advice on Stewart and Virtue. Maybe the advice didn't hold up. Maybe it will next season. Maybe Ward will get a contract if his injury heals sufficiently, and we decide he is a player we need in the 25. Maybe the Stewart and Virtue experiences have caused us to be more cautious with Ward, take less of a gamble with his fitness prospects.
 
From his ability he should be given a contract but we don't know about his fitness and issues he may have, the club do. I really like him and I'd like to see him stay even if its just as good back up. Stewart can then be managed a bit more. Ultimately though, we may have a midfielder incoming in which case he might not be needed so makes sense to let him go.
 
Patience is a Virtue when Critch was Manager, I think Appleton will send Virtue out on loan so that he can play regularly and build up his confidence and match fitness.
 
Anyone else surprised he wasn't used as a triallist on Saturday or does that mean he is just training with us?
 
Some players are destined to retire injured. They need some of what James Milner eats and drinks, the blokes never injured, he made of iron.
 
Anyone else surprised he wasn't used as a triallist on Saturday or does that mean he is just training with us?

Might not be fully recovered from his injury yet, the typical recovery time is about 1 year, that's still a couple of months off.
 
Grant Ward is now training with another club, but Michael Appleton hasn’t ruled out bringing the midfielder back for another look
 
It wouldn't surprise me if the likes of Wigan and Bolton had a look at him. Maybe even Fleetwood now they are able to splash the cash again.
 
It wouldn't surprise me if the likes of Wigan and Bolton had a look at him. Maybe even Fleetwood now they are able to splash the cash again.

They've all got full squads already, and wages would likely be an issue for Fleetwood.

Birmingham, Reading, Millwall need to recruit multiple players in this division, Preston might be possible too. Dropping down to L1, Derby's the obvious candidate, since they need players and probably would be able to afford him.
 
They've all got full squads already, and wages would likely be an issue for Fleetwood.

Birmingham, Reading, Millwall need to recruit multiple players in this division, Preston might be possible too. Dropping down to L1, Derby's the obvious candidate, since they need players and probably would be able to afford him.
He's currently on trial at Reading, FC not Crown Court. 😉
 
I said it at the time …keeping Stewart and releasing Ward didn’t make sense at the time and it makes even less sense now.

Stewart is under contract, Ward is not, the club didn't have a choice over Stewart, and Ward is coming back from a bad injury, the club were right to be cautious about him.

Maybe the club will offer him a contract here, maybe someone else will beat us to it.
 
Stewart is under contract, Ward is not, the club didn't have a choice over Stewart, and Ward is coming back from a bad injury, the club were right to be cautious about him.

Maybe the club will offer him a contract here, maybe someone else will beat us to it.
He needed releasing…giving him a new contact was daft. A complete crock taking up a squad place
 
He needed releasing…giving him a new contact was daft. A complete crock taking up a squad place

He has a contract, if it was a good idea to give it to him is beside the point, he has a contract and the only way to get rid of him is to pay off his contract in full.
 
He has a contract, if it was a good idea to give it to him is beside the point, he has a contract and the only way to get rid of him is to pay off his contract in full.

it’s money that’s going to him anyway…might aswell face up to it, no one is going to buy him crocked, he will hardly play as he’s always crocked, just cut him loose and pay him up and learn our lesson
 
it’s money that’s going to him anyway…might aswell face up to it, no one is going to buy him crocked, he will hardly play as he’s always crocked, just cut him loose and pay him up and learn our lesson

Since we're paying him the money anyway, we might as well get whatever games we can out of him, he is still probably the best CM at the club.
 
Having a trial at Reading.
Tells you where both of those are. Reading look like they’re up the swany this year.

Gives you an indication of why we let him go and the players we’re likely to set our sights on. I.e. a huge improvement on Ward.

However we need 2 or 3 creatives in this week to play a couple of the preseason games.
 
Looking at it from a glass half full perspective it could tell you a little bit about the kind of player we are trying to recruit if we are happy letting Ward go. I’d say Ward holds his own at this level, so if we are aiming a little higher it’s obviously a positive.
 
Tells you where both of those are. Reading look like they’re up the swany this year.

Gives you an indication of why we let him go and the players we’re likely to set our sights on. I.e. a huge improvement on Ward.

However we need 2 or 3 creatives in this week to play a couple of the preseason games.

He was training with us, I was a little surprised he didn't get a run out at Southport, it remains possible that the club will offer him a contract, but it's sensible for the player to hedge his bets elsewhere if the club doesn't.

I agree that Reading look like a basket case this season.
 
He was training with us, I was a little surprised he didn't get a run out at Southport, it remains possible that the club will offer him a contract, but it's sensible for the player to hedge his bets elsewhere if the club doesn't.

I agree that Reading look like a basket case this season.
No chances he’s playing a game for us if he’s not getting a contract if he gets another injury without a contract that’s him done for.
 
He played as a trialist for Reading on Saturday.
'For us', because we were doing the decent thing and letting him train with us to keep his fitness up after he got injured playing for us, he was never trying to earn a contract from us. He is with Reading hence playing a trialist game for them.

As I say shows you where he and Reading are at, and ultimately that we've moved past that phase now.
 
'For us', because we were doing the decent thing and letting him train with us to keep his fitness up after he got injured playing for us, he was never trying to earn a contract from us. He is with Reading hence playing a trialist game for them.

As I say shows you where he and Reading are at, and ultimately that we've moved past that phase now.

Who says getting a contract from us is out of the question?

We know he's had a serious injury, he might not yet be fully recovered, but if he can prove his fitness, why would the club not offer him a contract?
 
Who says getting a contract from us is out of the question?

We know he's had a serious injury, he might not yet be fully recovered, but if he can prove his fitness, why would the club not offer him a contract?
Especially on a pay as you play contract initially until he can prove his fitness.
 
Who says getting a contract from us is out of the question?

We know he's had a serious injury, he might not yet be fully recovered, but if he can prove his fitness, why would the club not offer him a contract?

Lots of talk around offering him a new contract on this board at least, see below, plus I was making the point he's never going to risk himself unless he's earning a contract.

His fitness has already been proven to be very unreliable, the club whilst being decent with him are more than aware of this, which is why we're not going anywhere near offering him a contract.

Especially on a pay as you play contract initially until he can prove his fitness.
His fitness has been proven to be unreliable, generally for his whole career, he was worth the risk 2 years ago given where the club was and what we wanted to do, Reading seem to be descending into that free agent scramble. Thankfully we're moving miles away from that space.
 
Lots of talk around offering him a new contract on this board at least, see below, plus I was making the point he's never going to risk himself unless he's earning a contract.

That was my point about him playing against Southport, prove his fitness and the club might offer him a contract.


His fitness has already been proven to be very unreliable, the club whilst being decent with him are more than aware of this, which is why we're not going anywhere near offering him a contract.


His fitness has been proven to be unreliable, generally for his whole career, he was worth the risk 2 years ago given where the club was and what we wanted to do, Reading seem to be descending into that free agent scramble. Thankfully we're moving miles away from that space.

Not true.

He's had two bad, but unrelated injuries, that happens, but outside that he's a consistent 40 games a season player and not a Stewart type who can't seem to string together more than a dozen games without getting injured.
 
That was my point about him playing against Southport, prove his fitness and the club might offer him a contract.




Not true.

He's had two bad, but unrelated injuries, that happens, but outside that he's a consistent 40 games a season player and not a Stewart type who can't seem to string together more than a dozen games without getting injured.
He's most likely been told by the club at the end of last season he isnt going to get a contract, but train with us over the summer and in pre season before you get a club. He wouldn't have wanted to play against Southport, pick up another bad injury in that and you're going the next year without pay.

No sorry, what you've put at the bottom is false, he's had more than two bad injuries, broken foot, ankle ligaments whilst at Spurs and while on loan, Cruciate at Ipswich and one bad one for us, so 4 major injuries at 27, he's missed 3 full seasons during his career but had a 3 year spell at Ipswich where he did do well for them in the Championship.

A smidge over 200 games in 8 years just over 20 games a year on average, that's just appearances, I'd be interested to see what his playing minutes are, not great I'd guess.

My point being, we're moving away from this type of player, the type we needed to sign in the years immediately after Sadler took over.

The way Ward has left the club, both looking after him but knowing we need to move on and improve, again shows me how well the club is being run these days, there are literally thousands of player we can sign, one of the things I find odd about this board is the hankering for ex players.
 
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