I thought you wanted to stay?

Admin Andy had said that the club wanted the coaching staff to remain, and hoped that they would - some look as though they still will under a new manager although others are now seemingly destined for a Fratton exit and a reunion with their former manager at West Ham...

An absence from the first day of pre-season training has increased the 'speculation' that a couple of coaches are on the move.

Paul Groves, just a few weeks ago, said that he was '100% committed to the club' and was not looking to follow Uncle Avram to West Ham - stating that he was happy to stay at the club as long as the club wanted him to stay.

Whilst there have, and still will be, ongoing problems with the club this summer and in the future unless something has been said to him and/or in order to cut the wage bill yet further we are looking to offload the coaches I am at a loss to understand why Groves' stance has 'seemingly' changed so much, and so soon?

The guy knows the score at Fratton, and has for a long time, so I cannot see why he would be surprised at how things are going - Steve Cotterill said that he wanted him to stay but a reunion with Uncle Avram at West Ham now seems 'likely.'

Things change in football, only the fans remain constant, yet I cannot hide my disappointment with Groves' - 'if' the 'reports' are true - change in stance...

On the other hand to be fair to David Coles he has not made any statement about staying or going, and to be even fairer he has remained very loyal to the club when approached several times by others, including Spurs on at least a couple of occasions.

The guy is among the best goalkeeping coaches around, he helped make a vastly experienced keeper even better and made Asmir Begovic into an even better keeper than he was thought to be and I had hoped he would continue to do the same with young Liam O'Brien.

Sadly this does not seem as though it is going to be the case, in fact I would go as far as saying it will not be the case...

John Keeley, a name known on the South Coast, 'could' be one that we hear a little bit more of in the coming weeks as far as the goalkeeping coaches position goes.

I am gutted that Coles is moving on, more so than I would be David James leaving, which he also will do shortly - he too will pitch up at West Ham. We MUST move fast and offer a player-assistant manager role to him or something, or he is offski...

Coles' situation is something that I discussed with a mate last night, all in all we could not really understand the benefits to him moving onto West Ham, especially if James goes with them as what exactly would he have to work with at Upton Park? Clearly I am not a West Ham fan so I do not know what youngsters they have, but usually names emerge and I have not really heard anything.

The conclusion that we came to was that Rob Green would stay at West Ham and Coles would work with him, although strong 'word on the street' has it that James is Green's replacement and they want to offload the keeper that made a costly error at the world cup...

Finally, I cannot let this pass without expressing a bit of disappointment at Uncle Avram.

Again, as said earlier players and coaches come and go only the fans remain, but did he not 'promise' to help out the club in any way he could even after a departure - luring our coaching staff to West Ham is not 'helping us out' as I see it.

Granted you can see why he would want to work with them again, and I guess why they would him, although for me personally this does leave a bit of a sour taste in my mouth and taints, albeit only slightly, what he did with us last season...

PLAY UP POMPEY!



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