Best Of

I don’t know much about Sam Grace but looking at his X account (which he doesn’t seem to be particularly active on anymore) one of his last posts was when Blooms left for Col U.

‘Must be a word somewhere in the world, to describe the joint feeling of shared excitement when a friend leaves to pursue a goal, combined with a sadness they’ve left. Outstanding man, team-mate, & mentor, that I’m sure will continue to set standards & help those around him.’

This can’t be an easy situation for him

It's still crazy to think Blooms scored an open play goal in the Championship, which Bayo and JJ were not able to do (though JJ had two perfectly good corner goals disallowed).

No it was kinda what I set out to do but I’m pretty sure pocket size police officers were available at that time.

Joe Jacobson meets Ollie Kay to discuss Matt Bloomfield joining Luton Town

JJ's take, interesting from 3:20 about why Blooms left. Cagey about it for sure. His reaction to the statement as being "a strange one" is interesting. He does say "people get sentimental" but then is also clear that "maybe things will come out down the line about why it happened."

Agreed! The accompanying laugh spoke volumes too.

It also bears saying that if this was a straightforward "leaving for a better job", it is very odd for JJ to reference reasons that may come out down the line.

On your last line - probably or maybe is all anyone can say without more evidence. We just don't know how things have been handled , what has been said and done, the respective messages do suggest all was not well though.

Millions of people probably do jobs they aren't 100% enjoying or have poor relationships with their employers or management but have no real ability to leave or do something else and need the cash so they front up each day and smile through it. Others will have minor quibbles about small things they might not even raise.

If Blooms was pissed off already and sought or received what he thought was a great opportunity he clears off immediately. Either way he's been here a long time and there is a downside so he'd consider it carefully, and might have gone regardless. We really have no idea. Ok, some of you do, apparently...

There’s lots of people mention those “ITK” and lots of “I have heard from sources” etc posts. It might be my cynicism kicking in, but the very fact there are anonymous sources from within the club willing to and apparently actively talking about what’s going on behind what should be - at least at a corporate level - closed doors is more concerning than anything to me.

For everyone that is in the know, remember your mates are probably telling you stuff they shouldn’t. Either they want there jobs and you telling the secrets here puts their job at risk, or worse, they don’t give a shit about their jobs because they have checked out mentally because things have got that bad.

sure, forums thrive off tidbits of ITK scuttlebutt but there’s a small and finite number of people your info can come from.

I don’t know anyone within the club but I know people who work in football. People who work in football talk to each other, and are rarely discreet. I don’t consider myself ITK but I do hear things from very credible sources.

I was told when the new owners first arrived that Blooms wasn’t their man. I was also told more recently that Blooms “wasn’t having them”. It wasn’t exactly a shock when he left for pastures new.

Permanent departure after 20 years, which included a brief hiatus at Col U that we now know was always intended as an opportunity for him to learn before replacing Gaz. I think most reasonable people would see that as significant enough to at least merit some meaningful acknowledgement on the club social feeds and website.

Don't blame you for ditching social Twitter/X. Jack Grimmer posted a fairly bland comment (copied below) a full day after the news was confirmed. I don't know Jack but I consider it highly unlikely he'd want to wait so long to make some sort of comment. It seems reasonable to conclude he was in some way 'guided' by the club as to what he could or couldn't say.

Likewise, staff in the clubs media team are friends of Matt, long time supporters of the club and understand what an important figurehead he was for many people. I'd bet every penny I have that they would have wanted to issue some more meaningful communication to supporters.

Even if the ownership felt, for whatever reason, that Matt has mishandled the exit process somehow, it would have done no harm for them to allow him to make a parting statement on the club website.

All the very best Gaffer! 🙌🏼

Has given everything for the Club over 20+ years and will always be a legend 🪑 @wwfcofficial

From his interviews it sounds like making him feel wanted at Wycombe would have been a start