Jagielka unsure about his future

A defender that at his peak was simply fantastic, developing rock solid partnerships with first Lescott and then Distin.

Great shame that he missed out on the 2009 FA Cup Final but nothing takes away from what was a fine Everton career.

Agreed the longevity of Jagielka's stay with us, plus the Club and Team Captaincy, and reflection of a few memorable performances, makes it even more sad.

However there comes a time to put sentimentality to one side and be realistic, I think I would prefer to see a member of the U-23's taking his slot on the bench or in reserve, because they are the future.

Let's face it at 3rd or 4th choice, how many appearances are they likely to make? In Jag's case he was always one on of the quickest players, but I have noticed recently that he struggles to do what he did, and it can and has resulted in mis-timed tackles, first game of the season being case and point.

I salute what he has done for Everton over the years, and maybe he has got a year or two left in him, but not in the Premier League I'm afraid to say. Some suggesting he may go back to Sheffield United (his original Club) but I think the same applies should that happen.

There is no doubting Jags' experience both at Club and Country level could be invaluable behind the scenes!

The decent thing to do would have been to let it be known Jags would be moving on and then focus on all attention on his send off.

Instead it's this, will he won't he saga again, which benefits no one.

Poor show all round.

It's always a shame when long-serving players come to the end of their careers but it's not like those players are left poverty stricken. I'm sure Jags is probably a millionaire so I doubt he'll be short of a few bob in the coming years.

At the end of the day, Everton is a football club – not a retirement home. Jags is a grown man. Not to mention he's only 36. Outside of football he's still a young man. How about coaching at another club, or managing? It's up to him to decide what he plans on doing after he hangs up his boots, not Everton's. Besides, unless there was a proper opening for him, I doubt he would accept a made-up job just for sentimentality's sake.

Merson did. But he was, and still is, a total numpty.

I agree, coaching is a different skill. It's like "Right warehouse bloke from Are You Being Served?, now that you've decided to retire you can take Mrs Slocomb's job in the ladies underwear."

There's no point offering a new contract now if he will end up 6th choice.

Similarly, there's no point not considering a new contract if it looks like he'll be 4th choi

My thought is though that Jags if he stays will be competing with the kids. Right now we have Mina and Keane. Seemingly we want Zouma. If we don't get him, I don't see Jags filling that role, we will be after someone else who is younger and first team ready. So really, it is a case of the back ups, who we keep. We have Holgate, Pennington, Jags, Feeney, Gibson. We ought to have a pretty good idea now as to who among that group would be a suitable 4th and 5th choice member of the squad. If we don't rate Pennington, and suspect Gibson isn't ready then maybe we keep Jags for a year, loan out Gibson, and then we also have Holgate along with Mina, Keane and Zouma (or equivalent). But I would think we would know what we want at this point unless the club think none of Holgate, Penn, Gibson and Feeney are good enough in which case maybe they feel it is Jags or some free transfer veteran as a filler.

Kieran, Pennington is currently out of the picture. He blew out his ankle at the end of what was, by all accounts, an outstanding season at Ipswich. There is no timetable for his return from surgery.

If so, he'll find another club and serve it well. And I'll wish him every success.

My team would be; Stekelenburg, no he hasn't retired yet, Baines, no him too, Unsworth, no overweight apparently, Jagielka, he does want to keep playing, Dunc's in the Medic's room claiming his spot on the table as we speak, Ebbrell, Colin Harvey (Capt) has been seen at the match, Big Joe, only recently retired, Sheeds flying in from Saudi, Reidy knees and all, Big Nev... this is fun, eh.