So the day has finally come, it’s time for Plymouth Argyle to say their goodbyes, and wave Morgan Whittaker off to pastures new.
With the news that Middlesbrough have had a £6 million bid plus add-ons accepted for the left-footed ace, it looks as if the transfer saga surrounding the Greens’ star is finally coming to an end.
There have been rumours and conjecture surrounding Whittaker for the best part of a year, with reported interest in him during the last two transfer windows, before the Pilgrims finally caved under the pressure, not least from the player himself.
Having failed to turn up for Argyle’s midweek clash with Burnley on time, and consequently being left out of the matchday squad for the 5-0 defeat to the Clarets, the writing was on the wall regarding a move away from the club, with it only being a matter of time before things came to a head.
For members of the Green Army who are of a certain vintage, it will bring back memories of another fan favourite who fought his way out of the club in the middle of a Championship season.
There were plenty of questions for Miron Muslic surrounding Whittaker’s future on Wednesday night, with the forward evidently in attendance at Home Park for the mauling by the visiting Clarets, but not involved in the match day squad.
The Austrian was tight-lipped before the showdown at Home Park, but opened up after the final whistle, with the Argyle player failing to turn up in time for selection, in the biggest sign of his intentions in the current transfer window.
“Morgan didn’t show up,” Muslic told the BBC. “We had a game today and he was in the selection and he wasn’t there.
“It shows the mentality, or even the lack of mentality. I think you always have your responsibilities and you are under contract.
“You have to be professional, you have obligations, not only towards Argyle as an organisation, you have an obligation towards your team-mates and you don’t let your team-mates down, never.”
From then on, it looked like a foregone conclusion that the former Swansea City man would be leaving the club, with Middlesbrough and Burnley both having bids rejected earlier in the month as the Pilgrims continued to play hardball.
Lo and behold, just days later Boro have had a bid accepted, with the player set to join Michael Carrick at The Riverside, with the prospect of a play-off campaign very much still on the cards.
All the goodwill Whittaker had gathered during his time as a Pilgrim has dissipated overnight with his latest antics to force a move away from the club. You can score all the goals you like, but show a lack of respect to the Green Army, and you are persona non grata in the blink of an eye.
With a relegation battle on their hands right now, another player has jumped the sinking ship, and there will be plenty of Janners who see the similarity with Davis Norris 17 years ago, with the midfielder forcing a move to Ipswich Town in the middle of the season.
Argyle’s stature within the football pyramid leaves them susceptible to players wanting to go on to bigger and better things after a strong stint at Home Park, with Whittaker and Norris two prime examples.
Back in the mid-noughties, the Greens were once again dabbling with the finest of the EFL, with back-to-back mid-table finishes in the Championship proving them to be more than capable of holding their own in the second tier, with a squad littered with burgeoning talent.
With the likes of Akos Buzsaky and Peter Halmosi pulling the strings in midfield, Barry Hayles and Sylvan Ebanks-Blake making all the difference up top, and Krisztian Timar patrolling the backline with Marcel Seip, this was an Argyle team for the ages, before it all came tumbling down in January 2008.
In the blink of an eye, Argyle lost a number of their top talents that month, with Hayles and Ebanks-Blake on their way, as well as Buzsaky and academy graduate Dan Gosling, while David Norris completed the set late in the month.
The latter would have hit Argyle the hardest, with the tenacious midfielder having been part of the triumphant side that stormed to the third tier title in 03/04, before establishing itself in the Championship for the years to follow.
As the Green Army waved goodbye to one of their greats, the tale within the boardroom began to surface, with the good feeling towards Norris suddenly turning sour, with then-Chairman Paul Stapleton revealing all, via the Ipswich Star: “The problem began because last summer when he (Norris) was told by Ian Holloway that he could leave the club in January.
“David got a bit confused, I think, and believed that the board had agreed he could leave in January.
“January 2 came and he came to see me, saying he wanted to go. He saw me many more times in January, each time saying he wanted to go.
“It took until January 31 for him to go because, all the way along the line, we told him we didn’t want to lose him. Two days before the transfer deadline, he told me he never wanted to play for Argyle again. That phone call seemed conclusive in my mind.”
Anyone who is not willing to bleed green and white shouldn’t be anywhere near Home Park, and Norris was on his way before too long, having got his wish and a one-way ticket to Portman Road.
His departure, along with half of the squad over the following months, paved the way for the start of the end for Argyle, with five consecutive seasons finishing within the bottom four of the division they played in, seeing them tumble from the second tier to the fourth, and clinging onto their EFL status.
Things won’t be quite as bad this time when Whittaker leaves. That much is for certain, but it’s a case of the same old story for the green side of Devon this month; some things just never change.
