Ward speaks out on his future

Joel Ward spoke of his pain at seeing his hometown club on its knees and admitted: My future is out of my hands.

Ward looks certain to have played his last game for Pompey in Saturday’s 2-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest.

Ipswich appear to be favourites to sign the 22-year-old, with the Fratton firesale up and running.

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Paul Jewell has confirmed his interest in Ward remains and is waiting on talks to take place.

Jason Pearce has agreed his move to Leeds and Greg Halford has clubs on his trail.

Michael Appleton stated he would be surprised if either man was still at the club by the close of play today.

Erik Huseklepp is attracting interest from former side SK Brann with administrator Trevor Birch busy negotiating sales to keep the club afloat.

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Ward explained it would be a wrench to have to leave the club he has been at for 14 years. But he knows he is now not in control of his destiny.

Ward said: ‘I don’t know what’s going on.

‘The club have said there will have to be players that have to leave.

‘But it’s not in my hands. I don’t know (if my future lies elsewhere).

‘I’ve been here a long time. I’ve started my career here and had great times here.

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‘I’ve played a lot of football and a lot of games. It’s a fantastic club to be at.

‘In a perfect world nothing would have happened at the club.

‘But football has twists and turns and you have to take that and deal with it.

‘I’ve been at the club since I was eight and I’m now 22.

‘I’m from this area. I want to see the club back on its feet and move forward.

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‘It’s out of my hands and I really don’t know what is going to happen.’

Last week marked another depressing chapter in Pompey’s demise with the club making more redundancies after their relegation to League One was confirmed.

The Emsworth lad has made it clear he is hurting at seeing the Blues on life support as they battle to avoid liquidation.

He is praying Pompey can continue to survive.

Ward said: ‘Anyone in their right mind doesn’t want to see the club the way it is.

‘It’s not nice to see that and see what has happened.

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‘But, being from the area, I see it day in, day out with the people I know who support the club.

‘You never want to see it happen no matter what line of work you are in.

People are losing their livelihoods and what they love doing. It’s not nice.

‘I feel sorry for them, but hopefully we will bounce back and get on their feet again.

‘Hopefully we can go on to bigger and better things.’

Meanwhile, Pompey look set to take on the Hawks in a pre-season friendly at Westleigh Park on Saturday, July 14.

The date for the fixture was yesterday released by the Hawks’ on twitter.