LEAVING Arsenal was a momentous decision for Rob Holding.
The versatile defender appeared embedded at the Emirates after seven years as a popular squad member, picking up two FA Cup winners’ medals.
But Crystal Palace pounced for £4million on Deadline Day in September 2023, handing Holding a three-year contract.
Doubts have since emerged over his value – as he’s made just one appearance for the Eagles.
But those queries have been eclipsed by a far bigger question – that of why manager Oliver Glasner has exiled him to Palace Under-21s.
Now a tantalising glimpse of an answer has surfaced – more than six weeks after the 29-year-old started training on his own.
Holding was even left out of a massive joint photos of the Palace men’s and women’s first-team squads.
Australian manager Glasner, who took charge at Selhurst Park in February 2024, was enigmatic when quizzed about the ex-Bolton starlet on September 1.
The former Wolfsburg and Eintracht Frankfurt chief, 50, said: “Rob is training individually at the moment.
“We will talk together – he knows the reason. But it is something that stays between Rob and me. Nothing public.”
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However, the BBC say insiders have revealed the incident behind the dispute.
It relates to the last occasion Holding was in Palace’s senior squad – a 2-0 home defeat to West Ham in the Prem on August 24.
Holding never made it off the bench that afternoon, and hasn’t made it ON to it since.
He reportedly had a “disagreement” over a running session held after the final whistle of the home London derby.
The Beeb believe Holding has “accepted” being frozen out following that exchange and will keep training “professionally”.
But there is no sign of a resolution on the horizon
And with England’s Marc Guehi leading a sizeable batch of talented centre-backs at Selhurst Park, any hopes Holding has of resurrecting his first-team career go beyond his issues with Glasner.
WHEN Steve Coogan dressed as BBC paedophile Jimmy Savile for shocking drama The Reckoning, his victims told how it sent them into panic.
They will need to brace themselves once more as I can reveal Danny Boyle’s sequel for 28 Weeks Later has taken a sick twist – featuring actors dressed up as zombie versions of the twisted TV presenter.
Onlookers saw a crowd of “mini Jimmys” filming for the new flick in the north of England, clad in his infamous nylon tracksuits and wearing greying mullet wigs.
My exclusive pictures show a number of the cast in the disgraceful get-up, topped off with theatrical, zombie make-up.
One observer told me: “When we realised the hoard of zombies were dressed as Jimmy Savile we were shocked.
“It’s at best eyebrow-raising and at worst stomach-churning.
“A horrifying number of young people were subjected to terrible abuse by Jimmy in real life – those victims don’t need him turned into some sort of parody bad guy in a movie.
“Many told at the time how hard it was to watch Coogan represent Savile in the latest BBC drama so I dread to think how this will land. It’s sick.”
The Reckoning, which aired in October last year, was a factual drama examining the crimes of the Jim’ll Fix It host, with testimony from survivors.
One, Sam Brown, was just 11 when she was abused at Stoke Mandeville Hospital and worked as an advisor on the series.
On seeing Coogan in costume for the first time, she said: “It was a graveyard scene. He began to walk up to us, and inside of my head [I] was screaming, “Just give me a minute”.’
“I [thought] I was doing all of this in my head, not realising it was coming out of my mouth.”
Coogan then reportedly said to her: “‘I’m in dress, I’m in character, I’m not him. Remember I’m acting.”
Boyle’s sequel, called 28 Years Later, will hit cinemas in 2025.
The original – released in 2007 – starred Cillian Murphy as the leader of a group who survived when London is overtaken by zombie humans, infected by a demonic chimp.
For Savile’s survivors though, their truth was far sicker than this fiction.
As Nessa might say: ‘What’s occurin’?’ Well, the last Gavin and Stacey scenes have been filmed.
The BBC yesterday broke the news with a photo of the clapperboard and the caption: “And that’s a wrap, for the last time. See you on Christmas Day!”
The plot has been kept tightly under wraps but, it’s thought it will include scenes from the wedding of Smithy (James Corden) and Nessa (Ruth Jones) after the last Christmas special in 2019 ended on a cliffhanger following their proposal.
Kendrick Lamar and Drake’s feud hit the headlines earlier this year – and now a documentary will take a deep dive into their string of diss tracks. Public Enemies: Kendrick Vs Drake will also feature interviews with those closest to the two megastar rappers. It will air on Channel 4.
Stephen Merchant loves winding down by playing online chess.
And when he wins Stephen likes nothing more than winding up opponents – especially if they are fans of The Office.
The comedian told Russell Howard on his Wonderbox podcast: “It’s quite hard to switch my brain off from things, in terms of thinking about creative stuff or other responsibilities.
“But playing chess means I can’t think about anything else.
“I play it anonymously so people don’t know it’s me, and some of them will be quite abusive.
“The particularly delightful ones are where you can put a little avatar on your profile and I’ll get insulted by people who have an Office avatar, they might have a little David Brent, and they’ll insult me because they don’t know it’s me.
“For some reason I get giddy when that happens!”
Love Island’s Molly Marsh has landed a record deal and will release her first single this week.
She was spotted by producers when she sang on ITV’s Britain Gets Singing last Christmas.
A source said: “Molly is beyond excited, this has been a lifelong dream.”
Rafe Spall has joined the cast of new Sky thriller Under Salt Marsh.
He plays Detective Eric Bull who returns to the sleepy Welsh town of Morfa Haven when the body of an eight-year-old boy is discovered.
The copper is hoping an unsolved case, which he failed to crack many years ago, will provide clues to unlock the latest grisly murder.
It also stars Yellowstone’s Kelly Reilly, who plays Bull’s former partner Jackie, who is now a teacher at the local school.
Also in the cast are The Crown’s Jonathan Pryce, as well as Nightsleeper’s Naomi Yang and Industry star Harry Lawtey.
The series is expected to air on Sky and NOW next year.
CHRISTMAS has come early for shoppers at this department store after they discovered a £30 festive essential is scanning for just 50p.
Savvy customers have been rushing to House of Fraser‘s website to bag up the Xmas item which has been described as “brilliant”.
The department store giant has sent fans wild by selling a personalised “Mrs Gonk Stocking” for under a pound which is 98 per cent cheaper than the original price.
It was originally priced at a whopping £29.99 – saving buyers an unbelievable £29.49.
One customer shared the find on Facebook and posted a screenshot of the item, captioning: “House of Fraser UK… 50p!”
Excited users left comments under the post and tagged their friends.
One user said: “They have the Mr Gonk aswell for 50p!”
Another commented: “I ordered 4 of these last week, they’re brilliant for the price.”
And: “Yeah I got it, it’s lovely!”
However do bear in mind that when prices are reduced by this much it’s usually in order for stores to clear excess stock, so availability will vary.
It’s always best to phone ahead to your local shop to check what they have available to avoid disappointment.
It always pays to compare prices so you know you’re getting the best deal.
There are plenty of comparison websites out there that’ll check prices for you – so don’t be left paying more than you have to.
Most of them work by comparing the prices across hundreds of retailers.
Google Shopping is a tool that lets users search for and compare prices for products across the web.
Simply type in keywords, or a product number, to bring up search results.
Christmas fanatics have also spotted a festive essential on offer at Home Bargains.
Shoppers are racing to their nearest store to buy £4 Polar Express slippers in time for the big day.
Last month House of Fraser shoppers were hit by delivery chaos with hundreds waiting weeks for parcels that remain undelivered.
Frustrated shoppers have struggled to reach customer service to request refunds, leaving those affected out of pocket.
The issues have plagued those who placed online orders on the retailer’s website since late August.
Angry customers have taken to social media to vent their fury, branding the company’s response as “appalling.”
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BIG Brother 2024 star Ryan auditioned for The X Factor back in 2013.
The 28-year-old, from Stockport, is one of the fresh faces who is taking part in this year’s series of the ITV show.
Ryan has certainly made an impression as he was booed by the crowd as he entered the iconic house on Sunday night.
However this isn’t Ryan’s first taste of television.
According to MailOnline, the reality star auditioned for The X Factor back in 2013 – the series that was won by Sam Bailey.
The publication has reported that part of his performance of One Direction’s Little Things was played out on our screens 11 years ago.
Ryan was clearly keen on pursuing a career in music as he has also shared some performances on his YouTube channel.
He’s also performed The Kooks’ tune Seaside in one of the videos on his page.
In another video, named Site Specific Performance, on his channel he makes comments about a woman’s chest.
He said: “Cause her t**s are that big, she has to drink more milk, so she has more t** milk.”
Ryan didn’t get off to the best of starts on Sunday night after he made a dig at those who self-identify during his VT.
The TV star vowed to “shake up” the house with his views.
He said: “I feel like over the recent years, it’s gone a bit tame and people are in there for other motives.
“I think having someone normal like me in there will shake it up.”
But it was when Ryan made his “anti-woke” views clear that fans turned on him.
He said: “I think I’m strong and opinionated. There’s a lot of woke people out there.
“It’s all well and good if you want to use certain pronouns, and I get that, but it gets a bit confusing sometimes with people identifying as a spoon or whatnot.”
Those in the crowd weren’t impressed, as well as those watching from their sofa.
One pointed out on X: “Booing Ryan immediately as he deserves mmhmmm good job crowd.”
Someone else added: “Getting bad vibes from Ryan.”
A third tweeted: “Ryan talking about people identifying as spoons. Loserr.”
Other viewers are convinced that Ryan is lying about his real age.
One said: “Why is Ryan lying about his age, 28 my a***.”
Another commented: “Ryan is a transphobe with a hairline like that, he’s apparently 29, you age terribly when you’re evil.”
Meanwhile another said: “If Ryan identifies as 28, it shows that hate really does age you.
Last night Ryan and Matha were left facing off against one another in one of the show’s first tasks.
EAMONN Holmes left This Morning due to falling ratings – and boss Martin Frizell’s “dislike for the way he ate on TV”, say pals close to Phillip Schofield.
Yesterday’s Sun revealed Martin was one of the trio dubbed “three s**ts” by Phillip, alongside ITV top brass Emma Gormley and his former best friend Holly Willoughby.
Now a source close to Phillip, 63, has lifted the lid on Eamonn’s departure from the show.
Eamonn and wife Ruth Langsford, both 64. had anchored the Friday segment for 14 years before they lost their slot in a show shake-up in late 2020.
A source said: “Eamonn and Ruth leaving was all down to ratings – and because Martin joked that he couldn’t bear to watch him eat on TV.
“Chefs do cooking segments on This Morning and Martin’s dislike of the sight of Eamonn chomping on whatever had been cooked up became a joke that he shared among people working on the show.
“Ruth was a delight and was loved by the team. Eamonn was not as popular.
“People would moan he hadn’t learned everyone’s names – even though some staff had worked with him for years.”
After being replaced by Alison Hammond and Dermot O’Leary on Fridays, Eamonn went on to quit ITV a year later and moved to GB News, where he still hosts the Breakfast Show.
Eamonn hinted at his upset in an interview in January 2022, saying: “They’re sly.
“They didn’t want to announce that I’d been dropped because it would adversely affect audience figures, so they made it look as if I’d walked away from them rather than the other way round.”
Pals added: “Contrary to Eamonn’s narrative, Phillip had no problem with his former co host until Eamonn started to write disparaging articles about him.”
JADON SANCHO has been warned that he could be dropped by Chelsea if he does not adapt his game.
The winger, 24, was accused of being “too easy to play against” after he was watched at the weekend by a former Blues striker.
Sancho went into Sunday’s 1-1 draw with Nottingham Forest having laid on an assist in each of his first three appearances for Chelsea.
In his latest outing, however, he failed to make much of an impact before being replaced by Mykhailo Mudryk late on.
Watching on for The Times was former Blue Tony Cascarino.
In his subsequent column, the ex-striker claimed that he had been tasked with specifically watching out for Sancho – and that he came away not overly impressed.
“There were no big mistakes, everything was neat and tidy, he played short passes that were accurate,” Cascarino wrote of Sancho’s display. “There was nothing to complain about, or that a pundit could pull apart in analysis on television.
“But he’s playing for Chelsea: this is a club that has high expectations of players, especially attacking ones. Being okay, which is what he was, is a problem.
“The truth is that he made it easy for Nottingham Forest’s right-back Ola Aina to play against him.
“There is no question Sancho is a good player, and his touch is almost always really sound, but he plays such a conservative game.
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“He never got into a physical battle with Aina and never tried to take him on. Sancho is not slow but he doesn’t have that burst of acceleration to get at defenders.”
Cascarino went on to compare Sancho’s performance with that of Noni Madueke, who scored Chelsea’s equaliser.
The former Republic of Ireland international felt that Madueke caused Forest far more problems due to his speed, directness and ability to get to the byline.
He then added: “Cristiano Ronaldo, Eden Hazard, Gareth Bale and the other best wingers of recent times at the biggest teams in the Premier League have always wanted to overwhelm the full-back marking them, using power and speed to beat them physically.
“Sancho needs to get a bit stronger, and try to develop so that he can have a more significant change of pace.
“That will allow him to keep a defender guessing – at the moment, the full-back knows there is very little chance of him trying to get to the byline.”
Cascarino also warned that Sancho could be dropped by Chelsea, given the other options they possess.
He specifically named Christopher Nkunku, Pedro Neto and Mudryk as threats to his place in the starting XI.
Sancho arrived at Chelsea on a season-long loan deal from Manchester United on transfer deadline day.
Enzo Maresca‘s side will possess an obligation to buy Sancho for between £20-25million at the end of the season, provided that they finish in the top 14.
Following the Blues’ recent 4-2 win over Brighton, Sancho lifted the lid on how he had been settling in at Chelsea.
He said: “Overall, I was just happy to play at Stamford Bridge for the first time as a Chelsea player.
“It was a great feeling and I really appreciated the reception I got from the fans.
“It was a great feeling [to get a standing ovation from the fans] and my family and friends were in the crowd for the game, so that made it extra special.
“I’m happy to have been able to assist for goals in recent games, I’m settling in well here and I just want to keep this momentum going and keep being able to assist my team-mates. Or even get a first goal, that would be nice!’
CHELSEA were held by ten-man Nottingham Forest as frustration filled Stamford Bridge.
Noni Madueke cancelled out Chris Wood’s opener but the Blues couldn’t find a winner.
And frustrations boiled over with a mass brawl in added time.
Here’s how SunSport’s Jack Figg rated the Blues stars.
Robert Sanchez – 8
Excellent positioning to snuff out Forest counter on hour mark and made two sensational late saves to deny the visitor’s a winner.
Malo Gusto – 6
Wasn’t able to prevent Nikola Milenkovic’s flick on to set up Wood’s opener but he produced a great block to deny Gibbs-White in the box.
Wesley Fofana – 7
Forming a good partnership at the back with Colwill. Finally some consistency at centre-half for Chelsea.
Levi Colwill – 7
Made a huge block to prevent Yates in the first half. John Terry-esque defending.
Marc Cucurella – 5
Lacked attacking creativity down the left having filled in at centre-back at times. Failed to form much of a threat with Sancho.
Moises Caicedo – 6
Agonisingly close to getting ahead of Wood to prevent the Forest opener. Took the role as deep-lying midfielder in front of back line.
Enzo Fernandez – 5
Still looks to be finding his best position under Maresca. Not a natural holding midfielder but denied preferred advanced role by Palmer.
Cole Palmer – 6
Looked lively when afforded space in the centre but the Chelsea superstar saw a huge chance saved thanks to Matz Sels double save.
Noni Madueke – 8
Constant threat down the right side with his goal well deserved. But the winger finds himself guilty of making the wrong choice in the final third.
Jadon Sancho – 4
Largely absent throughout the match with Aina doing a stellar job in keeping the tricky forward quiet. Lacked killer instinct going forward.
Nicolas Jackson – 4
Apart from pressing, quiet throughout. Slow to react in the box in a frustrating sign of inconsistency after recent goalscoring form. Spent more time arguing with team-mates at points.
Subs
Joao Felix (for Fernandez 80 mins) – 6
Christopher Nkaunku (for Jackson 80 mins) – 6
Mykhailo Mudryk (for Sancho 89 mins) -5
Pedro Neto (for Madueke 89 mins) – 6
Tosin Adarabioyo (for Colwill 90+3 mins) – 5
WETHERSPOONS has confirmed the closure of more of their pubs including an iconic “stunning” venue.
The popular pub chain has closed locations across the UK, including Stafford, London, Halifax and Penarth.
The Geroge, Wanstead Wetherspoons is set to pull down their shutters for good on October 13.
Punters took to social media to express their frustrations over the closure of another popular branch.
One user wrote: “That’s sad.”
“My local. A very popular pub,” another commented.
The George had been a favourite among locals, who often left glowing reviews about the pub.
“Good service, competitively priced drinks and tasty food,” a user said.
Another added: “Excellent staff and well-kept beer at low prices.”
It comes after the Wetherspoons revealed that five pubs had been put up for sale, four of which are already under offer.
The Ivor Davies in Cardiff is up for sale, while the four pubs under offer are the Sir Daniel Arms in Swindon, the Hain Line in St Ives, the Foot of the Walk in Leith and the Quay in Poole
Under offer may mean that a bid is being considered or has been accepted.
But as the sale has not been finalised the pub remains on the market
Wetherspoons regularly reviews the branches it has up for sale and has often taken venues off the market to continue operating as part of the pub chain.
In its annual report published today, the pub giant said the disposal of the 27 pubs it has closed gave rise to a cash inflow of £8.9 million.
Wetherspoons has sold the freehold of premises it owned outright and returned others to their landlords.
The pub sites sold may reopen to welcome drinkers under their new owners.
Landlords could also find new tenants, so Wetherspoons’ departure doesn’t necessarily mean the loss of a pub for locals.
The sites closed are:
Wetherspoons has also opened two new sites in the last 12 months – The Captain Flinders near Euston Station and the Star Light at Heathrow Airport, and The Grand Assembly in Marlow.
Several sites have also been expanded including the Red Lion,
Skegness; the Talk of the Town, Paignton; the Albany Palace, Trowbridge and the Mile Castle, Newcastle.
It follows Wetherspoons being sued for more than £200,000 after a drinker fell to his death from a second-floor window.
And the popular pub chain’s 12-day beer festival will be back with a bang tomorrow with some ales selling for less than £2 a pint.
PUB-GOERS love Wetherspoons for its competitive pricing and low-cost meals - but did you know there are more ways to save money?
Senior consumer reporter Olivia Marshall explains how.
Free refills – Buy a £1.50 tea, coffee or hot chocolate and you can get free refills. The deal is available all day, every day.
Check a map – Prices can vary from one location the next, even those close to each other.
So if you’re planning a pint at a Spoons, it’s worth popping in nearby pubs to see if you’re settling in at the cheapest.
Choose your day – Each night the pub chain runs certain food theme nights.
For instance, every Thursday night is curry club, where diners can get a main meal and a drink for a set price cheaper than usual.
Pick-up vouchers – Students can often pick up voucher books in
their local near universities, which offer discounts on food and drink, so keep your eyes peeled.
Get appy – The Wetherspoons app allows you to order and pay for your drink and food from your table – but you don’t need to be in the pub to use it.
Taking full advantage of this, cheeky customers have used social media to ask their friends and family to order them drinks. The app is free to download on the App Store or Google Play.
Check the date – Every year, Spoons holds its Tax Equality Day to highlight the benefits of a permanently reduced tax bill for the pub industry.
It usually takes place in September, and last year it fell on Thursday, September 14.
As well as its 12-day Real Ale Festival every Autumn, Wetherspoons also holds a Spring Festival.