with this contract extension, and a few others , yes.

He is the chairman not a fan so sometimes must make hard decisions.

Wickham had barely kicked a ball in 3 years so to reward him with a new contract was illogical.

There have been a few others over time - Paddy Mac and Jonny Williams spring to mind.

Also when he got his contract our only strikers were a misfiring/injured Benteke and Ayew. In fact Hodgson had Zaha playing striker in the first half of last season even after we'd done a last minute loan swap for Batshuayi in place of Gallagher. The gamble re Wickham didn't pay off but it wasn't silly to have given him the year (except with 20/20 hindsight vision, of course)

I remember his first two games Norwich away the 3 1 win and the 2 1 defeat against Arsenal I thought we had a real player on our hands he looked great it’s a shame that his body wasn’t up to top flight football good luck Conor and thanks for the semi final

walking down the holmesdale road to see the palace aces!

I very much doubt it. Insurance is usually to cover career ending injuries and previous issues are usually excluded.

CW is still playing so doubt we received a penny.

The salutary lesson in all this is Nathan Ferguson. Coming back from this sort of injury is very difficult; it's far from guaranteed you'll ever become the player you used to be even if you do get back. Ferguson is trying to come back from a serious injury twice, not just once. While we all hope he makes it, we should be realistic about whether we'll ever see the player we bought. As for Wickham, as someone else said he's Mick Elwiss Mark 2. A pity as while he may not have ever quite pulled up trees in the pure goalscorer sense, he was turning into a pretty solid all-round centre forward at the time he got injured and had he stayed fit, he likely would have saved us £30 million buying Benteke. I hope he does well at Preston but I struggle to see him having a long career, much as I'd like to be proved wrong.

Sydenham by birth. Selhurst by the Grace of God.

Off after 7 minutes.

WAs this his debut for Preston? Hope it was a short contract.

Contract till Jan. You would have to feel sorry for the bloke but he has absolutely robbed a living over the last few years.

Iv nothing against him myself. I just said I feel for him but he has got away with blue murder over the last few years with the money he has been paid.

Made out of poppadoms, those knees. He'll be keeping the physio busy over there, poor lad.

You pair of haters are making out that he's done it deliberately