What now for Virgo?

It should certainly rank above one of his team-mates taking his shirt off.

But Adam Virgo’s gesture to throw his jersey into the crowd at the end of the Wycombe game, and what it means about the ex-skipper’s future, has been the hottest point of debate among Seagulls fans ever since.

The shirt was a nice present for someone and a way of saying thanks to the travelling fans, according to boss Gus Poyet.

Possibly a way of celebrating his first minutes of league action since Russell Slade’s final game in charge.

Or, the most popular theory, that he was doing a Bas Savage (remember Christmas 2007?) and handing over his shirt by way of farewell.

Poyet laughed that last theory off when questioned, and questioned a second time, after the game.

He went on to praise Virgo’s performance in his short spell on the pitch True, giving away a shirt does not always mean a player is off.

Liam Dickinson did exactly the same right in front of the press box on Saturday and it was not presumed he was leaving the club.

But, at the very least, what happened before and after the 5-2 win at Wycombe posed the question: What now for Virgo?

What happened after the game looked like goodbye.

What happened before, with team selection, was also intriguing.

The battle for a central defensive spot always looked like being a case of two from three this season.

Tommy Elphick and James Tunnicliffe are clearly Gus Poyet’s chosen pairing and have been given a run in the side.

That will have come as a blow to Virgo, who was bitterly disappointed to be left out for the game in which everyone was desperate to play at Southampton.

But it is what has happened since which has underlined the fact he did not seem to have much of a role under the new boss.

The only time he got on the pitch was for the unconvincing FA Cup defeat of Rushden and Diamonds.

Albion had a central defensive berth to fill at Wycombe with Tunnicliffe reporting back pains after the Orient game.

But two from three was suddenly two from four and it was Adam El-Abd, a man who has made real progress under Poyet, who got the nod and did pretty well.

So Virgo was left on the bench, as he was for the later stages against Orient when Poyet needed to send on someone to bolster midfield after Andrew Crofts was sent off.

He is not the only one who has struggled to get a look in of late.

Andrew Whing, helped by Gavin Hoyte’s three-game ban, started the first four fixtures of Poyet’s reign but has not played since a difficult evening at Norwich seven matches ago.

Kevin McLeod was given plenty of chance to impress wide on the left in four of Poyet’s first six fixtures, be it as starter or off the bench, but has not been seen in the last six.

David Livermore and Jake Wright, two players hindered by the lack of reserve team action, have done no better than sitting unused on the substitutes’ bench.

But it is the demise of Virgo, an Albion hero back in the 2004 play-offs and acclaimed as a key signing when he returned south in 2008, which has been most striking.

We do not know yet whether he was saying goodbye, although it looked like it.

Nor do we know, if it was farewell, whether he knows he is off in January or just suspects as much.

If he is going, did Poyet send him on with the game won as a goodbye? Or to tell potential purchasers they were paying for a first-teamer, not a forgotten man?

And if we have all put two and two together to make five, how will Virgo react to slipping another place down the centre-back rankings?

However you look at it, a home grown favourite is standing at the crossroads with the transfer window about to open and a new manager looking to do business.

And that has to be worth talking about.