ToffeeWeb - Season 2009-10

The Mail Bag

Alan Smith

I don't know about anybody else but I am getting fed up of all the rumours about us trying to sign Alan Smith from Newcastle, According to this article http://www.teamtalk.com/football/story/0,16368,1774_5623070,00.html, we are going to be bidding for him, I know it's all speculation but surely this is not the type of player that will improve the squad; surely another injury prone-player will not be good enough!
Dan Machin, Sheffield Posted 11/10/2009 at 21:49:30

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Andy Mack
1 Posted 12/10/2009 at 06:45:57

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If we were ever going to sign him, I’d imagine it would have been last season, or the season before that, or the... that ship has sailed.

Dan Brierley
2 Posted 12/10/2009 at 07:15:22

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I disgaree. What is wrong with signing Alan Smith on a 1-year pay-as-you-play contract? The lad has undoubted ability and tenacity, with the latter being something needed in the centre of our team. By the looks of it, he just hasn't found a place to settle after leaving Leeds.

With that in mind, how many players come here and highlight just how impressed they are with everything? It could be another masterstroke. We don't have the finances to buy a top class 24-year-old. But Smith could support the squad for a couple of years at least.

If our manager sees him as being someone that can improve our squad, then I have no reason to doubt that given Moyes's proven history in the transfer market.

Marcus Choo
3 Posted 12/10/2009 at 07:39:37

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Alan Smith? A few years ago, signing him would have made sense... but now, with the numbers of midfield and striking options at our disposal, I don’t think he’ll add any value to our team.

Kevin Chung
4 Posted 12/10/2009 at 09:52:59

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I agree with DAN on this. I think Alan Smith (IF we buy him) will prove to be a "useful" player for us....

He can play as a Defensive Midfielder with all his ruthless tackles and break a few legs (if not his own). That will pretty much scare the hell out of oppositions.

He can also play attacking Midfield, and if ALL our strikers are out injured, he can also play there.

Heck... let’s even throw in the goalkeeping position. If Howard gets red carded, and then Carlo Nash comes in and gets red carded again, we can throw Alan Smith in and he will play there.

That's how useful he is gonna be for 2 million pounds!

Stuart Mitchell
5 Posted 12/10/2009 at 11:58:13

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So we can have a striker than never scores or a def midfielder that cannot tackle. Wonderful!!

Fran Mitchell
6 Posted 12/10/2009 at 13:23:08

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Erm... I’m sure one of the bonuses of the transfer window is to stop all this idiocy. It's November, we ain't signing anyone.

I thought this website required more than gossip on Teamtalk (proven to be one of the most unreliable sources around) to start a debate. Why does an article on Teamtalk make you ’get fed up’? If your fed up of rubbish pointless page filling speculation dont read teamtalk, crisis averted.

Next!

Chris Jones
7 Posted 12/10/2009 at 13:45:57

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The only thing that was every scary about Smith was his pace, but he’s long since lost that.

I remember him coming on against us as a sub at Elland Road 10+ years ago. He gave Marco Materazzi the right run-around. Marco was lucky not to see a red card for some of the desperate challenges he was forced to make.

So, however, I simply can’t believe there aren’t better signings out there for us now than Mr Nasty.

Ciarán McGlone
8 Posted 12/10/2009 at 14:20:07

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He’s a striker playing as a midfielder... who’s main attribute is being a dirty fecker...

I liked him as a striker, even though he didn't score too many — till Fergie did his usual God rountine...

Nick Entwistle
9 Posted 12/10/2009 at 14:43:06

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Wiki say...

"It has since been revealed by Peter Lorimer that the only club Leeds would allow Alan to join was Manchester United, and that Leeds had in fact engineered the move. With Manchester United being the only club offering the requested money up-front, instead of on an instalment basis (as offered by Everton and Newcastle), and with Leeds facing Administration, Alan faced allowing Leeds to go into administration or joining Leeds’ bitter rivals."

There’s no need for him now at Everton.

Gary Creaney
10 Posted 12/10/2009 at 16:30:09

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It seems that the 13 or so days between the game against Stoke and the upcoming game against Wolves has proved too much for some people. I thought the days of getting ‘fed-up’ with the standard of transfer targets was kept for the summer months plus January.

For future reference to aid you through the January transfer window: unless the Echo, the official website or the BBC website carry a story on it you should take it with a pinch of salt.

By the way, I hate the international breaks as much as anyone, but I don’t think we should descend into farce

Matt Traynor
11 Posted 13/10/2009 at 02:15:26

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I hope this is paper talk. If this does transpire, I think it’s a retrograde step. Moyes is trying to move the squad on.

Alan Smith, whilst a hard-working player, as a striker had a goalscoring record comparable with Emile Heskey. As a midfielder he was a square peg in a round hole.

Moyes is in danger of getting a reputation for pursuing targets for years. We saw that with Simon Davies.

Still, maybe we’ll get Moutihno when he turns 30...

Iain Love
12 Posted 14/10/2009 at 08:28:05

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I would suspect that a reporter had space to fill, before doing the horoscope.

Tom Bowers
13 Posted 14/10/2009 at 18:41:53

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Yeah, Smithy was excellent in his early days at Leeds as a striker and later at Manure but after he broke his leg at Anfield he has progressed backwards. A midfielder he is not because most of his tackles are mis-timed. Sadly he will remain Championship standard nowadays.

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