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fat sam picked smith against his scouting teams wishes if odays chron is to be believed.

 

 

 

Boro ready to bid for Smith

May 13 2008 by Alan Oliver, Evening Chronicle

 

 

MIDDLESBROUGH will try to lure Alan Smith from St James’s Park in the close season.

 

Boro boss Gareth Southgate has joined Rangers manager Walter Smith in a bid to sign his former England international colleague.

 

And while Rangers may struggle to meet Smith’s wage demands, they should not be too much trouble to Middlesbrough.

 

Southgate, Kevin Keegan and United’s top brass Mike Ashley and Chris Mort were all at the Sir Bobby Robson charity dinner at St James’s on Friday night.

 

And while the United chairman was seen locked in conversation with his Sunderland counterpart Niall Quinn, Mike Ashley had a long discussion with Southgate.

 

Whether Southgate brought up the subject of Smith with Ashley or whether he will go straight to United’s director of football Dennis Wise, vice-president Tony Jimenez or Keegan himself, remains to be seen.

 

But Southgate has been a big admirer of Smith since the pair of them played for England under Sven-Goran Eriksson.

 

Southgate tried to sign Smith 12 months ago from Manchester United when he was his No 1, target but the 27-year-old Yorkshireman preferred Tyneside to Teesside.

 

My information is that his scouting team wanted Sam Allardyce to go for Brazilian midfielder Elano, who was also available for £6m at Shakhtar Donetsk, but the United boss had his heart set on Smith and he got him for the same fee.

 

And to be fair, while some United supporters have criticised Smith this season, both Big Sam and Kevin Keegan have always spoken highly of him.

 

But all those players who had their wages leaked to a national Sunday newspaper will be more than a trifle concerned about their St James’s future, with the United hierarchy keen to cut the wage bill.

 

And these will include Smith, who is reportedly earning £62,000 a week and who, in 30 competitive starts for United, has not managed a single in goal in a black-and-white shirt.

 

Smith has another four years on his United deal, but first-team coach Steve Round’s contract is up at the end of next month and at present the former England man has not been offered a new one.

 

I understand Round, who is being eyed by David Moyes at Everton as his first-team coach, would like to stay with United and Keegan is happy to have him, but the decision is out of their hands.

 

 

http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/nufc/newcastle-united-news/2008/05/13/boro-ready-to-bid-for-smith-72703-20901910/

 

 

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Guest elbee909

 

Smith has played in the prem before.

 

 

 

Yeah.  And he was pretty shit then too.

 

 

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Funny if Boro signed Smith.

 

TBF nobody knew how Elano would turn out.  Smith has played in the prem before.

 

 

 

Judging by the reaction when Smith signed everyone knew he was shit though.

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Guest mobiius

can't really blame bsa for going for smith at the time i always have and i always will believe that he had a bit of persuasion from Mike Ashley to buy smith. hindsight is a wonderful thing and i bet they wouldn't make the same choice (mistake) now.

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Funny if Boro signed Smith.

 

TBF nobody knew how Elano would turn out.  Smith has played in the prem before.

 

 

 

Judging by the reaction when Smith signed everyone knew he was s*** though.

 

Oh no doubt,  some people did.  I thought he would do better but i was only trying to point out why SA would have signed him.

 

We all know SA prefers battling qualities over skill .

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fat sam picked smith against his scouting teams wishes if odays chron is to be believed.

 

 

 

Boro ready to bid for Smith

May 13 2008 by Alan Oliver, Evening Chronicle

 

 

MIDDLESBROUGH will try to lure Alan Smith from St James’s Park in the close season.

 

Boro boss Gareth Southgate has joined Rangers manager Walter Smith in a bid to sign his former England international colleague.

 

And while Rangers may struggle to meet Smith’s wage demands, they should not be too much trouble to Middlesbrough.

 

Southgate, Kevin Keegan and United’s top brass Mike Ashley and Chris Mort were all at the Sir Bobby Robson charity dinner at St James’s on Friday night.

 

And while the United chairman was seen locked in conversation with his Sunderland counterpart Niall Quinn, Mike Ashley had a long discussion with Southgate.

 

Whether Southgate brought up the subject of Smith with Ashley or whether he will go straight to United’s director of football Dennis Wise, vice-president Tony Jimenez or Keegan himself, remains to be seen.

 

But Southgate has been a big admirer of Smith since the pair of them played for England under Sven-Goran Eriksson.

 

Southgate tried to sign Smith 12 months ago from Manchester United when he was his No 1, target but the 27-year-old Yorkshireman preferred Tyneside to Teesside.

 

My information is that his scouting team wanted Sam Allardyce to go for Brazilian midfielder Elano, who was also available for £6m at Shakhtar Donetsk, but the United boss had his heart set on Smith and he got him for the same fee.

 

And to be fair, while some United supporters have criticised Smith this season, both Big Sam and Kevin Keegan have always spoken highly of him.

 

But all those players who had their wages leaked to a national Sunday newspaper will be more than a trifle concerned about their St James’s future, with the United hierarchy keen to cut the wage bill.

 

And these will include Smith, who is reportedly earning £62,000 a week and who, in 30 competitive starts for United, has not managed a single in goal in a black-and-white shirt.

 

Smith has another four years on his United deal, but first-team coach Steve Round’s contract is up at the end of next month and at present the former England man has not been offered a new one.

 

I understand Round, who is being eyed by David Moyes at Everton as his first-team coach, would like to stay with United and Keegan is happy to have him, but the decision is out of their hands.

 

 

http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/nufc/newcastle-united-news/2008/05/13/boro-ready-to-bid-for-smith-72703-20901910/

 

 

 

Lets not get too excited...

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Guest Phil K

If it was between a traffic cone or Alan Smith, I wouldn't hesitate. The cone gives the ball away far less.

 

can't really blame bsa for going for smith at the time i always have and i always will believe that he had a bit of persuasion from Mike Ashley to buy smith. hindsight is a wonderful thing and i bet they wouldn't make the same choice (mistake) now.

 

I personally was horrified at the Smith signing. After the first game, Gemmill sneered at me for my criticism of Smith.

Odd Gem's not been around much since then..... :rolleyes: :-X :doh:  :iamatwat:

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I had heard that about the choice between Elano and Smith before and believed it then so I have no reason to disbelieve it now that Oliver has written it.

 

Elano started out like a world beater at Man City but, has since faded and is really not much better (if at all) than Smith.

 

Shocked at the size of Smith's salary though!!  £20k per week max I would have guessed!

 

 

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Guest nufc_geordie

What is more concerning from that article is that Steve Round's contract is up and we haven't renewed it yet. Top quality coach and we need to keep him.

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Neither and Smith can fook off if he is on 62K a week.

 

No wonder Ashley is concerned if we have shit like this bleeding the coffers....  Smith at best should only be getting 25-30K a week, he has done NOTHING to justify more than that.

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