Report: Alan Smith to leave NUFC in January?

[Guest]

Leeds would be NE5's dream. An owner that almost ruined one club trying to keep a club in the Champions League before Roman came along, in charge of a club who spent tons to get to the Champions League before going to the wall.

 

[Stifler]

I can see us having to pay off some or all of his contract just to get the squad place back. Probably the best we can hope for is that some Championship or League Two club takes him and we end up paying 95 percent of his wages.

 

Well he's on £50k, they should be able to offer him £15k, i think if he wants paying we should only match what they'd offer for his final year.

 

He's been told he's not wanted, he's made his money, now is his chance to make peace with the Leeds fans who despise him for moving to Manu.

 

Who can afford 15K for Alan Smith in the Championship?

 

Leeds. They have players on that much already, and can be offset for signing him on a free.

 

You think they are going to get Bowyer and Woody to play for them for the giggles?

Isn't that how they ended up in the mess they are in in the first place?, by giving players massive wages?

[Skirge]

Leeds look for wages deal to lure Smith to United

 

Published on Wednesday 22 June 2011 09:36

 

LEEDS United have stepped up their bid to sign former hero Alan Smith by enquiring what wages the former England international will accept to seal an emotional return to Elland Road, the Yorkshire Post can reveal.

 

The 30-year-old has a year remaining on his £60,000 per week contract at Newcastle United but has been told he can leave as Alan Pardew looks to remodel his squad with a more youthful feel.

 

As part of their attempts to get Smith off the wage bill, Newcastle are willing to release the one-time darling of Elland Road on a free transfer and subsidise his wages to the tune of around £30,000 per week.

 

Even with such a substantial discount, however, Leeds would be unable to afford to make up the difference – a point that has been made to the player’s representatives by the United hierarchy in recent days.

 

Smith is understood to be receptive to United’s approach, even if it means taking a pay cut. As a consequence, Leeds are much more hopeful of pushing a deal through than was the case even a fortnight ago. If the Rothwell-born striker-turned-midfielder does re-join United, supporter opinion is likely to be divided with some still being angry at his decision to sign for bitter rivals Manchester United following Leeds’s relegation in 2004.

 

As a consequence of the ill-feeling that still exists among some supporters, Smith was jeered by the visiting Leeds fans throughout their side’s friendly at St James’ Park in 2009.

 

A good number of United fans are, however, much more happy at the prospect of signing a player who helped Newcastle to promotion from the Championship in 2009-10.

 

Whether Leeds can seal a deal to bring Smith back to West Yorkshire remains to be seen but one current United player who seems on his way out of the club is Kasper Schmeichel following the club’s decision to accept an offer from Leicester City of £1.5m.

 

The 24-year-old is expected to link up with Foxes manager Sven Goran Eriksson for a third time after earlier playing for the Swede at Manchester City and Notts County.

 

Schmeichel, who moved north from Meadow Lane on a free transfer last summer and has a year remaining on his existing contract, hit out at the Yorkshire club in the wake of Leicester’s bid being accepted, accusing United of trying to force him out.

 

The Danish Under-21 goalkeeper also insisted he had not rejected the offer of a new contract, something Grayson had alluded to when confirming Leicester’s interest on Monday.

 

Grayson has now moved to clarify the decision to allow Schmeichel to move and insists it was purely down to footballing reasons.

 

The Leeds chief said: “It is something we have been looking at as I am trying to improve the back four or five of last season. When you concede the number of goals that we did, it is obviously an area where one or two players are vulnerable and we need to change it round slightly.

 

“I am always looking to improve. No-one’s position is safe because I am looking to do better than last year, and that is the line I am going down. You have to do that.

 

“There are good options for goalkeepers and defenders out there so this was a footballing decision, first and foremost. But, obviously, in this day and age with the Bosman ruling, it can quicken decisions up for you.

 

“When Kasper goes, we have other alternatives that will make us better and keep progressing us. Those are the decisions you make at times and that is the decision we have taken at this moment in time.”

 

Leeds conceded 70 goals last season as they finished seventh in the Championship, the eighth highest total in the second tier.

 

Grayson has targeted Coventry City goalkeeper Keiren Westwood as a replacement for Schmeichel, though he faces huge competition from Sunderland.

 

Steve Bruce sees Westwood as someone who can compete with Simon Mignolet for the goalkeeper’s jersey at the Stadium of Light, one-time £9m signing Craig Gordon being deemed surplus to requirements with a year remaining on his contract.

 

If Westwood does plump for the Stadium of Light, former Sheffield Wednesday goalkeeper Lee Grant is believed to be on Grayson’s radar along with Huddersfield Town’s Alex Smithies, though it would take a huge fee to tempt the Terriers over the latter.

 

Leeds will announce the signing of a goalkeeper in the next few days, though the new arrival will be understudy to whoever is subsequently brought in as Schmeichel’s replacement.

 

Grayson added: “A week or so ago, before all this with Kasper, we agreed the deal, subject to a medical.”

 

Meanwhile, United’s first two games of the season will be shown live by Sky after the Carling Cup first round tie at home to Bradford City was yesterday selected for broadcast.

 

The mouth-watering West Yorkshire derby, the first between the two clubs since 2008 when a crowd of 20,128 watched Leeds prevail in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy first round, will take place on Tuesday, August 9, kick-off 7.45pm. United’s opening day visit to Southampton had already been selected for transmission on August 6, kicking-off at 5.20pm.

 

Sheffield Wednesday’s Carling Cup first round tie at home to newly-relegated Blackpool will also be shown by Sky on Thursday August 11.

 

Hull City, meanwhile, will kick off the Football League season after their home clash with Blackpool was brought forward from the opening day to Friday night for the benefit of the Sky cameras.

 

As part of Nigel Pearson’s plans for the new campaign, the Tigers are believed to be closing in on Nottingham Forest duo Dele Adebola and Paul McKenna. They also want to sign Leicester defender Jack Hobbs and are hopeful of securing an £800,000 deal in the next few days

http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/sport/football/bradford-city/leeds_look_for_wages_deal_to_lure_smith_to_united_1_3502989

[AyeDubbleYoo]

If we're going to have to pay something like 75% of his wages, may as well keep him and let him help put cones out or something.

[Guest taps01]

If we're going to have to pay something like 75% of his wages, may as well keep him and let him help put cones out or something.

 

No no no no we need rid, ill put the cones out for free if need be.

[biggs]

Sooner he f***s off the better. Has precisely nothing to offer this football club any more. I'd offer to pay about half of his wages if he signed for someone else and got his useless arse out of the club. It would be £25k a week saved rather than £50k a week wasted on this knacker.

 

don't feel sorry for him in the slightest. Rough calculations show he's taken about £11m out of this club over the course of the last 4 years. That's £11,000,000. He doesn't deserver any sympathy either. If it's cash he wants - he's got loads of it. If it's regular football he wants then why hasn't he already moved?

 

Get the t*** out of the door asap.

Unless its purely greed with him now he should go to Leeds and be happy to finish his career at his home town club .

[AyeDubbleYoo]

Would be a nice gesture if he'd agree to take a sizeable pay cut to join Leeds.

[ponsaelius]

Fuck off Smith.

[ToonTastic]

Would be a nice gesture if he'd agree to take a sizeable pay cut to join Leeds.

 

He's going to end up on their crap wage in the second year of his contract anyway so it would seem the sensible thing for him to do really rather than rob £25k a week from us for a year.

[Ketsbaia]

If we're still paying 30k, theres really not much point.

[Dokko]

If he doesn't take a pay cut he's a massive cunt.

[Menace]

How? It's not his fault that Allardyce gave him the contract he received.

[NG32]

If we're still paying 30k, theres really not much point.

 

Well yeah, we are 30k a week better off. Loads of point in it.

 

Thats a bit more money we could offer other players.

[BrettNUFC]

How? It's not his fault that Allardyce gave him the contract he received.

 

Because if he had any self respect for his footballing ability and this football club he would fuck off to some lower division club and take the 40 grand a week pay cut and stop bleeding this club dry. We've give him enough money for his behind the scene team spirit contribution, now he should graciously shake hands with a smile on his face and depart with his millions we have given him. Cheers Smudger!

[OzzieMandias]

If we're still paying 30k, theres really not much point.

 

Well yeah, we are 30k a week better off. Loads of point in it.

 

Thats a bit more money we could offer other players.

 

And a squad place freed up for someone younger, better, cheaper.

[TheGuv]

Just take the wage cut you prick

[NG32]

If we're still paying 30k, theres really not much point.

 

Well yeah, we are 30k a week better off. Loads of point in it.

 

Thats a bit more money we could offer other players.

 

And a squad place freed up for someone younger, better, cheaper.

 

Yup.

 

Fcking hell Im agreeing with Ozzie more and more...read some his posts over the last few weeks and agreed with almost all of them.

 

[OzzieMandias]

[Cronky]

So we'll be paying someone to take him off our hands.

 

He had a very promising career at one point.

[TRon]

So we'll be paying someone to take him off our hands.

 

He had a very promising career at one point.

 

Like with Owen, we bought a busted flush. He wasn't the same player after his leg was broken. An Allardyce special, long may he continue the legacy at West Ham.

[Guest]

Smith was never a great player even at Leeds in his "prime".

[Jack Flash]

It's rather infuriating to think just how much money Smith has "earned" here while giving nothing back. Say what you want about our new "rules" but if they stop things like this happening in the future I'm all for them. Hopefully he's the last.

[JH]

Have to say like, I'd happily pay half of Smith's wages and see him fuck off, then pay all of his wages and have to keep him in the squad

[Sifu]

Just take the wage cut you prick

 

[biggs]

Alan Smith will not accept a wage cut as part of a deal to take him back to Leeds United next season.

 

 

The Newcastle United midfielder flies home from a holiday in America soon, but he says he wants to honour the final year of his contract on Tyneside.

 

Newcastle have told Smith that he is free to leave St James’ Park, 12 months before the end of a deal which expires in June 2012, and Leeds are one of several clubs competing for his signature this summer.

 

Smith’s existing contract is believed to be worth in the region of £55,000 a week, however, and the 30-year-old is not prepared to forego the financial commitment made to him by Newcastle.

 

However - Newcastle say they would consider paying a sizeable portion of Smith’s wages to facilitate a transfer, a move which would assist Leeds’ attempts to close a deal.

 

But Smith says he wants to remain at Newcastle for the final year of his deal and fight for a first-team place under manager Alan Pardew.