Smith's pledge to Reds

January 09, 2007

WANTED MAN: Alan Smith

ALAN Smith's Premiership suitors are wasting their time trying to prise the Yorkshire lad away from United.

The striker wants to fight on at Old Trafford and has no intentions of giving up the challenge either permanently or temporarily.

Wigan Athletic have been the latest club linked with the Reds é7m import from Leeds in 2004. Paul Jewell's interest is another in a queue of admirers who have been in touch with the 26-year-old's agent.

Indeed it is believed around 80 per cent of the top division have made an enquiry but Smith remains adamant that he wants to fight for his place in Sir Alex Ferguson's squad.

Next month will be the first anniversary of Smith's horror leg and ankle break suffered at Anfield in the FA Cup fifth round against Liverpool.

But he has fought back after a special training programme and he is now fully fit again and determined to prove that he is good enough to claim a place in the Reds line-up.

Do you think he is? Have your say.

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Hugo Hemingway, London (09/01/2007 at 09:41)

I like Smith as a player mainly because of his spirit, but I personally think that he will never be anything better than 5th choice this season , and thats not even including Rossi

The club I think owe him, not only for playing a natural born and bred striker in midfield for so long but also because of the horrendous injury

By all means keep him until the end of the season, but I just dont know when / if he will get a game in that time

khaled mahmood, bangladesh (09/01/2007 at 09:47)

Lost his bottle. Finished. Cash in on him. Was never Utd class anyway. Viduka was the one we should have got.

macca, cornwall (09/01/2007 at 09:50)

lost his bottle and finished? have a word with yourself khaled. smith is a good player and im not suprised 80% of the league have enquired. i take it thats everyone except chelsea. he offers us something else and i think he can be a success at the club. he started off well for us and he can get back there. Good to hear your fit Smudger.

Frank, Old Trafford (09/01/2007 at 10:06)

I wonder if any of the 80% have even offered him half the money he's on at Utd... Surely nothing to do with his decision!

carmine, morden (09/01/2007 at 10:07)

Klhad m8 u r talking rubbish if he wasted then why do the united faithful love him then...explain that then!!!!!!! Alan has been a good buy for the club he just needs to get match fit and then he will be a good player for us again

Bara, Where Else Than...!! (09/01/2007 at 10:17)

HE and Brown deserve to be @ manutd cos of their sprit and Loyalty even if they are on bench; they dont complain. they are very good squad players. For me Silvestre and Hainze should go if we get Bale cos Evra is just world class; his attacking flair is second to non. Evra links so well with everyone while Heinze just want to be attacked rather than him attacking the Opponents; infact He is half Germany; so why not swoop him OH and Swoop Silverstre with Torres.

Gaz, North Stand (09/01/2007 at 10:23)

We shouldn't release Smith because he is a good squad player, granted he may not ever be first choice and his standings in the striker positions is now behind Rooney, saha, larsson and ole with rossi also in the mix but if you think that ole and larsson could both play wide if required and rooney could play attacking central midfield if required and smith could play up top or right midfield he should be kept to cover the chance of an injury crisis this is what squad players are for after all and would you not rather see him in the team than o'shea or fletcher (not as a defensive midfielder though we still need to buy another one of them).

Sambo, At my desk (09/01/2007 at 10:23)

It's what we all want to hear... commitment. Smith is a quality player and another no-nonsense guy that suits United so well.

And Viduka?! Are you mad?! We'd never get him out of the pie shop...

Andy, Stockport (09/01/2007 at 10:29)

I greatly admire Smith's grit & determination and would love to see him in a stikers role knocking goals in as he did soon after his arrival. Realistically though, I think the chances of him doing that are, at best, slim. Great lad and I for one wish him all the best.

Sparky, Salford (09/01/2007 at 10:32)

Khaled, What have you been smoking? Is that the same Mark Viduka who is awesome twice a season and then goes missing for the other 40 plus games. I agree though that Smith is not Utd quality really. At his best he would form a good partnership with Rooney but with Saha, Solskjaer, Larsson ahead of him he will never get the chance to get a run in the side. We should sell him in the summer for around Â£5m although his wages might be a problem - although he isn't on Â£70k a week as some clown posted yesterday. I fancy N'castle might be the destination?

steve, Glossop (09/01/2007 at 10:37)

Fair point Frank. We know his qualities we know he's been messed about. I wouldn't expect him to be content being a reserve if he's kept his ambition.

Eddie, Oslo (09/01/2007 at 10:43)

Alan is one of the plyers ive seen. I think he deserves a first team place if he gets back to the form he was at the start of the 2004/2005 season. He has a great spirit and he plays with hard, great football. He would ave been class for us if he he played as a striker last season

Mick, Dublin (09/01/2007 at 10:44)

Smith might not be United quality (personally, I doubt it) but it's difficult to make a decision one way or another without giving him more of an opportunity in his favoured position, up front. Don't forget he did very well for us at the beginning of last season. Currently he's 5th choice (at best) so I don't see him getting games - the best decision for all concerned would be a loan to another Premiership club. That way he gets a chance to show what he can do and hopefully force his way into Fergie's thinking for next season. Also, it means United get to put him in the shop window, in case we end up deciding to sign a big name striker in the summer, or Rossi starts fulfilling his promise. If Smith refuses to even consider a spell out on loan then I think he's cutting off his nose to spite his face and he'll end up languishing in our reserves.

George, RHYL (09/01/2007 at 10:45)

Solksjaer is the inspiration for anyone hoping to come back from injury.Anything is possible! It does seem tho that Smith's career at OT will be spasmodic appearances.I don't see a place for him at the moment but determination is a great quality.If he recaptures his fitness,he has an outside chance.He could be more deadly as a striker,because although he hasn't played he will have matured and learned a bit.It was a very nasty injury and to even be on the brink of coming back is incredible.

Frank, Old Trafford (09/01/2007 at 10:50)

You talking to me Sparky? What's he on then? That figure was the one that I saw in the press when he was bought, I can't remeber if it was here or somewhere else, but until I receive other information that is a valid press quoted figure.

Dawood Khan, South Africa (09/01/2007 at 10:52)

Smiths a gud playa, his willingness to fite for the ball is wat we need. He needs a gud run and i'm sure he will prove himself. I say Saha gets the bench, he needs to learn how to use both legs and not just his left 1...

Mick, London (09/01/2007 at 11:12)

We have to be realistic with Smith. United need a prolific goal scorer/poacher, which we dont have a present, and you only need to look at smiths record from the past with us and leeds he will struggle to get us 15 goals a year, and I think a stiker needs to be on 20+ for us. Smith is a great fighter and shows loyalty and dedication but I dont think this is enough

KINGCANTONA7, ASHTON (09/01/2007 at 11:26)

All these so called United faithful are calling for quality rather than average coming in...Smith was average when we brought him in and just because he likes his wage packet here doesnt mean we should keep deadwood. He cant even bang em in in the B's. Viduka is a useless lazy waste of space. Smith is doing us more harm than good by refusing to leave when we get an absurdly high price for a player of his lack of quality, maybe its because of his professed hatred of our club as a born Yorkie that he feels he can do us more damage by staying, beware the enemy within!!!! Flog him or just sack him, not good enough or wanted

chris, oxford (09/01/2007 at 11:30)

I cant see Smithy ever being first choice, especially if we do go after a top striker in the summer, so think he will have to leave at some point. Cant fault his effort but really not convinced he has the class (much like Fletcher). It's these type of players we need to ship out if money is a concern to free up more wages for some quality.

manc abroad, OT (09/01/2007 at 11:38)

He deserves his chance. Hughes was never a prolific scrorer as a forward, but he was a legend. He created a great deal of chances for others and scored spectacular goals. Ole was given over two years to get back, Smith should be allowed time to recover. He will give us a different option up front.

Thomas, Norway (09/01/2007 at 11:47)

We should try to sell him. I think United is a massive club who should look into signing massive players. We probably have 6-7 massive players at present time and Smith is not one of them. I do not rate him better than our second rank players. Where can he play? We can`t place Rooney on the bench, if so his batteries will go flat. Smith is not better than Saha, nor is he better than Ole and Henke. Atleast these two will provide us goals. We all know Smith will not be a midfielder, even O`shea is better than him in that position, and that say alot.

Alias Smith, over the moon (09/01/2007 at 11:54)

Mick, disagree. Are you suggesting that we need a Ruud-type player? We are certainly not short of goals and if you look at the Opta stats, we have more shots than any other PL team and the highest percentage of shots which are on target. We also convert more of our shots on target into goals than any of our three main rivals. In fact, only Bolton (who don't create many chances but are phenomenally efficient), Reading and Everton have better conversion rates. To my mind, a fully-fit Smith would be a good impact player to have on the bench (but probably not as good as Ole or Henke!).

True Red, Finland (09/01/2007 at 11:55)

Alan is coming to be a terrific player in coming weeks. HeÂ´s passion and skill level has always been world-class. He wonÂ´t score so much goals as Drogba or even Rooney but heÂ´ll be 100-percent team-player and he and Rooney will make the best strike-force in whole world iÂ´m sure of it. In Leeds he didnÂ´t score so much goals because he played as a winger and Viduka was alone up-front. Think of Rooney he had only scored in five matches so far this season and he plays almost every game. Althougt heÂ´s not a striker he should have scored more goals he had his chances. And if Smith gets so many chances he would score more goals.
Maybe IÂ´m wrong but letÂ´s give Smithy a real chance, he deserves it. Like we gave Wayne when he wasnÂ´t on his best pace.

Andy, Norway (09/01/2007 at 12:11)

Smith has the attitude we all love, but unfortunately not the qualities required to become a regular.
I see him going to Newcastle or Everton in the summer at the latest, as we'll probably sign another (world class) striker by then. But although we might get Larsson for the remainder of the season, I wouldn't mind having Smith as a sub for those games when we're pressing to turn a draw into victory. He's got a never say die attitude and commitment any player would be proud of, and as Rooney, Saha and OGS are rather prone to injuries, with potentially (one may hope) 28 games in 4 months, Smith may just get the chances he crave.

Alias Smith, over the moon (09/01/2007 at 12:26)

I think kingcantona7 has summed up the reason why many United fans have never taken to Smith. Nothing to do with his ability, everything to do with bigotry. There is no place for it but at least he has been brave enough to voice the real reasons for it, rather than beating around the bush as some others have done on this forum.

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