I think the interview on changing rooms proves he had no choice but to go to Man U cos they were the only ones offering money upfront
Just been doing some research and I am pretty confident he never kissed the scums badge, one bloke on another forum is a season ticket holder claims to have seen all Smiths goals and he said he has never kissed their badge. At the end of the day it is an empty gesture no matter who you are. People are pointing out the likes of Terry kissing the Chelsea badge then a few months later holding them to ransom over £130k a week contract and quoted as saying how he nearly left to join City. The Internet is full of badge kissers and how they make themselves look stupid a few months later. Even if Smith did kiss their badge I wouldn't care, players are employees of a club, they do it for the money and the lifestyle it brings to believe a player would be remain loyal to any club is ludicrous. What would concern me more than anything is the fact that Smith is not up to it any longer, I wouldn't want to see him back because I believe he is past it, nothing to do with who he played for after us. One of the best players we have ever had in recent times was Strachan, do we care he came from Scum? If a player pulls a Leeds shirt on and gives it his all and he helps us win games then I don't care who he played for, what he did on the pitch in the form of celebrating or what he has said, we all say things we regret.
Possibly, but as previously posted the over celebrating isn't good to watch. Maybe one day the truth will come out. Still find his treatment from the scumbag Udders fans disgusting. If they were kicked out of the play off final, now that would be funny!
a lad I used to play football against is a Town fan currently spending 14 months behind bars for kicking **** out of a bloke (who asked them to not swear) in last years play off final! I must add this was a fellow town fan I dont expect anything less from them n their idiot supporters
Perhaps it has something to do with playing with the passion he clearly did for Leeds United? Perhaps it was his leaving the club reluctantly after the Board decided it needed the money and he gave 1,000,000 of his share of the transfer fee to the club? How many of us on this board have given the club even 10% of that?
I hear you, the chairman is making it easier every season for regular attendees to reach that mark sooner rather than later!
How many of us earn anything like that amount? It was peanuts to him. Whenever I have money spare, I put it aside so I can get to Leeds games next season. My little warchest, as it were. I go out a fair bit less than a lot of people I know, try to spend less on clothes and non-essentials etc. I'm sure there are people far more committed than me, but I'd certainly class myself as someone who's dedicated more to Leeds United than Alan Smith did with his derisory, token 'please don't hate me for being a twat' gesture. And once again, it wasn't a 'reluctant' departure. There's more than one national news outlet that reported his preferred destination was scum. That ISN'T representative of someone passionate about Leeds United, nor was flicking the Vs, celebrating his goals for 'them', his "I'm not a Championship player" spiel, his lie about never going there, and his artificial stage-act about being some kind of local hero, when in fact he was quite the opposite. A stupid little stuck-up Judas scum ****.
So 1,000,000 is insignificant to a young footballer? Really!?!?!??!?!?!?! So everything in the newspapers and on the Internet is true and everything anyone is quoted as saying in the media is not for expediency's sake etc? Very naive way to view the world, IMHO. Well many of us may not have done what he did, I find some opinions about this extremely judgemental given their lack of all the facts and circumstances at the time.
Haven't we already established he probably earnt twice that amount every year, and was set for a major wage hike at Old Trafford anyway? Depends who's saying it and what agenda they may have. As it happens, an agent being quoted and Ireland's national media organization reporting Smith's own preference is good enough for me, because both of those are reliable sources. We have every right to be judgmental. We don't ever have all the facts about anything, but there's certainly enough evidence out there that any man and his dog can see Alan Smith's a Judas and a traitor if they look hard enough and want to see the truth rather than a more pleasant alternative to it.
"Probably" and "anyway." How many people do you know that have given up 50% of their annual salary to anybody or for anything? Exactly! The man had just moved. What do you expect him to say? Preponderonce of the evidence would be nice also. Seems like man have chosen to select certain, limited items and base their conclusion on those, ignoring others or belittling them as they do not fit their conclusion.
Go on then, why are those two statements untrue? I'm estimating he earnt around 35kpw at Leeds, judging by how much plodders like Seth Johnson were on, and of course a move to Man U brings an increased salary. The reports I was on about were before he'd moved. His agent saying scum was his preferred destination. RTE reporting he preferred a move to scum over Everton, Middlesbrough, Valencia or others. Flicking the Vs at the Leeds fans. Refusing to play for Leeds in the Championship whether the club wanted him or not. Celebrating every goal he scored for the scum. Being a public apologist for their Leeds-hating fans. Lying about never going there, playing up to his synthetic image as Mr Leeds. The evidence looks preponderifictastically damning for Alan Smith from where I'm sitting. The only evidence to the contrary is the token gesture of waiving the signing-on fee for a bit of rosy publicity, and the old "Mr Leeds" stage act which still flatters to deceive. There's also Whitejock's apparent personal link, but with no disrespect to the bloke, that's not tangible or credible evidence like the stuff I listed above. And sorry if it seems I'm belittling you, I actually think you're one of the best posters on here and tend to know your stuff.
Certainly don't remember this, but can well believe that someone with an axe tio grind would start the rumour. Never saw RTE and never heard Smith state he would prefer a move ot Man U over x, y or z. Easy to start that rumour though somewhere and have it picked up by those who want to hear it. This is the one I find most interesting. I assume you are referring to the Newcastle pre-season friendly a few seasons ago (I was there) in which the whole 90 minutes and before the match Smith was constantly verbally abused by the Leeds fans. I would say this - hating Leeds fans is not a difficult place to get to, but you can still love the club - and I am not surprised he flicked the V's. That does not mean he dislikes LUFC, just the idiots who wrere there that night. I hated them too. LUFC could not afford to keep Smith due to his wages - such an erroneoous argument Celebrating a goal is exactly what strikers do, irrespective who you play for. Most fans worry about a player celebrating a goal against their original team, but as Smith has never played against us nor had that opportunity, it never arose. Erroneoous argument. Never heard that. We all know the reasons that are given as to why he eventually ended up at Man U. I'd say that each and every one of your arguments has some major flaws in it.
TBH, there's a lot of questions we'll never know the answer to, unless Smith gets it all down on paper for his autobiography. A read I look forward to, myself. In the meantime, keep steaming on, chaps, but I doubt if you'll convince the other side of the great divide.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-303605/Everton-enter-race-Smith.html "Smith's preferred destination is believed to be Old Trafford." Unbiased national press - why would they have any reason to lie about that or mention it unless they pretty much knew it to be true? http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2004/5/21/sports/8035155&sec=sports "Alan’s agent has stressed that he wants to go to Old Trafford." Agent could sue Lorimer if this is untrue or unrepresentative, so it's obviously what Smith wanted. http://www.sportinglife.com/footbal...?STORY_NAME=soccer/04/05/22/SOCCER_Leeds.html "We have offers from other clubs but Alan has said he would like to go to Old Trafford. That is the situation as it is now and with [Man] United in the cup final we will look at it again next week. We will see what Monday brings but at present Alan remains our player." Why mention all that detail about waiting for the cup final unless scum was Smith's preference? And once again, no reason to lie. Remember Schmeichel at the end of last season where he was making a fuss about wanting to stay at Leeds even though he was certain to go to Leicester? Not hard, was it? Smith didn't so much as raise an eyebrow when the scum came a-calling - in fact, he actively enjoyed it because it was his personal preference the whole time, the raggedy-arsed little Judas scum ****. Nope, it was Chelsea away just after our fans had learnt he wanted a move to scum, and were pleading with him not to go there. And he fobbed off the entire away end. Definitely something a Leeds fan would do, right? Clearly displaying his love for all things LUFC by rejecting the hardcore fans who were there that day. Wow. I suppose you must hate me too then for all the anti-Smith stuff I've sung over the years. A proper Leeds fan wouldn't have said what he did, putting self over side in such a crass way. Except all the strikers who don't celebrate goals against their ex-teams. It's the same principle. If you feel a goal you score doesn't merit celebration for whatever reason - in this case the reason that it's a club he said he'd never go to - you should at least do yourself the favour of not having a huge grin on your face when you score for them. It's not hard. Valid argument. "Hopefully I can continue the learning period and win the Manchester United fans over by my performances on the field." No proper Leeds fan would want to win over that set of absolute scumbags, whether it's their job is to play for MUFC (which, incidentally, it wouldn't be if you're proper Leeds) or not. http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/sport/football/manchester_united/s/118/118012_.html
"plodders like Seth Johnson" were signed by Plodder Ridsdale, Smith was not, I believe but I could be wrong. Do we really believe agents? Coincidentally the club preferred that too as they were the only ones willing to put cash on the table wuthout any delay. Why did he do that? My recollection was that he pledged to stay to help us back up. Since none were against Leeds what is your point? Got a link for that, don't recall anything like that. Don't you have to know something is not true for it to be a lie at the time you say it? "Token gesture" - we will just have to disagree on that one as I expect most will disagree with you on that even those who don't view it as a sufficiently redeeming action. Seems more credible to me. Thank you, actually, I did not take it personally, just don't find it a productive way to discuss any issue.
Even if he were on half that, 1m is hardly a lot of money to him in the scheme of things. And he'd have had a contract extension signed off by Ridsdale at some point, no doubt. It's only in his client's interest to say what his client wants, so in this instance, yes. Not that all the sources I listed above are his agent by any means. You're right, that is coincidental. Because the Leeds fans told him "you go to scum, you don't come back". "I'm not a Championship footballer" doesn't tie in with that very well. I made my point above. You don't have to celebrate a goal wildly if you don't feel it's right to do so. Scoring against an ex-club is just one example of how strikers can temper that passion. Scoring for the club you said you'd never go to should be another instance. I put a link above with him saying he wanted to "win them over", as if they're something special. Fine then, breaking a promise. Just as bad really, isn't it. A bloke on the web you've never met is more credible than Smith's agent, the national press and an LUFC director of the time? Staggering. Just saying it as I see it. The fact you dismiss very credible media as valid sources tells me you're letting your heart rule your head on this issue.
