Smallbone can do more than a job in the Championship. He is a top Championship midfielder. He has easily proven himself in the Championship at whatever club he played at. He got the assist in the playoff final. So to say he is just a squad player is harsh enough to be disrespectful. Anyway, why would you want a backup player? I would only want players who are good enough to start in Saints squad. That's the whole point of a squad system.
This. I would expect that he has watched plenty games from last season to form an assessment as to character and attitude.
What? I'm saying he's fine but let's be realistic. Can he play in the Championship? Sure. Will he be a total liability if he plays for us? No. Is he good enough to be first choice for a team chasing automatic promotion? Almost certainly not. Then you have to look at our squad. He was clearly way down the pecking order last season, starting only 6 league games. He's probably still 4th choice as things stand. If we get to September with him in our best XI then I'd say we've probably had a poor transfer window. I probably wouldn't want us to sign a backup player but we already have Smallbone. I didn't use the term backup player myself, but the whole point of a squad is that you have players who play most games and others who don't. As I say, he's fine to be in the squad and if he plays some games I'm sure he won't be a disaster, but if we're going to win the league we need better.
