General life choice for Smith I would suggest - chance to go and have go in London, which many in their 20s want to do, whatever walk of life. Plus he is mates with McCormack by all accounts, so an immediate bond there.
On reflection, whilst I suspect his value will go up in the next 1-2 years and I hugely admire his self-improvement ethic, ultimately not too bothered. Similar to Lees in that respect - feel we've been slightly short changed, but equally neither were going to be in the first choice XI so better to use the cash / wages elsewhere. Also helps to trim our somewhat bloated squad. Looking at Wiki this morning we have a senior squad size of 34 now. Assuming you would like that closer to 25-26, I think once the emergency loan window opens we could see Killock, Dawson, Cairns, Walters, White(?) head out on loans. Will then be looking for whatever arrangement we can find (loans, cancelled contracts or combination thereof) to move on Norris, Thompson, Wootton(?), Morison, Hunt. Manage all of the above and you still have a squad with cover in every position. The main remaining weaknesses for next time to me are a pervasive lack of pace, a real commanding enforcer in the heart of our midfield (15 signings later, and our own 17 year old youth team player still looks the best option available, which is either a tremendous endorsement of Cook or an indictment of our recruitment) and width. Oh and the small matter of a coach. Beyond the above, it is simply impossible to judge whether we have improved as a result of all the ins and outs, as there are just so many unknown quantities. We haven't seen enough of any of the new signings to form any reasonable judgement yet and 3 of them haven't played at all yet. Hopefully the coach position gets sorted in the next 48 hours and it is a strong, footballing respected figure and not a Cellino plaything. Great shame to see Watford are getting Garcia. On Tue, Sep 2, 2014 at 10:47 AM, [email protected] <[email protected]> wrote: > Sad to see Smith go (Poleon inevitable and good for both parties) - I > think with decent service he could be a real asset or failing that come on > as an impact player. Having said that I am baffled by it more than > anything. Footballers leave for money, higher standard and to play (as > opposed to be on bench) McCormack went for money, the Norwich lot for money > and higher standard etc. With Smith he has just signed a 3 year contract so > he is happy enough with the money he is on. Fulham are in the same league > (and even below us!) so that leaves being in the first team rather than > bench as his incentive. Well Hockaday who did not pick him has gone, no-one > knows who is coming in and what their views are so he could become the > first name on the team sheet, Magath at Fulham who has presumably promised > him a starting place seems to be hanging on to his job by a thread and so > Smith could soon have a new manager. > Whatever it is his choice and good luck to him - he did OK for us and > seems a decent bloke > As for our new manager the good thing is that the people we are being > linked with are of a much better pedigree than Hockaday so whoever comes in > should be decent, hopefully (being linked with a getting are a lot > different) - seems like we have missed out on Garcia (ex Brighton boss) who > was first choice but is going to Watford > > Dave > > > ________________________________ > _______________________________________________ > Leedslist mailing list > Info and options: > http://mailman.greennet.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/leedslist > To unsubscribe, email [email protected] > > John 'Grampa' Sykes > Rest In Peace old lad > 28th Oct 1938 - 12 Nov 2013 > MARCHING ON TOGETHER > _______________________________________________ Leedslist mailing list Info and options: http://mailman.greennet.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/leedslist To unsubscribe, email [email protected] John 'Grampa' Sykes Rest In Peace old lad 28th Oct 1938 - 12 Nov 2013 MARCHING ON TOGETHER
