Where is Alan Smith?

Posted on August 9th, 2010 | 51 Comments |

Smudger.... Where are you?
Smudger.... Where are you?
It’s been a bit of a mystery over the past week or so, the location of Alan Smith that is.

Now if there is a logical reason for it then fair enough, but I am pretty sure I haven’t read anywhere that Smith has an injury, or if he is the subject of a transfer bid or anything like that.

Well that is a slight lie, I have heard about him leaving us, but only through those dodgy rumour websites that I’m almost certain have yet to get something right.

Regardless of that though, Alan Smith does appear to have gone missing, and with a lack of justification behind his absence, tongues will no doubt start wagging.

This all started on Tuesday at Deportivo. Chris Hughton said before the lads flew out that he had no new injury concerns for the match, yet Smith didn’t feature, not even from the bench, which is strange considering the match was supposed to be about fitness.

Then there was the Rangers match, where there was again no sign of him, which means he now probably won’t play against Manchester United. I am surprised that he wasn’t at least given a run out, given that he is likely to be our vice-captain, or captain even, but then again we were chasing the game I suppose, so why would bring a defensive midfielder on?

Personally, I’m not that fussed if Smith gets in the team or not as I’m not convinced that he can play top flight football anymore, not in defensive midfield anyway, but I do like to know where players are and what is up with them.

Now if I have missed anything and he has been spotted with the squad then please feel free to tell me, but I have also noticed a few other people saying the same thing over the weekend. Secret injury? Transfer dealings? Who knows? I’m not going to speculate on that, but I would like to know if there is anything wrong with him.

Smudger, show your face!

NUFCBlog Author: toonsy toonsy has written 643 articles on this blog.

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51 Responses

  1. apparently he was left out vs deportivo by hughton presumably to give him a rest and he had a minor injury which meant he couldnt play vs rangers

  2. I thought that if you’re chasing a game, you also need to shore up your defence to stop counter attacking or are those tactics wrong :(

    As for smudger, I think he’s probably got a slight knock or summit, else CH would have told us that he was leaving, as that would give him extra dosh to buy Arfa :)

  3. i don’t really care like he is past it lets look to our future withooot him , hes nor premiership class anymore i’m afraid he is too slow…

  4. cyprus , arfa is not interested, has spoken out and mentions nuffin of nufc , so guess he is bundesliga boond, and whats with the name kipris like ??

  5. where is marillion noo, and does his mullet not remind ye of KK and Chrissie Wadds eh ?

  6. toonsy. love ya work , my top player was soopermac , oh jointly with shearer i love the NO. 9’s

  7. nzedtoonman where have you seen this article by Ben Arfa?? Tried searching for it but no joy, I fully believe that he agreed to join us weeks ago when it first came out, but also think that we are messing about trying to haggle for someone who in my opinion is already a bargain at 6 mil, I know he has history with his tempremental mood swings but this could be a fresh start for him!

  8. just a segway really but first time i went to cyprus these were number one and evrytime I hear it reminds me of Cyprus , old mark almond loved a drink of s***k , APPARENTLY …..

  9. John , nuffin heard , but what I meant is he has NOT said anything positive or hopeful to TOON ears , so most unlikely that he is thinking of coming, its experience that says he is not coming…..

  10. According to Journallive.co.uk we have agreed an £800,000 loan deal for Ben Arfa. Fingers crossed.

  11. TOONSY if you are still there , this is my MAN !! deed noo but saw him three times live he was the ultimate showman , god rest his SOUL …

  12. Not bothered at all about Smithy, think we will seriously struggle to offload him due to his wages and the 2 remaining years left on his contract.

  13. Carroll is injured?? Fecking hell thats all we need, must be why Hughton pulled him off against Rangers, thought he would have got 90mins.

  14. THIS IS THE BEST ,,, watch JB cutting his shapes on stage LIVE and , and it is only 1970 , this is FORTY years ago wild !! who was in the toon team in 1970, Pop , and bobbie monc , just won the fairs the year b4 !!

  15. nzedtoonman

    Just means we pay his team that amount (plus his wages probs)to have him for a certain period of time instead of paying 6mil to sign him permanantly. good move for us i reckon.

  16. Stu79 I had that as well, think they have some sort of copyright thing operating today anyway,

    Cullen, yeah , but seems like its got more permanance or meaning than just a loan , and when it is at the start of the season , why does his club not want to keep him ?? DO we beleive this journo ism ?

  17. Nzed – Usually if a loan fee is involved it means that there is an option to buy at the end of it. Kind of like a down payment or a deposit. It should, SHOULD, mean we get first refusal on him aswell, at a pre-agreed price.

  18. To be honest right now i’m more concerned about Shola leading the line against Man Utd. I’m not one of these who just rips Shola for no reason, I actually quite like him at times, but the Carroll with Nolan behind worked well in tough away games last season and I would have put my mortgage on Hughton doing that at Old Trafford.. with hopefully Ben Afra somewhere across the middle.

  19. He did say before the Rangers match he was looking forward to playing there and it would be his second time blah blah so i would have taken that as he wasnt injured… So I hope he is away. To Rangers or who ever. He could do a good job for them in the SPL!

  20. Re Rangers: ‘while Alan Smith was also left out after a minor injury in training.’ says the Chron today. There’s probably nothing untoward in this.

  21. “Just seen him leaving the training ground as I was walking the dogs”

    Thats no way to talk about your womenfolk :)

  22. To be serious though “And midfielder Alan Smith played for more than an hour after shaking off the minor ankle problem which ruled him out of Newcastle’s last couple of first-team friendlies” so says .co.uk

    Played at Darsley against a St Mirren side.