Alan Smith told he can leave Newcastle – Taylor bid confirmed.

Alan Smith

Alan Smith
Smith is free to leave.
Swansea City have confirmed that Newcastle have bid for their 22-year-old left-back Neil Taylor whilst Alan Smith has been told that he is free to find another club this summer.

Smith is one of the players that is still on a huge wage at Newcastle. That wouldn’t be a problem as such, if he justified it, but the fact is that he just doesn’t do enough on the pitch for Newcastle United these days. Good for the dressing room he may be, but £60,000-a-week for what is essentially a cheerleader is a lot of money.

That is not to be too down on Alan Smith of course. I don’t think many will argue that the lad has passion and is committed to the cause and he’s done his job at times when called upon. However, he just doesn’t have what it takes to cut it in the Premier League now. You can blame Alex Ferguson for that in my opinion as it was him who changed Alan Smith from the battering ram forward into a midfield battler.

Now it’s just a case of trying to find the lad another club. Realistically it’s going to be a tough ask as Smith can quite happily sit on his contract for the next two seasons knowing that any other club is unlikely to match what we are currently paying him.

I don’t think the end has come on bad terms. I just think that the realisation is there that Smith is only going to be a bit-part player at NUFC and has been told that if he wants more football then he’ll have to go elsewhere to find it. Not a bad thing in my eyes.

Meanwhile it would appear that Newcastle have indeed bid for Neil Taylor of Swansea, which will of course bring about lots more speculation regarding the future of Jose Enrique.

As ever, nothing has been confirmed by Newcastle, but Sky Sports have it as one of their top stories 🙄 and Swansea chairman Huw Jenkins, who by the way is going to take over from Ian Holloway and be the most annoying person on TV next season, had this to say:

“We have received a proposal from Newcastle regarding Neil. But the proposal has not been accepted or rejected at this stage.”

“We have received a number of enquiries from different clubs for Neil’s services and, like all bids we receive for any of our players, we will be talking it over with him when he returns from a break next week.”

“Neil is a player we brought to the club this season from the Conference with Wrexham with a view to him progressing and developing with us over a number of years. The last thing on our mind was to sell anyone over the summer.”

So bid lodged but that’s about it. Is this the end of Jose Enrique at Newcastle? Or are we finally getting the lad some backup? If it’s the former it’s not exactly the signal that I want to see coming out of St James’ Park.

What do you think of these two bits of news?

About toonsy

A lifelong Newcastle fan and current webmaster of this very 'blog who has the sole aim of creating a place by Newcastle United fans, for Newcastle United fans.

95 thoughts on “Alan Smith told he can leave Newcastle – Taylor bid confirmed.

  1. DJG….I agree with what you say, I also think it’s no bad thing that the club ain’t gonna let the players dictate things…

      (Quote)

  2. I will be glad when Smith goes, hasn’t done much for us whilst he’s been here. He had some decent performances when he played in the champo but I was always worried he would end up getting himself sent off

      (Quote)

  3. This comes back to signing younger, (or at least youngish and injury-free) players. Lets be honest Owen and Smith were both crocked and past their sell-by date. Owen had his best games when he was 18 yrs old!

      (Quote)

  4. The Enrique transfer won’t take place til the final weekend of the window.
    It will be a done deal between both clubs but will agree to leave it til the last minute so we don’t have time to spend the transfer fee.

    Different window , 🙄 same method. 🙄

      (Quote)

  5. Likewise Smith carved a reputation upfront for Leeds! By the time Fergie had got him, destroyed him positionally and his confidence, and he had suffered a major injury. What the hell were we thinking signing him after that.

      (Quote)

  6. Maybe you are right Richie, I just think Smith has cost so much in wages and hardly been out on the field. But behind closed doors, maybe he is the heart of things and helped keep the team together

      (Quote)

  7. Batty – Not been on. Only went on yesterday as my ears were burning.

    Just think things need to calm down now. You on FB?

      (Quote)

  8. Whenever Smith does get on the pitch, I really hate watching him… he looks so aggressive, and not in a good way. He may be the sweetest guy off the pitch (I don’t know) but when he is playing he brings a kind of violent vibe to the whole squad…. too much yelling and looking pissed off and getting carded…..

    So yeah, he might give it his all, but I just don’t like what he brings onto the pitch. I like them to play aggressively but without that kind of angry emotion on show… it’s just a distraction. It doesn’t seem to help.

    So there you go….. a feminine viewpoint, no doubt! 😐

      (Quote)

  9. Sky Sports News just said Alan Smith has been released along with Sol Campbell.

    Have we paid out his contract and got shot totally or is he just transfer listed?

      (Quote)

  10. It is not fair to say Alan Smith has done nowt for the club.
    if the argument you have is he was part of a side that got us relegated then Harper, Enrique and Colocini have done nowt for the club. Bitterness towards a guy you don’t even know.

    I am keen as the next guy that Smith and Nolan move on to pastures green (would keep other high earners Jonas Colo and Joey)

    Also guys before you wish for something please make sure you know what you are wishing for and it is better than you have already got.
    Some of you younger guys need to live a bit longer.

      (Quote)

  11. Well said, Toby. Short memories, some people.

    I don’t think everyone appreciates just what a miraculous turnaround that CCC season was. We were in freefall, and it took a combination of very strong characters with the decency to want to put things right (Smith the perfect example; Owen the opposite) and deep pockets (Ashley’s) to keep them here. Smudge was as important as anyone in getting the team performing again and I for one will always be grateful to him for it. You can spend £12m on a **** like Zog and still be relegated, but there is true value in someone who ups the performance of a whole squad the way Smudge does.

    All the very best to him as far as I’m concerned.

      (Quote)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *