Smithies to Cardif

[Norths]

Surprise surprise - undisclosed

[Norths]

[BarryBarry]

As mentioned above - we don’t know the fee or why it is (perceived to be) low. But would seem entirely feasible that he agreed an extension with clauses that if we didn’t go up he could leave for a more modest sum. This would have been good deal for the club at the time too as we got a solid (not great) keeper for another year and he didn’t leave on a free.

[Northolt_Rs]

image_2284.png I think i’m going to puke!!!!

[corbray]

my missus is gutted as she thinks smithies had the best bum out of all our players

[dave58]

it's even worse than we thought sky stating that it's £3M + £500.000 if Cardiff stay up and Huddersfield had sell on clause built in don't know how much they're entitled to? How can we let him go so cheaply

[corbray]

it's even worse than we thought sky stating that it's £3M + £500.000 if Cardiff stay up and Huddersfield had sell on clause built in don't know how much they're entitled to? How can we let him go so cheaply

the only thing i can think of is smithies must have had a clause in his contract letting him go so cheaply to a prem club

[Joe90]

Gutted he's gone, but why would he stay with us if the chance to play in the premier league comes up? I'm really not sure what to think about next season, getting kinda nervous now.

[Shepherds Mush]

It's a joke of a fee but if he had a higher release clause (I'm assuming thats why the fee was low) then clubs would only wait a year until he was on a free.

Only positive for me is he'll be a proper bargain in fantasy football !

[West Acton]

Given size of fee I hope we insisted it’s money upfront and not in dribs and drabs

[LoftusRoadLad]

Bub Bye

[FurtiveFox]

Good luck to him. For me if we need to sell someone and we have two young keepers to battle it out then makes sense. We have reasonable midfield and some good young attacking players. It is defenders we need and if selling a goalkeeper means we can strengthen at back then good move. Would have realistically preferred £5-£6m but probably not too far off what we should have expected. Good at this level but last season was a bit of a dip on previous one.

[Jeffqpr]

Get over get it he’s gone end of, good while he was here but we move on.

[Itsonlyagame]

my missus is gutted as she thinks smithies had the best bum out of all our players

Gotta love the female perspective sometimes. My ex openly admitted to me that the only reason she came to HQ when we were in league 1 was because she fancied Kevin McLeod.
And before anyone asks, no, she didn’t become my ex because she ran off with him.

[Shepherds Mush]

Good luck to him. For me if we need to sell someone and we have two young keepers to battle it out then makes sense. We have reasonable midfield and some good young attacking players. It is defenders we need and if selling a goalkeeper means we can strengthen at back then good move. Would have realistically preferred £5-£6m but probably not too far off what we should have expected. Good at this level but last season was a bit of a dip on previous one.

Good post this one.

There is absolutely nothing to suggest that Lumley or Ingram can become top keepers. The fact we can sell Smithies and not need a replacement is a benefit to other areas in the squad.

Agree that the fee is low but it suggests that there was a clause in there somewhere and I'd rather have £4m now than nothing in a year's time.