Paul Smith

[Leonardo]

According to todays News of the World, Southampton want him. Good luck to him in the Premiership.

 

[WarrenBee]

You never want to see your best players go,but if the lad does move on,I wish him all the best.He is the best keeper that I have seen at GP for the past 20 years.Good luck Paul.

 

[German Bee]

We want 500K at least.

 

[rebus]

We want 500K at least.

Don't you mean German Bee wants £500k! It's a buyers market.

 

[German Bee]

Don't you mean German Bee wants £500k! It's a buyers market.

We, as in Brentford Mark.
You might work for bfc but I don´t think Wally will be asking you to negotiate for him!!!!!!!!!!!

Yeah England has an abundance of promising future England goalkeepers thats why foo man choo(Seaman) is still in goal.
500K or who else are Southampton gonna buy.......

 

[North London Bee]

I am surprised he didn't go last season.

I suspect that he will leave us next month perhaps as the number 2 for a lower rated Premiership or good first Division team with the chance to take over as first choice within a year or so. Southampton is a prime example. Jones will leave which means they need an understudy for Niemi - or vice versa !!

I did hear a lot of talk about Villa wanting him but that was before Taylor left so that one has perhaps gone cold.

Mark is corerect about it being a buyer's market.

Remember he is coming up to the last year of his contract and without checking I think he will be 24 by the end of the season and thus a Bosman free.

It is imperative we sell him and clubs will take advantage of this.

Can't see us getting more than £250-300K plus additional payments based on appearances etc.

 

[German Bee]

I am surprised he didn't go last season.

I suspect that he will leave us next month perhaps as the number 2 for a lower rated Premiership or good first Division team with the chance to take over as first choice within a year or so. Southampton is a prime example. Jones will leave which means they need an understudy for Niemi - or vice versa !!

I did hear a lot of talk about Villa wanting him but that was before Taylor left so that one has perhaps gone cold.

Mark is corerect about it being a buyer's market.

Remember he is coming up to the last year of his contract and without checking I think he will be 24 by the end of the season and thus a Bosman free.

It is imperative we sell him and clubs will take advantage of this.

Can't see us getting more than £250-300K plus additional payments based on appearances etc.

I agree it is a buyer´s market for players, but the country is screaming out for talented keepers.

 

[rebus]

I agree it is a buyer´s market for players, but the country is screaming out for talented keepers.

Not when Premiership clubs can pick up experienced players abroad for the same amount in signing-on fees, etc.....

 

[brighton bee]

i know it makes sense to sell but i dont want him to go, whatever the price-without him we would of been relegated last year and there is no way we could replace him with someone even half as good.if he goes i fear for our safety.

 

[Sammy Bee]

I was under the impression that he had more then one year remaining of his contract

 

[West Wilts Bee]

Paul Smith.

i know it makes sense to sell but i dont want him to go, whatever the price-without him we would of been relegated last year and there is no way we could replace him with someone even half as good.if he goes i fear for our safety.

No one wants him to go Brighton, but the sad fact is that we have to, and I hope Brentford hold out for the best prlce that they can get for him . Premershit clubs take the piss when buying players from the lower leagues, so we must add extras into the sale, e.g. appearences , sell on clause, and of course internationals.

 

[Mr Tree]

i know it makes sense to sell but i dont want him to go, whatever the price-without him we would of been relegated last year and there is no way we could replace him with someone even half as good.if he goes i fear for our safety.

Alan Julian will do a sound job!!

 

[PAZ]

Brett Ormerod you tedious man

Not when Premiership clubs can pick up experienced players abroad for the same amount in signing-on fees, etc.....

 

[rebus]

Brett Ormerod you tedious man

I was taking about goalkeepers. Apart from Omerod, name me five Nationwide Div 2 players that have gone to the Premiership in the last three years for over £500k...

 

[Mr Tree]

how dare you try and inject some realism into proceedings mark, you nasty nasty man

buy Paul Smith, who's played 80-odd games at English football's 3rd tier, for 500k

or

buy Jonny Jonnovic, Bulgarian/Russian/Finnish u-21 or international who has played top flight in France/Germany/Holland, for 500k

the foreign route is, regrettably, very easy for example, Arsenal are after either Rustu, Turkish int on a free, some Georgian or Russian, or the Czech No.1, Cech, who plays in France and would cost less than 1m i heard... - not saying they'll take Smith neccesarily, but this is the way of the football world these days

 

[North London Bee]

The key point is that he get as much as the market will bear for him.

Otherwise Smith will likely walk out on a Bosman free in a year's time.

I understand we are trying to get him to sign a contract extension but why should Smith do so when it is obvious there is serious interest in him.

Of couse I would like him to stay at GP for another decade but he is too good for the 2nd Division and for any top clubs to even consider signing him means that he is very good indeed given the competition from cheap foreign imports.

Even if Julian is not ready yet we should be able to pick up a reasonable replacement.

 

[BeeReal]

Roy Carroll, Lua Lua, Jason Koumas, Sean thornton, Joe Murphy? and possibly zamora are just a few to make the grade up

 

[Chipper]

Agreed we don't want to lose Smiffy but it seems inevitable that any marketable asset will depart.
At least Julien has heart, anybody who saw his response to the loss at Barnsley would feel that the goalie gloves would be going to a good home.

 

[bees66]

I was taking about goalkeepers. Apart from Omerod, name me five Nationwide Div 2 players that have gone to the Premiership in the last three years for over £500k...

1) Luke Steele Peterborough Man Utd £ 500000 12-05-2002
2)Trevor Benjamin Cambridge Leicester £ 1500000 12-07-2000
3)Lomano LuaLua Colchester Newcastle £ 2250000 19-09-2000
4)Roy Carroll Wigan Man Utd £ 2500000 27-07-2001
5)Jason Koumas Tranmere West Brom £ 2250000 29-08-2002

 

[rebus]

1) Luke Steele Peterborough Man Utd £ 500000 12-05-2002
2)Trevor Benjamin Cambridge Leicester £ 1500000 12-07-2000
3)Lomano LuaLua Colchester Newcastle £ 2250000 19-09-2000
4)Roy Carroll Wigan Man Utd £ 2500000 27-07-2001
5)Jason Koumas Tranmere West Brom £ 2250000 29-08-2002

exactly my point, not a flood is it?

 

[BeeReal]

sorry to be pedantic but although it may not be a flood we have won today's prize of naming five

 

[bees66]

exactly my point, not a flood is it?

Bl00dy took me ages to find it, Some sort of well done would have been nicelol

 

[PAZ]

Not a flood? Historically how many Premiership teams have paid much for Div Two players? Not many

Bear in mind also that the best teams in this division are seldom in recent years selling sides

Add:

Jason Roberts: Bristol Rovers > West Brom: £Two million
Dave Brammer: Port Vale > Crewe: £Seven hundred and fifty k
Graham Kavanagh: Stoke > Cardiff: £One million
Peter Thorne: Stoke > Cardiff: £One point seven million
Tommy Williams: Peterborough > Birmingham: £One million
Peter Crouch: QPR > Portsmouth: £One point five million
Chris Lucketti: Huddersfield > Preston: £Seven hundred and fifty k



It is not exactly none is it? Lower division players can go for good money and it is not like he can only go to a Premiership club

Paul Smith is a valuable asset to any club and I just hope that those at GP who deal with such things at GP have more sense and more determination than you do!

exactly my point, not a flood is it?

 

[rebus]

Paul Smith is a valuable asset to any club and I just hope that those at GP who deal with such things at GP have more sense and more determination than you do!

PAZ, I am a realist. You are not.

 

[PAZ]

PAZ, I am a realist. You are not.

I am a realist - you are a self-important pessimist


It would be a crime to let Paul Smith go for less than five hundred thousand before the season starts - especially when so many Premiership clubs are moaning about their weakness between the sticks

 

[Nick Hester]

I'm with you Mark, We'd get £250,000 max with a few conditions thrown in.. I reckon their bid will be £150,000..

 

[Stanley]

I'm with you Mark, We'd get £250,000 max with a few conditions thrown in.. I reckon their bid will be £150,000..

Then it really becomes a question of how much is he worth to us to stay if he keeps us in Div2 next year, more than £150k for sure, more than £250k? possibly..........

Anyway "News of the World"!!!!! didn't they once run a story about B52s landing on the moon??

 

[Mr Tree]

Not a flood? Historically how many Premiership teams have paid much for Div Two players? Not many

Bear in mind also that the best teams in this division are seldom in recent years selling sides

Add:

Jason Roberts: Bristol Rovers > West Brom: £Two million
Dave Brammer: Port Vale > Crewe: £Seven hundred and fifty k
Graham Kavanagh: Stoke > Cardiff: £One million
Peter Thorne: Stoke > Cardiff: £One point seven million
Tommy Williams: Peterborough > Birmingham: £One million
Peter Crouch: QPR > Portsmouth: £One point five million
Chris Lucketti: Huddersfield > Preston: £Seven hundred and fifty k



It is not exactly none is it? Lower division players can go for good money and it is not like he can only go to a Premiership club

Paul Smith is a valuable asset to any club and I just hope that those at GP who deal with such things at GP have more sense and more determination than you do!

the majority to clubs who had money to waste. crewe and preston being the exceptions, and the cheapest ones there. don't notice many keepers there? the richest clubs will import a name international keeper for the money - looks better than signing some div 2 lad. Smithy will get a good div 1 or prem club, but it won't be a big money move - the transfer market is "changing" (collapsing!) year-by-year, you can't compare what happened 3 years ago with the way it is now. mark is the realist, we will be lucky to get Smitty's true worth

 

[swr22]

200,000 would, unfortunately, be too good to turn down (get a sell-on clause!). Julian will do a very decent job as a replacement, but we cannot afford another Owusu/Evans/Ivar/mahon debacle. Best of luck to him.

 

[North London Bee]

He's going - get used to it. Let's be realistic we can't keep hold of our better out of contract players let alone someone like Smith who is a jewel.

We will get as much as the market will allow.

It's better than seeing him walk out for nothing in a year a la Evans, Owusu, Ivar etc

We will also be able to take a pride in his future performances at a higher level club

 

[ANTONY]

well if paul smith go then it good bye the bees down to divis on 3 next season so just hope he stay at gp

 

[beezy babe]

well if paul smith go then it good bye the bees down to divis on 3 next season so just hope he stay at gp

OK let's not go too overboard about this! Smith is a fantastic keeper, much too good for the second division and all we can realistically hope to do is get a decent price for him. I'll miss him as much as anyone but it's a fact of lower division football that the best players move on - we can all sit here thinking about how things may have been if we had kept Holdsworth/Asaba/Ashby etc etc ....


The few times that I have seen Julian in goal he has looked more than capable and will only get better with experience. If Smith goes (which let's face it he probably will) we need to get 100% behind Julian and support the goalie that we have rather than lamenting how things could have been.

 

[West Ealing Bee]

I think most people expected him to leave this Summer I know I did. My only hope is that we could command a decent fee for him.

Although the market is dead at the moment we shouldn't be rushed into accepting the first offer that comes down. £500k might be ambitious but if we accept £150k then we'll never know if we could have got £300k+.

Personally I think he is worth £300k at least, especially because of his age. He is nowhere near his peak and as a goalkeeper is positively a junior, he will improve. How good could he be?

The most important thing from my point of view would be to get a good deal with sell-ons and additional payments. Money coming for promotion, 25 league games, cup wins etc. And a sizable sell-on clause, 15-20%.

 

[The H]

i think a few clubs would be interested. perhaps we can stoke up a bidding war

 

[Deleted member 2202]

click the link on the Fullarton thread (not the first link, the one later on). It seems Smith might not be off after all

 

[Stanley]

He's good, very good in our eyes but I wonder if others see him somewhat differently otherwise why have'nt concrete offers been made so far? Maybe that lack of dominance in the box goes against him...maybe its just that he plays for us.......who knows...

For whatever reason foreign keepers seem to get the nod. Look at Chelsea, buy a 30 year reserve keeper from a lower Serie A side and let go a current England U21 keeper, does that make sense?

 

[Nada Bee]

God sake people, if we sell him so what?

One player does not make a team....

theres no PS in team

 

[saintbee]

News down here at Southampton is a possible bid for Paul Smith if Niemi goes as it doesn't appear that Strachan has much faith in Paul Jones, understandable having been lobbed twice last season from fully thirty yards. Along with a lot of other scouts Strachan has had him watched during the run in to the end of the season. Could be a bidding war, okay maybe a small battle but good news from a 'fee' point of view.

 

[Mary250550]

if he goes it will be a shame!!! But anything above 150k is good! The best of luck to him where ever he goes. Great keeper. GOOD LUCK SMIFFY!!!!

 

[wibs]

He can go for £50k for all I care as long as we get a good sell on percentage

 

[Mr Cynical]

I think it's important that we all try to be a little more realistic at the moment, the simple fact is we're not going to get a huge amount of money for any of our players, the best we can hope for is a reasonable sum up front with extra for appearances/sell on etc. Nobody's likely to pay a large sum for a player they can pick up for free or via tribunal in a year's time, unless they're obviously a class apart. Much as we love Smithy, it's not like when Andy Sinton or Deano were here when it was obvious they'd make the Premier League......

 

[GP]

I think its time for a reality check here. Fee of 500k just aint gonna happen. The arse has fallen out of the transfer market big time. We all know that our beloved ex-leader has left us up sh1t creak and we're gonna bite anyones hand off for some ready cash. The clubs that can afford to buy also know this and are only gonna pay the minimum.
Ipswich have accepted an offer from Pompey of 750k for Matt Holland, an experienced midfielder who has played in the premiership, is a regular international and has appeared in a world cup. A year ago he was set to move for £4m.

So its either (1) Smithy stays and we have a quality keeper for another year (2) I am proved completely wrong and he moves for 500k plus or (3) he goes for max 150k. Like most others on here I believe option 1 would be preferable, option 2 would be great but I fear we could be looking at option 3 in the next couple of weeks.

That said....hope I'm wrong.

 

[Pinch]

I think that Smith will go, as cover for Niemi, as I believe that Jones will leave. Jones will want to be playing 1st team football as he is an international goalkeeper, and Southampton cannot give him this, as Niemi is clearly a class act. Smith is more than capable of being an understudy at Southampton and I think it'll be the right move for him. Obviously, I'd rather him not go, but at least we'll be getting money for him, instead of holding on to him until his contract runs out and getting sod all. I don't think that we'll go down, just because Smith is leaving, Julian doesn't look too bad, no Smudger, but not bad.

Whatever happens, good luck Smithy!

 

[chippendale]

Seems that Southampton goalkeeper Antti Niemi will miss the start of pre-season training after undergoing surgery on a knee injury. This means that they may need an experienced keeper if he also misses part of the new season.

 

[West Ealing Bee]

Southampton would be a decent move for Smith.

Niemie is a top class keeper and he could learn alot from him. I suspect Jones will be off. It is also likely that is Niemi performes like he did last year there will be a big bid for him at some point. He is one of the best around at the moment. That would leave Smith in pole position to be first choice.

 

[West Ealing Bee]

Ipswich have accepted an offer from Pompey of 750k for Matt Holland, an experienced midfielder who has played in the premiership, is a regular international and has appeared in a world cup. A year ago he was set to move for £4m.

I think that gives a clear indication of what sort of moeny we can expect for Smith. Holland is a very good player, with Prem and International experience, playing for a club who need the money badly.

By that reckoning 250k would be good business, but as I said above it is the sell-ons where we could make money for Smith.

 

[Stanley]

Holland is a very good player, with Prem and International experience, playing for a club who need the money badly.
.

I think Holland's sale has more to do with passing on his 30k or so per week salary which is killing Ipswich.

 

[Caucaunibuca]

i think 250k would be a great price for a keeper like smith.
hes young, only 1 season of first team experience in a poor 2nd division and although he is talented im sure there are plenty of players on premiership sides books who are as good(natural ability wise).
also were not really in a position to demand a huge fee.
dont get me wrong smith is easily our best player but i think we are guilty of over rating him.

 

[hanwell bee]

i think 250k would be a great price for a keeper like smith.
hes young, only 1 season of first team experience in a poor 2nd division and although he is talented im sure there are plenty of players on premiership sides books who are as good(natural ability wise).
also were not really in a position to demand a huge fee.
dont get me wrong smith is easily our best player but i think we are guilty of over rating him.

He's had 2 seasons not 1.
It doesn't seem that there are many good young keepers around at the moment, especially not English ones
Over-rated? I don't think so. Without a shadow of doubt we'd be relegated without him, and to me he only has one small weakness, with his kicking not always being great. He's Premiership quality through and through

 

[B2B]

He's obviouosly going somewhere according to Greenholme and Alex...come on boys spill the beans.......