Cloudy
Active Member
I’ll nail my views to the mast and say I’m not bothered about Smith. Not convinced he was on our radar anyway but will know more tomorrow.Loan of Smith would have been nice but really of limited value for the remainder of this season given he hasn't played much recently and behind a striker in priority. A permanent would be altogether different and a great addition and I wonder if we offered on that basis.
I initially thought us being interested in a Tony Forde was a spoof. We don't desperately need him now, far from it, but on the basis of building for next season his apparent versatility would make him a good acquisition.
Our data led approach is that any permanent signing must, in theory, be able to play in League One. We don’t want to sign players with a League 2 ceiling. Not convinced, by what I am told about Smith’s spell at Cheltenham from several sources,that he would be comfortable in League One. He was great in the NL
Yes, we have to get there first, but if our strategy is to build and sign players who should be comfortable at the next level then, personally, I can get on board with that.
Whether the data and judgement is right is anybody’s guess of course