Player given permission to talk to club concerned (From Watford Observer)
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Player given permission to talk to club concerned
7:00pm Thursday 2nd July 2009 in
Tommy Smith’s second stint as a Watford player could be coming to an end after the Hornets revealed this evening they have received a £1.8m bid for the striker.
The 29-year-old has been given permission to talk to the club involved, whose identity is not known, but the Watford Observer understands that it is not Reading. Furthermore, it is not a club who had previously tabled an offer - all of which were rejected - for the two-time Watford Observer Player of the Season.
This latest development came after the printed version of the Watford Observer went to press this afternoon, although we were aware that a new offer had been received and published this information.
Watford Chairman Jimmy Russo said: “We’ve received a new bid today for Tommy and we will allow him to speak to the club in question. This is a new club that has expressed a desire to sign Tommy.”
Speculation over Smith’s future has intensified over the past fortnight and most Watford fans will regard his departure – if he does move on – with a disappointing sense of inevitability, given the Hornets were always likely to find it hard to reject a significant offer for their most prized asset.
The versatile striker’s 17 strikes last season not only gave him his most productive campaign in front of goal to date, but also lifted him to 14th in the Hornets’ all-time scoring charts. Furthermore, he also became only the 22nd player in their history to pass the 300-appearance mark.
Do you think Watford would be right to sell Smith for £1.8m? Tell us your thoughts by commenting below.
Comments(60)
herts hornet
says...
7:29pm Thu 2 Jul 09
Henry VIII
says...
7:36pm Thu 2 Jul 09
Emmer Green Hornet
says...
7:44pm Thu 2 Jul 09
djwatford
says...
8:01pm Thu 2 Jul 09
I'd be amazed if we are in the same division this time next year.
martin62
says...
8:06pm Thu 2 Jul 09
martin62
says...
8:10pm Thu 2 Jul 09
enlightened one
says...
8:10pm Thu 2 Jul 09
Hexham Hornet
says...
8:18pm Thu 2 Jul 09
JoelCanning
says...
8:23pm Thu 2 Jul 09
pstannard4
says...
8:34pm Thu 2 Jul 09
martin62 wrote:of course it would be sheffield United, along with Reading, they decimate our club,
PS, its bound to be Sheff Utd isn't it?
O'toole (loan)
Henderson
Bromby
Webber
Williamson
Smith?
READING =
Gunnarson
Gibbs
Judas Rodgers
Lampard snr
Halbsi
Austin
I hope it is a well established Premier League club like Fulham or a return (very unlikley though) a Return to Sunderland. OR rejects and stays at Watford
Achilles_of_Herts
says...
8:34pm Thu 2 Jul 09
Good luck Tommy wherever it is! Probably my favourite player to have worn a WFC shirt. I wish him all the best.
VoR
says...
8:46pm Thu 2 Jul 09
You've all been brain washed into the "R's" way of thinking, he must be loving it reading all these comments!
1.8 is derisory, is he that much worse than Henderson?
What would be the big deal to offer him a 1 yr deal funded by our very own silent SEJ also funding the wages of GR at the same time?
1st and foremost we need the team to be successful before moving on to other fundings and by letting him leave, to be replaced by an unknown is definitely bad business! He is our talisman, our captain, our biggest asset, show us you have some ambition on the playing side jimmy for christ sake otherwise league 1 beckons again unless we get real lucky
Whatever you thought of the other lot they did their best for the playing side, which I still maintain would have been fruitful if it weren't for the boo boys destroying all confidence.
You lot, with very few exceptions, make me bloody sick!
Sec word......
Baaaaaaaa-Baaaaaa-Ba
aaaaaaa
Achilles_of_Herts
says...
8:50pm Thu 2 Jul 09
VoR
says...
8:55pm Thu 2 Jul 09
pstannard4 wrote:Fecking christ, I've reached boiling point now..........
martin62 wrote:of course it would be sheffield United, along with Reading, they decimate our club,
PS, its bound to be Sheff Utd isn't it?
O'toole (loan)
Henderson
Bromby
Webber
Williamson
Smith?
READING =
Gunnarson
Gibbs
Judas Rodgers
Lampard snr
Halbsi
Austin
I hope it is a well established Premier League club like Fulham or a return (very unlikley though) a Return to Sunderland. OR rejects and stays at Watford
Please tell me you're having a bubble with the Fulham remark
Berks Horn
says...
9:11pm Thu 2 Jul 09
Good luck Tommy!
TonyCoton
says...
9:14pm Thu 2 Jul 09
The last lot slightly over supported the playing staff leaving us in the position we are in now, unfortunatly.
Emmer Green Hornet
says...
9:23pm Thu 2 Jul 09
Agree that for all their faults the previous board did invest in the playing side, and the boo boys eroded the teams confidence to the point they froze after 20 mins without scoring.
Hopefully the Russo brothers will steady the ship and invest where needed. I think Tommy probably feels the time is right to move on, and if that is the case then they had no chance of keeping him.
welwyn 4md
says...
9:27pm Thu 2 Jul 09
enlightened one
says...
9:41pm Thu 2 Jul 09
KiwiHornet
says...
9:44pm Thu 2 Jul 09
37 days.
VoR
says...
9:46pm Thu 2 Jul 09
enlightened one wrote:No I wont be your lover, it's like a case of treat me mean to keep me keen is it?
Voice ofa Retard you are a tosser(and I really do mean it this time)what utter,utter bo!!ocks even for you.If thats the way you feel don't bother showing up on the 8th,we don't need dribbling imbeciles like you around the place.I'm really quite angry now.Perhaps you could chaffeur you hero down to the jobcentre to sign on,the pair of you would fit in quite well with all the other human flotsem that congregate there.
Were you one of the booo boys or the baaaaa boys
Dick features
enlightened one
says...
10:06pm Thu 2 Jul 09
WFC4ever
says...
10:14pm Thu 2 Jul 09
At least its a decent fee although not sure how much will go towards transfers.
Hooligan1
says...
10:22pm Thu 2 Jul 09
can you guess what it is yet. --do not normal post here only wen fings start kicking off.
Behind vor on this and he aint one that just agrrees with what anyone else ses.
ive not been since the time fans started on the plaers, single handed stoped us going up. New board intent on just making money, how come transfer funds were giving to MM before any sales happened and if ts does go how much to replace. I say Elton should start showing his suport now hes over his hissy fit or is there a underlaying problem maybe.
Meet me at the vic rd cemetery
WFC4ever
says...
10:23pm Thu 2 Jul 09
At least its a decent fee although not sure how much will go towards transfers.
Also I am sort of happier (as it was always likely we'd never keep Smithy) he is going now and for a decent feee rather than on August 31st for 500k or something daft when we would not have time to get a replacement in of some sort.
sghbnige
says...
10:42pm Thu 2 Jul 09
Helguson left with us just surviving relegation, we bought in King and that was money well spent. After all is said and done, does any of us enjoy playing in the premier league anyway? It is not the greatest league to sit and watch when you are Watford.
KiwiHornet
says...
10:50pm Thu 2 Jul 09
VoR
says...
11:08pm Thu 2 Jul 09
enlightened one wrote:Can't decide whether to let that ride or not.......
Voice ofa Retard you are a tosser(and I really do mean it this time)what utter,utter bo!!ocks even for you.If thats the way you feel don't bother showing up on the 8th,we don't need dribbling imbeciles like you around the place.I'm really quite angry now.Perhaps you could chaffeur you hero down to the jobcentre to sign on,the pair of you would fit in quite well with all the other human flotsem that congregate there.
I'll put it down to too much sun, you old keyboard warrior you.
Go get him Hoolie!
derry pigweed
says...
11:27pm Thu 2 Jul 09
VoR wrote:Watford are skint because of your mates ca$hton,Homer and GISSAJOB anyjob!
I'm sick to the back teeth of reading all these posters that say either good deal or bad deal, we're skint and need money, let's buy unproven players from lower leagues in the hope they'll be able to step up. You've all been brain washed into the "R's" way of thinking, he must be loving it reading all these comments! 1.8 is derisory, is he that much worse than Henderson? What would be the big deal to offer him a 1 yr deal funded by our very own silent SEJ also funding the wages of GR at the same time? 1st and foremost we need the team to be successful before moving on to other fundings and by letting him leave, to be replaced by an unknown is definitely bad business! He is our talisman, our captain, our biggest asset, show us you have some ambition on the playing side jimmy for christ sake otherwise league 1 beckons again unless we get real lucky Whatever you thought of the other lot they did their best for the playing side, which I still maintain would have been fruitful if it weren't for the boo boys destroying all confidence. You lot, with very few exceptions, make me bloody sick! Sec word...... Baaaaaaaa-Baaaaaa-Ba aaaaaaa
1.8m is a good offer for 29 year old with 1 year left on his contract.Good luck Tom if you go!
Henry VIII
says...
1:07am Fri 3 Jul 09
Garston Tony
says...
8:40am Fri 3 Jul 09
On the way home yesterday was listening to TalkSport and in passing it was mentioned that Spurs were interested in signing Loach for 6million! Anybody heard anything along those lines? As much potential as Loach has THAT would be a great deal for WFC.
Hornet Cornet
says...
8:50am Fri 3 Jul 09
tommy gunn
says...
9:14am Fri 3 Jul 09
spidey
says...
9:18am Fri 3 Jul 09
For starters to refer to someone as a "retard" is unnacceptable, there are many mentally ill people that have far more common sense then people like you and to refer to those people in a negative way is disgusting.
And secondly my best mate is on the dole through no choice of his own and is about to lose his house, he applies for 100s of jobs monthly, he is not "human flotsem" (whatever that means!) and neither are many others who happen to find themselves out of work at this present time.
you are uneducated, rude and offensive and you should be barred from this site, have some common decency and think before you print .....
gmunroe
says...
9:34am Fri 3 Jul 09
1.8million is just a little bit below how much smith is worth.
Wonder who'd we'd sign instead who could still score goals.
And what happened to the 6million bid for loach from Tottenham.
League 1 here we come!
Berks Horn
says...
9:47am Fri 3 Jul 09
sghbnige wrote:Really? Season before last we wouldn't have made the play offs but for Smith. Take away his contribution last year and we wouldn't be in the Championship now. His going leaves a huge gap in the team.
Wether tommy Smits goes or stays will have little effect on Watford's season. We are not such a small club that a guy who has never got anywhere near playing for his country can have that bigger impact on our season. Some other squad man will become the darling of the masses. It has happened before and will happen again. Helguson left with us just surviving relegation, we bought in King and that was money well spent. After all is said and done, does any of us enjoy playing in the premier league anyway? It is not the greatest league to sit and watch when you are Watford.
Tommy is a big loss. The biggest in quite some time. Bigger, I think, than Ashley Young. Much bigger than either Helguson or Henderson who, to be quite frank, were not in the same league as Tommy Smith.
Added to which we probably won't be spending all of that money....
I was feeling optimistic but this has left me feeling rather deflated.
The Rover
says...
10:45am Fri 3 Jul 09
SuperNova
says...
10:45am Fri 3 Jul 09
Good luck to Smith.
Watfordpete
says...
10:57am Fri 3 Jul 09
Watfordpete
says...
10:59am Fri 3 Jul 09
No Wheels
says...
11:03am Fri 3 Jul 09
Wether tommy Smits goes or stays will have little effect on Watford's season. We are not such a small club that a guy who has never got anywhere near playing for his country can have that bigger impact on our season
Erm, Tommy played for the England U21 team, which is a little bit like getting near playing for his country
Billie
says...
11:11am Fri 3 Jul 09
Fact 1. The Board have inherited a non viable situation. KAs £10m to avoid administartion was correct...and add the underlying £3-4m a season loss...you are going the way of Southampton.
Fact 2. The current Board are in a minority shareholding scenario so can hardly lob their own money at this even if they wanted to.
Fact 3. Jimmy and Vince do have the club's interests at heart, always did, as evidenced by their unsecured loans to buy the Vic back and to buy MK.
Fact 4. Jimmy and Vince made their own money in probably the toughest trading environment in the country bar none...selling to supermarkets. I cannot think of anyone else who I would rather have wheeling and dealing on our behalf.
Fact 5. Reading...top that or you lot and BR shove off and massage your Chairman's ego who even names a ground after himself rather than selling the rights...but is probably not going to back his manager for his prime target even with 6.5m and parachute money in his pocket. vOr...now that is a guy to question.
Fact 6. vOr backs and associates himself with discredited, exploitive bullies, or who knows, may be one of them??? It says it all. We won't go through the history yet again. We all know their lack of integrity...vOr is one and the same.
Jimmy, if you have to sell at that price old buddy, you have my backing. If you bid Reading up yet further, you also have my backing. Screw them for every penny. It is our club that matters, not Reading. When their Chairman goes they will sink back the old Div 3, with a nice but empty ground. If Smithy has to go, so be it, good luck with the negotiations, which I suspect you will find a doddle, other than the odd insult from vOr and another guy on this posting who I have forgotten already. Good luck to Danny too.
welwyn 4md
says...
11:16am Fri 3 Jul 09
Prof Plum
says...
11:27am Fri 3 Jul 09
worthing_hornet
says...
11:31am Fri 3 Jul 09
The Rover
says...
11:42am Fri 3 Jul 09
Prof Plum wrote:Dont talk about the roof or they might sell the whole thing as scrap metal!
Could some of the money from the sale of Smith go towards mending the hole in the Vicarage Road End roof that drips water on me every time it rains?
GrahamTaylor
says...
11:44am Fri 3 Jul 09
£1.8M for a player with one contract left in him, no resale value, in the last year of his exiting deal, no upside, no potential, that has only really had one good season at this level. I say good business.
Thanks Tommy you were good last year a nice little profit makes up for when you previously left on a free and a good 7/8K of the wages.
pstannard4
says...
11:45am Fri 3 Jul 09
VoR wrote:Told you Sheffield United
pstannard4 wrote:Fecking christ, I've reached boiling point now..........
martin62 wrote:of course it would be sheffield United, along with Reading, they decimate our club,
PS, its bound to be Sheff Utd isn't it?
O'toole (loan)
Henderson
Bromby
Webber
Williamson
Smith?
READING =
Gunnarson
Gibbs
Judas Rodgers
Lampard snr
Halbsi
Austin
I hope it is a well established Premier League club like Fulham or a return (very unlikley though) a Return to Sunderland. OR rejects and stays at Watford
Please tell me you're having a bubble with the Fulham remark
RobboBTC
says...
12:01pm Fri 3 Jul 09
NG_Watford
says...
12:06pm Fri 3 Jul 09
Emmer Green Hornet
says...
1:15pm Fri 3 Jul 09
However, are you not now doing exactly the same by constantly questioning the board and rubbishing their every move without even giving them a chance?
The current situation at the club is unfortunate, and there are many reasons for that. Because of our situation the Russo's have no choice other than to sell Tommy for the best price they can.
It seems to me VoR that you are now becoming part of the problem, just like the boo boys you so rightly slated.
Give the Russo brothers a chance to f@*k it up before you pilory them. You never know they might just sort out this mess we find ourselves in. The fact that Graham Taylor has aligned himself with them must mean there is some transparency and will for the club to do well on their part.
Good luck Tommy, please don't go to Reading!
enlightened one
says...
1:58pm Fri 3 Jul 09
poor-term :Gawd I hope not.
CRBMK18
says...
3:07pm Fri 3 Jul 09
Chris the Vic
says...
4:56pm Fri 3 Jul 09
Come on WO keeep up with developments
pstannard4
says...
5:01pm Fri 3 Jul 09
Bloody typical of Sheffiled United
It's going to be Watford in disguise
VoR
says...
10:09pm Fri 3 Jul 09
enlightened one wrote:I forgive you lightweight, thousands wouldn't
Apologies to some of you,I think I need to grow a thicker skin.But he does annoy me greatly.
poor-term :Gawd I hope not.
VoR
says...
10:23pm Fri 3 Jul 09
Billie wrote:By bring senile.............
I will try to be constructive. I agree with Enlightened's views on vOr but it was a shame that he degenerated to the level that I occasionally do with vOr...which is vOr's normal level.
Fact 1. The Board have inherited a non viable situation. KAs £10m to avoid administartion was correct...and add the underlying £3-4m a season loss...you are going the way of Southampton.
Fact 2. The current Board are in a minority shareholding scenario so can hardly lob their own money at this even if they wanted to.
Fact 3. Jimmy and Vince do have the club's interests at heart, always did, as evidenced by their unsecured loans to buy the Vic back and to buy MK.
Fact 4. Jimmy and Vince made their own money in probably the toughest trading environment in the country bar none...selling to supermarkets. I cannot think of anyone else who I would rather have wheeling and dealing on our behalf.
Fact 5. Reading...top that or you lot and BR shove off and massage your Chairman's ego who even names a ground after himself rather than selling the rights...but is probably not going to back his manager for his prime target even with 6.5m and parachute money in his pocket. vOr...now that is a guy to question.
Fact 6. vOr backs and associates himself with discredited, exploitive bullies, or who knows, may be one of them??? It says it all. We won't go through the history yet again. We all know their lack of integrity...vOr is one and the same.
Jimmy, if you have to sell at that price old buddy, you have my backing. If you bid Reading up yet further, you also have my backing. Screw them for every penny. It is our club that matters, not Reading. When their Chairman goes they will sink back the old Div 3, with a nice but empty ground. If Smithy has to go, so be it, good luck with the negotiations, which I suspect you will find a doddle, other than the odd insult from vOr and another guy on this posting who I have forgotten already. Good luck to Danny too.
I suppose in many ways it's understandable that you keep banging on about KA time and time again, i've asked you on numerous occasions to show me the evidence, but alas.
I met GS recently and didn't notice any hand huffs.
Must try harder, also I recommend you seeing AA (Alzheimer's Anominous)
enlightened one
says...
11:30am Sat 4 Jul 09
VoR wrote:You weren't one of them.
enlightened one wrote: Apologies to some of you,I think I need to grow a thicker skin.But he does annoy me greatly. poor-term :Gawd I hope not.I forgive you lightweight, thousands wouldn't
Meet GS did we,was that at a guild of village idiots meeting ?
Bomber
says...
10:03pm Sat 4 Jul 09
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Tommy Smith back in pre-season training this week. Picture: Pippa Douglas
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sceptic says...
7:08pm Thu 2 Jul 09