Tommy Smith - Gazumped by Pompey - Thread

[madmickb]

I may be wrong but I believe Russo and Watford never had any intention in selling Smith to us after we poached Rodgers from them they have been stringing us along for about a month hoping it will be too late in us sighning a striker before the deadline

[Wimb]

Level par with Newcastle for club embarrasment lately.

You have to be joking right? talk about a mountain out of a molehill. We're four games into the season have played 2 top six teams, have kept two cleans sheets, but yes are misfiring in front of goal.

We've made £11 million odd on 3 players who cost us about 1.5 million combined and we've gained national coverage for our new manager and what he's trying to do for the club.

Yes the Smith affair could have been handled better but Watford won't exactly come out of this looking great

I think thats a far cry from a club who've gone through more managers in 4 years then we have in 20, didn't build relegation clauses into their contracts, got relegated with a multi million pound squad and are still paying thousands of pounds to players who don't give a to55.

[floyd__streete]

So says Russo. Hardly the most reliabe source....

Oh so you're accusing the Watford chairman of being a liar now?

More spin than Graeme Swann.

[Dorset-Knob]

Level par with Newcastle for club embarrasment lately.

You have to be joking right? talk about a mountain out of a molehill. We're four games into the season have played 2 top six teams, have kept two cleans sheets, but yes are misfiring in front of goal.

We've made £11 million odd on 3 players who cost us about 1.5 million combined and we've gained national coverage for our new manager and what he's trying to do for the club.

Yes the Smith affair could have been handled better but Watford won't exactly come out of this looking great

I think thats a far cry from a club who've gone through more managers in 4 years then we have in 20, didn't build relegation clauses into their contracts, got relegated with a multi million pound squad and are still paying thousands of pounds to players who don't give a to55.

Yep! the Sid James Park comedy review bar wins hands down on so many levels

[FiNeRaIn]

Yeah it won 3-0 and remains unbeaten this season.

[Wycombe Royal]

So says Russo. Hardly the most reliabe source....

Oh so you're accusing the Watford chairman of being a liar now?

More spin than Graeme Swann.

No I'm saying he has no idea why we pulled the plug. He is just making assumptions and using the media to try and put RFC down in any way possible because he is still pissed at us for taking his manager. However we are making his job easier.

[floyd__streete]

Oh well, maybe if our manager hadn't come out and said in the media that Smith wanted to join us before a fee had even been agreed this sorry saga wouldn't have become so convoluted.

[Dorset-Knob]

Yeah it won 3-0 and remains unbeaten this season.

You believe the end always justifies the means then?

[Gus the teenage cow]

LMAO thats a SCATHING attack on RFC- fair play to them. I liked this bit.

"Given that the evidence available to us suggests that Brendan covets the player and Reading have netted circa £11m with the sales of Doyle, Hunt and Bikey - not to mention the huge wage savings that go with that, I have to say I was surprised when they said that they were no longer interested in signing Tommy because of a clause that is commonplace in transfers today."

Basically saying " you have money so don't pretend you don't, stop bothering us with terrible offers". Fair play to that whole article and the way we have gone about things has been embarassing.

Russo is wrong about 1 thing, we got in fact circa 13 million for doyle, hunt and bikey

and even though we have scored 1 goal in 4 games we won't fork out an extra 200K (that wouldn't be payable for a few seasons anyway) for a guy who actually can score goals

anyone who can defend madejski after this is a fcukin' clown, our club is a fcukin' joke and our tranfer policy is so laughable it'd make you cry

[Deathy]

Over 200k?? I can't buy that. (Probably John Madejski's words actually).

[Arch]

Frankly RFC should just come out officially and say that we are no longer interested in Tommy Smith. He is a good player and we wish him well and wish Jimmy Russo & Watford well for the rest of the season.

In no way should we be crawling to a Hertfordshire pikey who grows lettuce for a living.

Those are the facts and SDR says the deal is offfffffffff and I mean offfffffffffffffff

I'm amused that this bit of prescience has been overlooked. For a change, I wholeheartedly agreed with Dodge when I read it. Massive LOL @ the people lapping up every word of what Russo says as though it's the friggin Bible. The guy has played the whole deal in public from the moment he came out in the press and called our first offer 'derisory'. For him to be preaching about "negotiating in a quiet and discreet manner" in the midst of this incontinent rant is the height of hypocrisy. No chance of that being noticed by people who'll use anything, but anything, is a stick to beat Madejski.

[IMAMATEOFJOVSKY]

Deathy - Perhaps Imamateofjovsky knows people involved? Who knows. He does, however, appear to have been spot on and it's a brave man who makes that sort of "opinion" if he doesn't have any insider knowledge.

As I have said on previous occasions this isn't opinion , its what Ive been told from a fairly reliable source..what im not sure of is whether Reading baulked at the huge transfer fee of £1.8m !!! and as a result are trying to blame Watford for the ensuing position...knowing Egoman its another money saving ploy...one which will cost the club dearly

[IMAMATEOFJOVSKY]

He ain't coming said before - fact...if I was Smith id telling Reading to shove it up their arse as well

How do you know? What are you, some kind of all knowing transfer grass? How about you shut up until you actually know anything!

How about you fook yourself - I know ok!

[Sir Dodger Royal]

What you guys have to recognise is that the Mills deal is full of add ons. RFC in no way have paid £2million. Doncaster just happened to agree to the deal when we upped the amount for the first installment.

The Madman is never going to pay out big money and that is why he is taking the Royals in the wrong direction. He will certainly be looking to scam any potential buyer if they are mugs to pay.

I wonder what he is actually selling? Does it include the stadia, training ground, hotel complex etc I bet it is only the RFC franchise which frankly at present is pretty worthless.

Real facts.

[IMAMATEOFJOVSKY]

Over the last few years it has become apparent to Watford supporters that very little that comes out of the mouth of Mr Russo can be trusted, yet bizarrely Reading FC fans are quite happy to take his rant about how poorly our club has conducted business over Tommy Smith at face value. I guess these people conveniently forget the fact that on more than one occasion recently clubs and their Chairmen have commented on how it has been a pleasure dealing with RFC in transfer matters due to the straightforward and professional way in which we handle them.

I couldn't possibly know but it is far more likely that, in this particular case, Russo moved the goalposts once too often causing us to pull out.

But, curiously, it seems far more satisfying for many to believe that our own club is at fault.

Im more than ever convinced that you are Nigel Howe - another RTG wearer!

[Super_horns]

Over the last few years it has become apparent to Watford supporters that very little that comes out of the mouth of Mr Russo can be trusted, at fault.

He's only been chairman for about 8 months though and most trust him much more than the old chairman (who you may be talking about?) who kept on saying a lot but then doing the opposite.

Anyway as I said elsewhere if Rodgers wasn't your manager you'd probably have Smith playing for you now.

[clauski]

Without wanting to attack or defend anyone as I do not know, who on here was actually at any of the meetings and can honestly say they know exactly what was discussed? Why are we to just accept what Watford have had to say is absolutely true?

Because if we had offered the right amount he would have signed for us months ago. It's obvious to everyone we've been penny-pinching with our offers so are you really surprised by this statement?

[Super_horns]

Russo only been chairman for about 8 months though and most trust him much more than the old chairman (who you may be talking about?) who kept on saying a lot but then doing the opposite.

Anyway as I said elsewhere if Rodgers wasn't your manager you'd probably have Smith playing for you now.

[07RFC]

So says Russo. Hardly the most reliabe source....

Oh so you're accusing the Watford chairman of being a liar now?

More spin than Graeme Swann.

No I'm saying he has no idea why we pulled the plug. He is just making assumptions and using the media to try and put RFC down in any way possible because he is still pissed at us for taking his manager. However we are making his job easier.

and you know for sure the plugs been pulled?

[Super_horns]

In no way should we be crawling to a Hertfordshire pikey who grows lettuce for a living.

LOLlo @ Russo indeed.

Expect his from Italy and probably lives in London.