Alistair Smith - another that got away

[garlic]

When he left for Antrincham many on here, with some notable exceptions, scorned his chances of being a league player. Well he proved them wrong on Tuesday night. Lets hope that we are not saying the same thing about Ty Sinclair, Keaton Ward, Jason Law and James Clarke in the future

[skegbymal]

As a team, we will not succeed with any of those players in the team. They are not good enough and keep proving it every chance they get. (not sure about Jason Law)

[BH_Stag]

Don’t think he did anything special the other night. Wouldn’t get in our side currently in my opinion but fair play for him to getting in at another football league club.

[Martin Shaw]

Alistair has done superbly since leaving us, both at Alty and Sutton, and I am delighted for him.

He didn't do anything on Tuesday night though in my opinion.

[Sandy Pate Best Stag]

He didn’t show anything to make me change my mind and in fact gave free kicks away in silly areas.

There is no doubt he has improved since his time here but I still think that wouldn’t have happened if we had kept him. The reason he has improved is the amount of game time he’s had and he certainly wouldn’t have got that here. It proves what was said at the time that the move was in the best interests of the player and also MTFC.

[Rob]

He's definitely better than some we decided to keep and we should have at least taken another look at him in January before letting him go. Certain posters were confident he was not good enough for League 2 and had found his level in the Conference. They were clearly very much wrong but its unlikely they'll admit it!

[Sedgwick]

Not missed in my opinion... Wouldn't have him over any of the current midfielders we have.

Done well to get back into the league with a small club thats had to look at players his level to make additions. He did very well at alty and is a good player. Cant see him playing higher so would have been released at stags eventually anyway.

[kevin kents tasce]

I’m really pleased for Alastair. It’s always good to see someone from our academy doing well.

However, he is not on the same level as Maris, Quinn, Clarke, Lapslie, Stirk or Charsley. I also think Ward is a better prospect.

He would not have been given the game time here and therefore would not have developed like he has.

It was the right decision for both him and the club to let him go

[bigalstag1]

A small club 12 places higher in the league than us!!

[Sedgwick]

A small club 12 places higher in the league than us!!

Yep, they are a smaller club. Accrington are a smaller club and a division higher... league position doesn't change that. And for that reason they've looked at players like Alister. Theres a reason hes a Sutton and not Tranmere for example.

Pleased hes done well, its nice having professionals in the game that came from us.

[Rob]

He's clearly better than Ward and Law, how anyone can think otherwise is frankly ridiculous. He is starting every game in a side 7th. As I said, on this thread are those who said he'd found his level in the Conference. They were wrong. I'm confident he'll play higher than League 2.

[kevin kents tasce]

Ward is better now that Smith was when he was at Mansfield.

Law is very versatile and last season had a run of games where he very much held his own.

Smith is a decent athlete. He might play higher in a side that doesn’t want to get the ball down and play. Unless he has massively improved, he won’t be good enough for a team who want to play on the floor.

[part time pete]

Looking at Smith on Tuesday night, he seemed to be taller and more muscular than he was at Mansfield. He had grown up to be a man instead of just a gangly youth.

However if we hadn’t known him, he would have not been noticed by us as he didn’t play especially well.

[MTFCMusings]

I didn’t think he would get back to league level, so I was wrong there.

I obviously don’t watch him regularly so I’m not sure how he is performing, but he’s played plenty of minutes in a team doing very well. He didn’t do anything to catch my eye on Tuesday night.

Thought it might be interesting to compare some stats with him and our main five midfielders

Mins played
Clarke 1463
Smith 1257
Maris 1146
Lapslie 1106
Quinn 991
Stirk 376

Tackles per game
Maris 2.1
Smith 2.1
Stirk 2
Lapslie 1.5
Clarke 1.4
Quinn 1.3

Interceptions
Quinn 1.6
Maris 1.4
Clarke 1.1
Lapslie 1
Smith 0.5
Stirk 0.4

Dribbles
Quinn 1.6
Maris 1.4
Lapslie 0.6
Clarke 0.6
Stirk 0.5
Smith 0.1

Goals
Clarke 3
Smith 3
Lapslie 1
Maris 1
Stirk 1
Quinn 0

Assists
Clarke 2
Quinn 2
Maris 1
Stirk 1
Lapslie 0
Smith 0

Key passes
Quinn 1.6
Clarke 0.9
Lapslie 0.6
Maris 0.6
Smith 0.6
Stirk 0.6

Pass success %
Maris 75.3
Quinn 73.2
Stirk 72
Lapslie 71.7
Smith 68.3
Clarke 67.7

Lowest average score wins
Maris 2.25
Clarke 2.75
Quinn 2.88
Smith 3.5
Lapslie 3.75
Stirk 4

[BH_Stag]

In terms of ‘another that got away’, who exactly has ‘got away’ and gone on to have a successful Football League career after leaving our youth team in recent years?

We’ve had a number of players come in to the side that are touted as being the ‘future’ and I’m not sure any are even at National League level now?

I think Smith is the first (of this youth system era) to go on and play for another EFL club. Will be interesting to see if he sustains it or finds himself back in non league.

[Rob]

Well at least Musings has the decency to admit he was wrong. I do agree that Smith did not have much influence on Tues. He has all the attributes you want, tall, strong, good on the ball, a great attitude and young with much more to come. I think his best position will be centre back. He is better than Law and Ward in every single department and was in January. There is a reason one is an automatic starter for a side in a play-off place, the others played against Rainworth.

We've dropped a ball, mark my words.

[part time pete]

In some stags eyes, Smith will never be forgiven for his sub role against Leyton Orient at home when leading 2-0 and top of the league as it stood, to losing the game 2-3 and then falling down the table like a stone.

[MTFCMusings]

Well at least Musings has the decency to admit he was wrong. I do agree that Smith did not have much influence on Tues. He has all the attributes you want, tall, strong, good on the ball, a great attitude and young with much more to come. I think his best position will be centre back. He is better than Law and Ward in every single department and was in January. There is a reason one is an automatic starter for a side in a play-off place, the others played against Rainworth.

We've dropped a ball, mark my words.

I do always try to admit when I’m wrong. Whilst I did say I don’t think he will make it back to the EFL, I did echo your thoughts that he has all the attributes and with the right coaching his potential could be unlocked, I just didn’t think that would be here given where he was in the pecking order at that time and the limited game time he would’ve had. As I think you said Rob, we were perhaps too hasty to make the loan deal permanent.

I agree that he I think he is/was a better prospect than Ward. I don’t think it’s fair to compare him with Law, they’re not really the same type of player. But I also think that if he was still on our books now he would also be playing in the Rainworth game the other night rather than a regular starter.

[kevin kents tasce]

You’re being way to partisan here Rob. Are you related to him or something?

He has started 13 football league games at 22 years old. Musings put some stats up which show that in comparison with our starting midfielders he intercepts less, makes less successful passes, less key passes and doesn’t dribble the Ball as well. These are all key indicators for a midfielder in a side who want to play on the floor. Your notion that he is good on the ball is a fallacy. There is no evidence to back it up.


He is a big athletic lad and this will serve him well at a team who play direct football.

From what I have seen of both players, Ward suits our style much better than Smith did. There is a reason Ward was plucked out of our academy to go higher, but Smith wasn’t.

You seem to have a habit of not considering what other posters are saying, which makes it difficult to debate with you. You need to accept that just because others have a different opinion to you, it does not make them wrong.

I’m pleased for Smith. The lad has started to build what will hopefully be a good career. He is not the world beater you seem to think he is though, imho

[daddycool]

He’s not a world beater ,but none of ours are . He seems to be making steady improvement in physic and skill and will no doubt make a living out of football.

[Stag95]

Happy that he’s doing well at a new club, but he was absolutely terrible for us. Every time he came on we instantly looked like a worse side. He had plenty of opportunities to impress for us and never delivered.

[Sandy Pate Best Stag]

The only reason Smith has improved is the amount of game time he got at Conference level. He would not have got that game time here, that is a simple fact.

Perhaps we should continue to pay a players wage and loan them out on a permanent basis so they can improve but still be at a mediocre level in our first team. Although we didn’t achieve it, the ambition of our club was to be at League 1 level now or next year. Smith is not at that level so should we loan him out again for him to gain more experience? And should we be paying him whilst that happens in the hope he will eventually get to league 1 level?

It was clearly in the player’s best interest to release him to a lower league club and the fact that he has improved vindicates that decision. If we had kept Smith, he would be playing in Conference North/South next year because he wouldn’t have the experience of game time and possibly the coaching which suits his style of play. By retaining him, we would have blunted his potential.

Rob, why do you think he would make a good centre half when he has very little, if any, experience of the role? Or is that just another flight of fancy from your imagination?

[S7AGS]

We need better than Smith to progress

[oldweststander]

Smith did ok on Tuesday but he NEVER showed the potential to step up whilst with us, you can't keep players for ever and hope that one day they will come good, pity but that's life and that's certainly professional football.

[cassellswasmagic]

I thought he was below average when I saw him play for us. I honestly never thought he’d make it, but I’m glad he’s proved me wrong. I still don’t think he’s better than our best core of midfielders, however we might regret letting him go. That said clubs up and down the country have these exact stories and some clubs benefit from it. It must level out over time. I hope he keeps improving but that’s not a certainty either. Good luck to him!!!