Michael Smith failed to score in his final 14 league appearances for Bury
But he's never been expected to be a 20 goal a season striker.
What he does reasonably well is the 'target man' role and leading the line intelligently, good layoffs, creating space and opportunities for team mates.
He's carved out a decent enough career for himself in the lower leagues, although never seems to stay very long at one club. I thought he was excellent for Northampton against us last March (including a thumping header for the winner) but very poor for Bury earlier this season. I suppose inconsistency is why these sort of players are running around in League 1.
So he's now playing at a higher level than us albeit marginal. Would have been the ideal replacement for Mags during this fallow period.
Rotherham are in the same league as us.
But above us which is why I said "albeit marginal".
It's not a different level to us though, is it ?
OK - fair point. How about "now playing for a team in a position, albeit marginally, higher than us"?
And joining a team that has actually scored 13 goals in their last 8 games that still wants to strengthen their attacking options. As opposed to one that has netted just 5 times in the same period that thinks that they have all options covered.
Bump - I had completely forgotten that this lad played for us when I saw that he was the League’s top scorer. Some interesting views from when we sold him refreshed my mind of what I thought at the time. He’s been far more successful in recent times - fair play to him (after tonight)
Target men seem to hit their peak in their late 20s/early 30s, he’s another example of that. Yann was another. Stockley’s showing signs of it with this recent scoring run.
Michael Smith is the quintessential Centre forward/Number 9/target man who has never been a prolific goal scorer until this season. 10 years ago the Wallsend lad came to Cafc and he was raw, but I saw the potential and thought he would have a decent career in League 1 or 2. Scoring 10 last season in the Championship in a struggling team showed that as he was approaching his 30th birthday he had matured and with Rotherham again proving they struggle in the higher division but are a course and distance winner in the 3rd tier.
You can have a great career in Football without hitting the big time. Michael Smith of Viking stock has proved that. Let's hope we can cut off his supply tonight or else Pearce or Famewo will get dogs abuse from the Charlton critics.
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Oh, he got one in three so perhaps an upgrade to Barnsley.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/42652993
What he does reasonably well is the 'target man' role and leading the line intelligently, good layoffs, creating space and opportunities for team mates.
And joining a team that has actually scored 13 goals in their last 8 games that still wants to strengthen their attacking options. As opposed to one that has netted just 5 times in the same period that thinks that they have all options covered.
You can have a great career in Football without hitting the big time. Michael Smith of Viking stock has proved that. Let's hope we can cut off his supply tonight or else Pearce or Famewo will get dogs abuse from the Charlton critics.
Michael Smith is the tall striker signed under Powell who never really got a chance with us