Quote Originally Posted by cardiff55 View Post
Because he paid £3.5m, then had him sat on the bench for a whole season and then looked to offload him summer 2019. All for £3.5m and a suspect £30k per week wages. He only came back in when Etheridge was injured last season. I have always liked Smithies when he was with Huddersfield and QPR and he was good last season, but decidedly average this season. I preferred Etheridge but one of them had to go.
We were going into the premier league with Brian Murphy as our backup goalkeeper, we needed someone who could step in if Etheridge got injured and could also put pressure on him for his place, Smithies was widely regarded as one of the best in the league at that point (and probably still is today), £3.5m is a relatively modest fee for a premier league club to pay and Smithies has gone on to serve the club very well. An excellent signing.