Smithies

Hasn’t been on the bench recently and we spent 3 million on him. Is he injured or just left out? Does anyone know ?

I don't know the answer but what I do think and have thought and said all along was that it was a very strange move by all party's.

He's been number 1 keeper for the majority of his career since he was 18 pretty much at Huddersfield and QPR. For him to leave regular first team football to play second fiddle for a team that were under no illusions were going to be in a scap to even stay up was a strange move in my eyes for a Keeper who is coming up to 29 and according to lots of people 'a brilliant keeper'.

Even stranger in my personal opinion was us paying the reported £4 Million transfer fee for him that could have gone into strengthening more pressing areas of the park.

You're right he hasn't been on the bench since he played the League Cup game against Norwich, can't find anything online to say he's injured so maybe a falling out?

What I will say, and this is not having a pot shot at Warnock as I think we have had a cracking start to the season, we are 17th and performances are picking up in my eyes, I think we will get points when we need to and I'm far more optimistic of staying up than I was at the start of the season but if we do go down it will be the signings of the likes of Smithies and Cunningham that people will pull up. £8 million on them pair, pretty much a 1/3 of what we spent and not an appearance from either yet (I know its early days just saying).

You do realise Etheridge could be missing for the whole of January playing for Philipines.

I don't know the answer but what I do think and have thought and said all along was that it was a very strange move by all party's.

He's been number 1 keeper for the majority of his career since he was 18 pretty much at Huddersfield and QPR. For him to leave regular first team football to play second fiddle for a team that were under no illusions were going to be in a scap to even stay up was a strange move in my eyes for a Keeper who is coming up to 29 and according to lots of people 'a brilliant keeper'.

Even stranger in my personal opinion was us paying the reported £4 Million transfer fee for him that could have gone into strengthening more pressing areas of the park.

You're right he hasn't been on the bench since he played the League Cup game against Norwich, can't find anything online to say he's injured so maybe a falling out?

What I will say, and this is not having a pot shot at Warnock as I think we have had a cracking start to the season, we are 17th and performances are picking up in my eyes, I think we will get points when we need to and I'm far more optimistic of staying up than I was at the start of the season but if we do go down it will be the signings of the likes of Smithies and Cunningham that people will pull up. £8 million on them pair, pretty much a 1/3 of what we spent and not an appearance from either yet (I know its early days just saying).

Even stranger questioning things this deeply after only 5 league games.

4 million is the new 1 million pounds. The price for players at the moment is absolutely crazy and has left us behind.

Smithies is a solid keeper and will play his part when the time is right.

You need two top keepers at our level. We already know Neil will miss part of the season through international duty, what if he got injured as well?

You do realise Etheridge could be missing for the whole of January playing for Philipines.

Yeah, it was the drum that people banged in the reason we needed to sign a keeper.... as BACK UP and rightly so, but we already had Murphy and Camp who Warnock SIGNED and never played so in my opinion we didn't need to sign somebody who was already a number 1 somewhere else for £4 Million when we needed to strengthen other areas of the park.

I would have preferred to have signed another experienced keeper on a short term contract or took a chance on a youngster on loan.

I'm not saying I'm right, just my opinion, Smithies might come and play in January and be amazing and save us points that keep us up and I will be the first to say I was wrong, only time will tell

I don't know the answer but what I do think and have thought and said all along was that it was a very strange move by all party's.

He's been number 1 keeper for the majority of his career since he was 18 pretty much at Huddersfield and QPR. For him to leave regular first team football to play second fiddle for a team that were under no illusions were going to be in a scap to even stay up was a strange move in my eyes for a Keeper who is coming up to 29 and according to lots of people 'a brilliant keeper'.

Even stranger in my personal opinion was us paying the reported £4 Million transfer fee for him that could have gone into strengthening more pressing areas of the park.

You're right he hasn't been on the bench since he played the League Cup game against Norwich, can't find anything online to say he's injured so maybe a falling out?

What I will say, and this is not having a pot shot at Warnock as I think we have had a cracking start to the season, we are 17th and performances are picking up in my eyes, I think we will get points when we need to and I'm far more optimistic of staying up than I was at the start of the season but if we do go down it will be the signings of the likes of Smithies and Cunningham that people will pull up. £8 million on them pair, pretty much a 1/3 of what we spent and not an appearance from either yet (I know its early days just saying).

Even stranger questioning things this deeply after only 5 league games.

Not really, I questioned it after 0 games.

Not a signing I understand, and as I said, only time will tell if I'm right or not.

As I said at the time was stupid spending money on a goalkeeper. Etheridge was rightly always going to be number one. Murphy is good back up too. If we were that desperate for a third option then we should have signed someone on a free as their were plenty out their.

I don't know the answer but what I do think and have thought and said all along was that it was a very strange move by all party's.

He's been number 1 keeper for the majority of his career since he was 18 pretty much at Huddersfield and QPR. For him to leave regular first team football to play second fiddle for a team that were under no illusions were going to be in a scap to even stay up was a strange move in my eyes for a Keeper who is coming up to 29 and according to lots of people 'a brilliant keeper'.

Even stranger in my personal opinion was us paying the reported £4 Million transfer fee for him that could have gone into strengthening more pressing areas of the park.

You're right he hasn't been on the bench since he played the League Cup game against Norwich, can't find anything online to say he's injured so maybe a falling out?

What I will say, and this is not having a pot shot at Warnock as I think we have had a cracking start to the season, we are 17th and performances are picking up in my eyes, I think we will get points when we need to and I'm far more optimistic of staying up than I was at the start of the season but if we do go down it will be the signings of the likes of Smithies and Cunningham that people will pull up. £8 million on them pair, pretty much a 1/3 of what we spent and not an appearance from either yet (I know its early days just saying).

Even stranger questioning things this deeply after only 5 league games.

Not really, I questioned it after 0 games.

Not a signing I understand, and as I said, only time will tell if I'm right or not.

I cannot get my head around what you do not understand. The signing makes complete sense. We needed two quality keepers and clearly Murphy and Camp were not good enough. We’d struggle to get another keeper as good for 4m and reasonable wages

I don't know the answer but what I do think and have thought and said all along was that it was a very strange move by all party's.

He's been number 1 keeper for the majority of his career since he was 18 pretty much at Huddersfield and QPR. For him to leave regular first team football to play second fiddle for a team that were under no illusions were going to be in a scap to even stay up was a strange move in my eyes for a Keeper who is coming up to 29 and according to lots of people 'a brilliant keeper'.

Even stranger in my personal opinion was us paying the reported £4 Million transfer fee for him that could have gone into strengthening more pressing areas of the park.

You're right he hasn't been on the bench since he played the League Cup game against Norwich, can't find anything online to say he's injured so maybe a falling out?

What I will say, and this is not having a pot shot at Warnock as I think we have had a cracking start to the season, we are 17th and performances are picking up in my eyes, I think we will get points when we need to and I'm far more optimistic of staying up than I was at the start of the season but if we do go down it will be the signings of the likes of Smithies and Cunningham that people will pull up. £8 million on them pair, pretty much a 1/3 of what we spent and not an appearance from either yet (I know its early days just saying).

Even stranger questioning things this deeply after only 5 league games.

Not really, I questioned it after 0 games.

Not a signing I understand, and as I said, only time will tell if I'm right or not.

I cannot get my head around what you do not understand. The signing makes complete sense. We needed two quality keepers and clearly Murphy and Camp were not good enough. We’d struggle to get another keeper as good for 4m and reasonable wages

If Murphy isn't good enough do you want to explain to me why he's been on the bench for the last two League games against Arsenal and Chelsea in front of Smithies, when unless Iv missed it or there's been a complete media blackout Smithies is fit and ready to go.

I don't know the answer but what I do think and have thought and said all along was that it was a very strange move by all party's.

He's been number 1 keeper for the majority of his career since he was 18 pretty much at Huddersfield and QPR. For him to leave regular first team football to play second fiddle for a team that were under no illusions were going to be in a scap to even stay up was a strange move in my eyes for a Keeper who is coming up to 29 and according to lots of people 'a brilliant keeper'.

Even stranger in my personal opinion was us paying the reported £4 Million transfer fee for him that could have gone into strengthening more pressing areas of the park.

You're right he hasn't been on the bench since he played the League Cup game against Norwich, can't find anything online to say he's injured so maybe a falling out?

What I will say, and this is not having a pot shot at Warnock as I think we have had a cracking start to the season, we are 17th and performances are picking up in my eyes, I think we will get points when we need to and I'm far more optimistic of staying up than I was at the start of the season but if we do go down it will be the signings of the likes of Smithies and Cunningham that people will pull up. £8 million on them pair, pretty much a 1/3 of what we spent and not an appearance from either yet (I know its early days just saying).

Even stranger questioning things this deeply after only 5 league games.

Not really, I questioned it after 0 games.

Not a signing I understand, and as I said, only time will tell if I'm right or not.

I cannot get my head around what you do not understand. The signing makes complete sense. We needed two quality keepers and clearly Murphy and Camp were not good enough. We’d struggle to get another keeper as good for 4m and reasonable wages

If Murphy isn't good enough do you want to explain to me why he's been on the bench for the last two League games against Arsenal and Chelsea in front of Smithies, when unless Iv missed it or there's been a complete media blackout Smithies is fit and ready to go.

Also, it wouldn't let me edit my post sorry, but Smithies signed for QPR in 2015 as number 1 from Huddersfield and signed a contact extension in 2017 as their number 1, I'm not sure what you class as reasonable wages but I would be absolutely flabbergasted is Smithies as on anything less than 15-20k a week to sign for us, if not more.

Not sure of this is 100% correct, as it hasn't been mentioned in any Press Conference but I was told last night that Alex Smithies is carrying an injury sustained in the Carabao Cup tie back In August?

Can anyone confirm?

was a luxury signing not a priority for a club that cant afford luxuries...
last season 29 players played more than our reserve keepers , Murphy who played played 1 and Camp played 0. this was not unique to our club either its more the norm with managers tending to stick by keepers unless a string of catastrophes occur.
yeah we going to be without Etheridge for 2 games....maybe 3..but isnt that what Murphy is for.?

to use up such a chunk of our small budget on someone elses 1st team keeper doesnt add up to me , when we signed him i then assumed there must be more in the kitty than was being said..

was a luxury signing not a priority for a club that cant afford luxuries...
last season 29 players played more than our reserve keepers , Murphy who played played 1 and Camp played 0. this was not unique to our club either its more the norm with managers tending to stick by keepers unless a string of catastrophes occur.
yeah we going to be without Etheridge for 2 games....maybe 3..but isnt that what Murphy is for.?

to use up such a chunk of our small budget on someone elses 1st team keeper doesnt add up to me , when we signed him i then assumed there must be more in the kitty than was being said..

I'm with you and RV here. Given the fact we couldn't afford a decent striker it seems a bit of a waste, in hindsight.

Signing makes perfect sense to me, although strange he wasn't on the bench.

Even if he didn't sign I'm not sure Warnock would have known what to do with the extra money. I'm of thought we had money left over in the budget anyway.

Etheridge could go for big money at the end of the season if we go down IMO.

Smithies is a top championship keeper

Etheridge could go for big money at the end of the season if we go down IMO.

Smithies is a top championship keeper

agree on both counts.
but for me we are not or were not strong enough elsewhere for this season to be prioritising cover should we be relegated AND end up selling Etheridge.

Etheridge could go for big money at the end of the season if we go down IMO.

Smithies is a top championship keeper

agree on both counts.
but for me we are not or were not strong enough elsewhere for this season to be prioritising cover should we be relegated AND end up selling Etheridge.

To be honest, I think he was brought in to be number one but Etheridge hasn't done much ( if anything ) wrong

I cannot get my head around what you do not understand. The signing makes complete sense. We needed two quality keepers and clearly Murphy and Camp were not good enough. We’d struggle to get another keeper as good for 4m and reasonable wages[/quote]


Absolutely correct IMO. If we didn't sign him then who should we have signed ? And as for the wages I doubt he is on £15k a week considering it stated here that Bruno was on £24k a month.

All I know is I have faith in the manager and the club.

I don't know the answer but what I do think and have thought and said all along was that it was a very strange move by all party's.

He's been number 1 keeper for the majority of his career since he was 18 pretty much at Huddersfield and QPR. For him to leave regular first team football to play second fiddle for a team that were under no illusions were going to be in a scap to even stay up was a strange move in my eyes for a Keeper who is coming up to 29 and according to lots of people 'a brilliant keeper'.

Even stranger in my personal opinion was us paying the reported £4 Million transfer fee for him that could have gone into strengthening more pressing areas of the park.

You're right he hasn't been on the bench since he played the League Cup game against Norwich, can't find anything online to say he's injured so maybe a falling out?

What I will say, and this is not having a pot shot at Warnock as I think we have had a cracking start to the season, we are 17th and performances are picking up in my eyes, I think we will get points when we need to and I'm far more optimistic of staying up than I was at the start of the season but if we do go down it will be the signings of the likes of Smithies and Cunningham that people will pull up. £8 million on them pair, pretty much a 1/3 of what we spent and not an appearance from either yet (I know its early days just saying).

Even stranger questioning things this deeply after only 5 league games.

Not really, I questioned it after 0 games.

Not a signing I understand, and as I said, only time will tell if I'm right or not.

I cannot get my head around what you do not understand. The signing makes complete sense. We needed two quality keepers and clearly Murphy and Camp were not good enough. We’d struggle to get another keeper as good for 4m and reasonable wages

If Murphy isn't good enough do you want to explain to me why he's been on the bench for the last two League games against Arsenal and Chelsea in front of Smithies, when unless Iv missed it or there's been a complete media blackout Smithies is fit and ready to go.

Also, it wouldn't let me edit my post sorry, but Smithies signed for QPR in 2015 as number 1 from Huddersfield and signed a contact extension in 2017 as their number 1, I'm not sure what you class as reasonable wages but I would be absolutely flabbergasted is Smithies as on anything less than 15-20k a week to sign for us, if not more.

It could be anything. A slight knock - which, for a number 2 keeper, would definitely not be note worthy in any press conference - or a personal reason. I doubt very much that Murphy has genuinely jumped ahead of him.

As for wages, Huddersfield (pre prem days) would be offering some of the lowest wages in the champ. QPR were heading down to the champ with big financial problems when they signed him. I very much doubt he was on a lot.

I wouldn’t be at all surprised if he was our number one by the end of the season. Good signing in IMO. Hard to see where else we could’ve strengthened for 4m

It's quite simple really we needed 2 quality keepers we now have that!

Some were questioning of Neil etheridge was gonna even be good enough so another quality keeper was a priority.... Now Neil has proven already he is capable and still number 1. In Jan smithies gets his chance... 3.5m is small change

I cannot get my head around what you do not understand. The signing makes complete sense. We needed two quality keepers and clearly Murphy and Camp were not good enough. We’d struggle to get another keeper as good for 4m and reasonable wages

Absolutely correct IMO. If we didn't sign him then who should we have signed ? And as for the wages I doubt he is on £15k a week considering it stated here that Bruno was on £24k a month.

All I know is I have faith in the manager and the club.[/quote]

Exactly mate, it was quite clearly a position that needed addressing, and 4mil is a bargain for a player that QPR fans were calling the best keeper in the Championship. We can't go sticking Murphy in goals for a month, and even if we did, who would his back up be?

£3/4 m small change, Marshall went for £2, Hennesey was available on a free? Why keep Murphy if he’s not good enough? Also a replacement goalie can be loaned at anytime if one of yours is injured so why have 3 goalkeepers in a squad of only 25?