Craig Mackail-Smith

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big nuts

Well-known member
Jan 15, 2011
4,877
Hove
Not Championship quality, especially top of Championship quality.

Poyet blew £2.5m of TB's money on that, whilst arrogantly refusing Muzza a pay rise.

CMS was/is by all accounts a lovely bloke, he always gave his best and good luck to him.

He was comfortably Championship quality before his injury. Played in a formation and style which didn't play to his strengths, he still went about his business without ever complaining and still scored goals at a reasonable rate. An instinctive finisher but given time in front of goal you never backed him to score.

The Burnley 9 man game typified his spell with us. Had a very good game, ran his nuts off but couldn't finish his dinner let along a presentable chance on the day.

By the end of his time with us he was a broken man both mentally and physically. But I wish him well, a whole hearted player.
 






PILTDOWN MAN

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Sep 15, 2004
19,595
Hurst Green
Thought he was still at Luton
 


catfish

North Stand Brighton Boy
Dec 17, 2010
7,677
Worthing
Considering he is perceived as a failure with us he did have some great moments and no player ever tried harder than he did.

Just shows what a fine line there can be between success and failure.
 






Kalimantan Gull

Well-known member
Aug 13, 2003
13,438
Central Borneo / the Lizard
We really liked him at the start, remember how good he was away at cardiff and pompey, scored a few, ran his socks off, I'm trying to pinpoint where it started to go wrong, last couple of months of that season? After the injury?

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rocker959

Well-known member
Jan 22, 2011
2,802
Plovdiv Bulgaria
Considering he is perceived as a failure with us he did have some great moments and no player ever tried harder than he did.

Just shows what a fine line there can be between success and failure.

Exactly this .
 


Binney on acid

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Nov 30, 2003
2,668
Shoreham
His goal at Burnley was one of the greatest goals that I've ever seen. His attitude and work rate were an example to all. He just happened to have the misfortune of playing for a mentally arthritic manager.
 












BRIGHT ON Q

Well-known member
Jul 5, 2003
9,248
He's at home there
 


DJ NOBO

Well-known member
Jul 18, 2004
6,816
Wiltshire
Had my doubts when I checked the Peterborough fans forum on the day he signed for us. Far from calling him a judas they were delighted to get that kind of money. They knew.
 


Cowfold Seagull

Fan of the 17 bus
Apr 22, 2009
22,114
Cowfold
Had my doubts when I checked the Peterborough fans forum on the day he signed for us. Far from calling him a judas they were delighted to get that kind of money. They knew.

I don't think so. He was simply a very good goalscorer that didn't fit into Gus's rigid system of playing with only one main striker. If he had signed for someone else he could well have scored plenty of goals at a higher lever, and made more of a name for himself.

Then of course came that serious injury, and he just isn't the player that he once was.

Good to see him scoring goals again though, even if it is just two so far!
 




BensGrandad

New member
Jul 13, 2003
72,015
Haywards Heath
I don't think so. He was simply a very good goalscorer that didn't fit into Gus's rigid system of playing with only one main striker. If he had signed for someone else he could well have scored plenty of goals at a higher lever, and made more of a name for himself.

Then of course came that serious injury, and he just isn't the player that he once was.

I think that he could have done the same job for us but alongside of Murray as per SB but not instead of with him playing off of GM flicks and knock ons.
 


Lady Whistledown

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Jul 7, 2003
47,630
I think that he could have done the same job for us but alongside of Murray as per SB but not instead of him playing off of GM flicks and knock ons.

Maybe, but one of the issues for me was his first touch, which was nowhere near as good as it needed to be for the Championship. The number of times his second touch was a tackle used to infuriate me. Baldock, whilst rarely prolific, has far, far more technical ability and footballing intelligence than CMS will ever have.

Wish him well of course, but the labrador nickname was well earned.
 




BensGrandad

New member
Jul 13, 2003
72,015
Haywards Heath
Maybe, but one of the issues for me was his first touch, which was nowhere near as good as it needed to be for the Championship. The number of times his second touch was a tackle used to infuriate me. Baldock, whilst rarely prolific, has far, far more technical ability and footballing intelligence than CMS will ever have.

Wish him well of course, but the labrador nickname was well earned.

I think that his first touch was down to the fact that we hit and hoped it would be near him or he could run onto it. Had the approach work been better he would have done better IMHO.
 






big nuts

Well-known member
Jan 15, 2011
4,877
Hove
Maybe, but one of the issues for me was his first touch, which was nowhere near as good as it needed to be for the Championship. The number of times his second touch was a tackle used to infuriate me. Baldock, whilst rarely prolific, has far, far more technical ability and footballing intelligence than CMS will ever have.

Wish him well of course, but the labrador nickname was well earned.

Whilst never the most technically gifted of players, I do feel his touch completely deserted him post injury and when confidence had ebbed away. I do recall in the early part of his career with us his hold up play and touch was reasonable.

By the end the Forest cross excepted he was a shadow of his former self.
 


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