After a career which included hundreds of Premier League appearances, England caps and a horror injury, he sauntered off into the distance without announcing that he was retiring
Alan Smith has opened up about his retirement after leaving Notts County(Image: John Sumpter @ JMS Photography)
Alan Smith felt no need to publicise his retirement from football, despite a storied career which culminated in him becoming a fan favourite at Notts County.
After 19 England caps and a Premier League legacy spanning Leeds United, Manchester United and Newcastle United, Smith ended his career with four years at Meadow Lane.
His goalscoring record was modest to say the least – just one in all competitions – but he became highly revered by County fans, earning just £500-a-week during his time at the club.
Smith’s decision to continue playing into his late 30s was more than most would do. He pushed his body to the absolute limit, playing with approximately 10 pins in his ankle following the infamous tackle from John Arne Riise, which Sir Alex Ferguson described as one of the worst he had ever seen.
But when Smith decided enough was enough, he didn’t want any celebration of his achievements. He took his battered body and quietly sauntered off into the distance.
Alan Smith knew when the right time to step away from football was (Image: Getty Images)
Smith, speaking exclusively to Nottinghamshire Live via an online casino site, said: “To be honest, I don’t think anyone would have been interested in me retiring! What does it matter really? If you’re not playing, you’re retired so it’s just a formality, and I don’t understand it really.
“Unless you’re like De Bruyne wanting to say goodbye for what you’ve achieved at a club, unless you’ve been at one club for a sustained period of time and want to say goodbye to those supporters, then I don’t think anyone really cares.
“You don’t need a bit of yellow tape on Sky Sports to say you’ve retired, but I guess most people retire when they’re no longer playing Premier League. Is it just retiring to stay relevant to people? For me you just get on with it and go and do what you want to do.”
Smith’s departure from football came just prior to when Kevin Nolan was sacked as County boss. The only reason he was still playing on at that point was because of his friendship with the ex-Bolton Wanderers and West Ham midfielder.
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Nolan had asked him to work as a player-coach, but Smith didn’t feel right accepting.
He recalled: “Kev wanted me to stay on the coaching staff as a player-coach, but I just knew myself that I couldn’t do him justice as well because he was my mate. It would have been difficult because I don’t think I would have been able to play, and it would have put him in a compromising situation.
“I’d not done much coaching at that point as I’d been focused on playing. I’d been playing and helped with coaching in the background with the manager and the assistant manager.
“But Kev was under a lot of pressure from the chairman about signing or giving new contracts to players in their 30s, so I didn’t wanna put him in a compromising situation either. Some people wanna bring in younger players to develop them and sell them with different ways and means of what they want to do.
Alan Smith in action for Notts County against Brentford in the FA Cup third round in 2018(Image: Getty Images)
“We just came to a mutual agreement – Kev wanted me on the coaching staff and that it was something that I didn’t really want to do, as it was just a moment in time, and you know when the right moment to step away is to be honest.
Smith has nothing but complimentary things to say about his time at Meadow Lane, but play-off defeat to Coventry proved a decisive moment for all.
“I loved it at Notts County, and was working with some amazing people there as well. Good footballing people and obviously Kev was my mate from Newcastle,” Smith said.
“I think we were just more disappointed we got beaten in the playoff semi-final against Coventry and I think that was the one. I’d already spoke to Kev about finishing at the end of the season before it came to end that season, and going to Wembley would have been a really nice finish. That would have been the perfect way to finish it all off.
“Obviously we got beaten in the semi-final which was a real shame as we’d done exceptionally well as a club together and it was just a real shame for him because it was his first managerial job, but he’d done really well.
“And then he got fired four or five games into the following season when he realistically had his hands tied behind his back because the players that he wanted to keep, Shola Ameobi, Jon Stead, myself… it was great but the chairman wanted us to go in a different direction and sign younger players.”