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Taken From 'The Game' - The Times

GHA EFM

By GHA EFM
in St. Albans City Forum

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GHA EFM Newbie

GHA EFM

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Amid the sweat and toil on display on a grey and dreary afternoon at The Lamb, the guile and vision of Craig Mackail-Smith shone like a beacon. The 20-year-old, plucked from Arlesey Town in the lower reaches of non-league football during the summer, was a constant thorn in the side of the Tamworth rearguard and was instrumental in the two crucial opening goals on Saturday.

'His progress has been outstanding since he came to us,' John Still, the Dagenham & Redbridge manager, said. 'If we can just build him up a bit, he will get even better. The boy is just something else.'

The reward for an enterprising start to his Dagenham career is the granting of a full-time contract with the club that will commence today. Mackail-Smith was on hand to guide in a shot from 15 yards early in the second half and six minutes later he outpaced Adie Smith to set up Chris Moore for a strike that was well saved by Ryan Price, only for the unfortunate Smith to deflect back past his goalkeeper...

 

Congratulations to t'lad.

 

On another note, AFC Wimbeldon lost their 78-match unbeaten league record on the weekend, 2-0 to Cray Wanderers.

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The Caretaker Newbie

The Caretaker

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If only he'd tucked away one or two while he was here... he might still be here.

 

Rob

 

He did bag quite a few goals during his time at the club. He scored over 30 goals in each of his two seasons with the midweek youth team and was leading scorer for the reserves before his elevation to first team status.

 

Remember he was only 17 when he got his first chance and in the two seasons that followed he only made 8 starts and was a sub on 30 occasions, most of which were for a rediculously short period of time.

 

What we were looking at was potential, something that seems to have been missed on more than one occcasion by the powers that be.

 

JKIF

 

Just for your info, Craig made his senior debut with the reserves aged 16 along with Greg Deacon (16 at the time, nuff said), John Moore ( 17, now at Northwood), Ollie Lutton (15, last senn at Wingate/Finchley) and Jake Attwood (15, now playing with York City reserves). Home game v Basingstoke which was won 3 -1. This was under the guidence of Manager Kendal & Chairman Harding.

 

This is when the decision was made to set up the U18 youth team with a view to playing up to that age in a competetive league and then progressing for two further years of rerserve football, again in a decent league with plenty of games, in readiness for those that were good enough to make it to first team level. I think there would have been a few.

 

Should have gone to specsavers or what ........ <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/angry.gif" alt="" />

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Rob_the_Saint Newbie

Rob_the_Saint

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CT

 

The point I was trying to make was... if he'd scored a few more for the first team (and he had plenty of chances) he might not have been sent out on loan to Arlesey. Seemed a good idea at the time, little did we know he wouldn't be coming back. <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

 

Dean Stannard, now whatever happened to him?

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The Caretaker Newbie

The Caretaker

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Rob

 

Dean Stannard was at Bishop Stortford a few weeks ago, played for their reserves along with 2 or 3 more of our ex players.

 

You've also missed the point I was making. He was young and his inexperience was there for all to see but so was the potential. We looked at one at not the other.

 

I pose this question ..... .given what we had seen of Craig (18 when he left) who had cost nothing and would have played for peanuts because he loved the club ......would you have kept him in preference to signing Tom Beech (18 I believe) who we paid a fee for of £1000 (allegedly) and he has a two year contract worth over £200 per week (allegedly) which is more than double what he was getting at Cambridge (allegedly) .

 

I can provide the glasses for any one that cannot see what I am getting at here .. <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/wall.gif" alt="" />

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Woody Newbie

Woody

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The Caretaker said:

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I pose this question ..... .given what we had seen of Craig (18 when he left) who had cost nothing and would have played for peanuts because he loved the club ......would you have kept him in preference to signing Tom Beech (18 I believe) who we paid a fee for of £1000 (allegedly) and he has a two year contract worth over £200 per week (allegedly) which is more than double what he was getting at Cambridge (allegedly).

 

 

TC, I don't think we really need to answer that do we? Mackail-Smith had so much potential, only a blind man would not have been able to recognise it. I don't know how many times he actually started for the first team but I don't think it was that many. The biggest governing factor here is that he is now being properly coached at the Daggers, something that has been clearly sadly lacking at St. Albans in recent times. Perhaps that will change with the new regime. I hope so. As for Tom Beech, to sign him on that sort of money (and I heard it was more) was totally irresponsible. I would doubt that Castle had even seen him play for more than the 45 minutes he was on the field against Charlton. He is probably good enough for Ryman 1 but no higher, in my opinion. Steve Morison would have been a far better option. The worrying thing is that the Mackail-Smith scenario could easily repeat itself with Adam Smith. You just wait and see.

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