Alex Smith signed 27 year-old striker Allan Smart on Tuesday from Oldham Athletic on a free transfer. Smart had had his contract cancelled there after an off-the-field incident, in which two police officers were slightly injured in a street scuffle. Smart had lasted only five months at Oldham after a £225 000 move from Watford – where he was once valued at over £1 million.
However, Smart's scoring record is fairly impressive. At Oldham he scored six in fourteen (not that impressive I admit) but he had a one in two whilst at Watford. If Smith can harness his bad-boy attitude, and turn it intto onfield aggression, then I feel he may be a valuable addition to out strikeforce, something along the lines of the once great Duncan Ferguson perhaps.
Many fans were disappointed that Eoin Jess had not put his sgnature on a contract, but Smith still insists that the chase for Jess is not finished. On the whole, I do think United are trying to improve their situation, and I have a sneaky feeling that Smart will become as popular at Tannadice as former bad boy Charlie Miller is now.