Great post and it reflects my feelings well. I was very angry when he left because I felt he should have waited until the end of the season. If he had I am convinced we would have been promoted and he could have walked into a top job anytime after that. However money talks and on reflection the offer he had from Brentford was too good to turn down and I now wish him well at the Villa.
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If you want to buy into romanticism you will be disappointed with an awful lot of footballing business.
I’ll never slate a player or a manager that moves on from us for money. This is an actual persons life we are talking about, being offered twice the money to do the same job. I’d be cleaning my desk out in a flash too.
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I agree. Hence the first line of my post.
But that “no brainer” logic isn’t mutually exclusive of feelings, emotions and disappointment.
And as lower league football fans, what are we if not ridiculously hopeless romantics?
i suppose everybody is different particularly when it comes to feelings, emotions and disappointment.
I find the best way is to be completely blasé, in the same way that managers and footballers are, when it comes to any kind of transfer or loyalty in football. It avoids that disappointment but I can certainly see if you haven’t got that attitude you will have a different take.
True. But mine manifests itself in hoping for a cup run or a win against somebody decent. It shows how rare loyalty has become in football that that is a much more realistic prospect.
For me, various emotional attrocities are simply another savage and brutal thrust into the vulnerable underbelly of destiny, resulting in yet another agonising gorestained waypoint before our collective inevitable departure into the inky blackness of the void.
I’ll still be enjoying my rictus grin over Tony Rougier’s Millennium faceplant sextastic goal however.
■■■■ you life, you massive ■■■■■
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I would love to buy into @P.T’s romantic story and maybe it is the case for some of the older generation of fan that remember Smith the footballer.
However those giving him ‘moronic’ dogs abuse at Brentford were a little over 20 years old. I’m afraid some people just like to call ex players and managers a ■■■■ for no other reason than they have moved on!
I always cringe when I think about Sawyers’ leaving tweet before he reworded it. I always hope that deep down Smith & Sawyers do appreciate the support they received from some quarters that knew what they were talking about and don’t think of us like a bitter, jilted ex slagging them to anyone that will listen while they marry the girl of their dreams.
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Generally I’m all for moving on and understanding the financial side of moves like Smith’s … but that abuse wasn’t moronic.
Come on, this is football. If you can’t take the ■■■■ then, when can you? Schadenfreude at it’s best.
I agree, part of the joy of the sport is watching foolish others wallow in the pit of their own bedraggled misery, railing against the fickle nature of fate.
Tranmere, for example. And Wrexham. Eat your portion of bitterness, you losers!
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I love giving a little bit of stick to opposition players and managers and I especially love it when they give back, if they score etc - I’m not one of these sensitive souls! Its part and parcel of the game!
However, there are exceptions and also levels at which I refuse to sink to! Friendly banter - fine. Problem is too many people don’t know when to stop i.e. when funny stops being funny and becomes insulting or out of order.
There was a lot of that OTT behaviour at Brentford and Smith deserved more respect than most.
Fair enough. I have no doubt there were idiots that over stepped, there always is.
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Agree that day was real cringeworthy , he moved up a level and bettered himself… I say fair play.
Shouldn’t even be in for debate…
Since when did this sport become netball?
I agree too much can be over the line, but this is football, and I for one am the first to say I gave Smith hell @ Brentford away and loved it, same as Dack @ home to Gillingham 15/16 - even better when the players react and give it back - get riled up, adds to the excitement and passion
No wonder the atmosphere at Bescot these days is as exciting as a jab in the sack
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Depends on what floats your boat I suppose , screaming abuse at a middle aged man is not really my thing tbh.
But everyone’s different.
spot on heard much much worse in the 80s and 90s than today it was to be expected the way Smith left and the timing of it.
To be honest I get nothing out of slating ex players/managers. Get a right stonker knowing a ref has heard me call him a ■■■■■■ though 
Are you completely deranged or just insane? You can easily confirm my diagnosis by replying. Failing that simple task, you could carry on posting your usual inane drivel and then tell us how you often you’ve agreed with yourself.
Oh and for the record, merely pointing out that John Whitney was an ex professional footballer, as well as a well respected physiotherapist with a better win percentage than Dean Smith in reply to one of your glorious dim witted and self congratulatory posts is not a glowing endorsement from me of his ability as manager of WFC.
Give yourself another pat on the back.
I know it hurts being wrong all the time but I would have thought you was used to it by now! No need for the name calling love 
makes you look bitter as well as dumb
Yeah. Because he inherited a team Smith created from dross…
Dean Smith started with one of the worst squads I’ve seen at Walsall and turned us into a competitive league 1 team. Whitney completely destroyed the club philosophy built by Smith, wasted a far bigger budget than Smith ever had and turned us into one of the most unattractive teams in League 1 completely destroying peoples love of the club but yeah, lets use misleading stats with no context to make a point.
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Win percentage is one way of cutting it but points per game is a better statistic. However the two points made by EN and Samara are far more relevant in this case.