By 2004, Leeds United had been amassing debts and liabilities for several years. As a club,
they were running out of lives. The wage bill at Elland Road was more than £3 million a
month. The highest earners were pulling in over £100,000 a week. Even some players in
the academy receiving weekly salaries of £10,000.
The club were penniless. They had no borrowing facilities left to exploit and their only
route to serious income was through a fire sale. Dominic Matteo joined Blackburn Rovers
and goalkeeper Paul Robinson moved to Tottenham Hotspur for £1.5 million. But the big money
would have to come from three individuals: forward Mark Viduka, midfielder James Milner
and - a local boy born in Rothwell, the Leeds hero who promised never to join Manchester
United and then subsequently sold everyone out - Alan Smith.
They have no time for Eric Cantona or Rio Ferdinand in Leeds, and Joe Jordan and Gordon
McQueen’s defections caused resentment too, but it is Smith’s name that rouses most
bitterness. His is the decision that they cannot forget.
Two years before, in a Soccer AM interview, Smith had said that Manchester United were
incompatible with his Leeds United roots and that he could never play for them. In 2004,
though, Smith decided to do exactly that and the interview, the transfer and the implied
betrayal has been held against him ever since.
In the eyes of many, it was the ultimate act of disloyalty.
Smith was a footballer built for Leeds, embodying a collection of everything that’s loved
at Elland Road. He had talent, he could finish. He had good feet and he liked a tackle. He
was the complete package. A kid from the academy who scored his first Premier League goal on
his debut, practically with his first touch and – of all places – in front of Anfield’s
Kop End too.
When the club were relegated from the Premier League, supporters carried Smith from the
pitch on their shoulders. Leeds were condemned by a 3-3 draw with Charlton Athletic on May
8 and the pictures of him in tears at full-time decorated back pages across the country.
In the background, though, things were moving quickly, and his transfer to Manchester United
would be completed before the end of the month.
For a while, Smith had indulged the possibility that relegation might not spell the end for
him at Leeds. He was quoted in an interview as saying he would be open-minded about the
future, regardless of the level the club were playing at. But by the end, there was no longer
any pretence on his part. A move was unavoidable.
"I’ve always said I wanted to stay here until it was no longer possible and I think
that’s the situation we’re approaching now," said Smith. "Everyone appreciates that
from the financial side, the club's side and from my point of view it’s time to move
on."
Smith's defence of his transfer to Manchester United always relies on one key point: that
in the seasons when Leeds were involved in Europe and competing at the top end of the
Premier League, he couldn’t envisage a time when Leeds would try to sell him.
Even had Leeds wanted to keep Smith, they had a big contractual hurdle to overcome.
His goals and appearances had activated a clause entitling him to a renegotiation and,
barely having the money to fund his existing wage, Leeds were in no position to increase
it in the aftermath of relegation.
By late April, as the club's Premier League status slipped away, the directors at Elland
Road conceded that the forward had to go. The question was where and for how much.
And who exactly would dictate the terms of his departure?
Ahead of the summer, Leeds had hired Philip Morrison of PML Sports Management, to oversee
all of their outgoing deals. With everything going through one intermediary, rather than
a cast of thousands, the club reasoned that they could potentially save thousands in lost
fees.
But there was no chance of high-profile footballers putting their next move in the hands of a
man they didn't know. "If I have to leave,” Smith said publicly at the time “then it'll
be to a club of my choice, not theirs."
His intention was to find a club playing in the Champions League. Leeds’ priority, according
to his agent, Alex Black, was to get a deal done quickly, and for as much money as possible.
“Man United were the only club who had an offer accepted by Leeds” Black told The
Athletic. “If the process had gone on longer into the summer, then maybe things would have
changed. But that's hypothetical.
Of the Champions League qualified sides, United were actually the only one to make a bid.
Liverpool’s interest faded after the departure of their manager, Gerard Houllier, and while
there was talk of interest from sides lower down the division, that was – Black has
confirmed - nothing more than rumour.
Manchester United's opening offers for Smith were low. Leeds used their official website
on May 18 to announce that they had "rejected immediately" bids of £3.5 million and £5.5
million, describing them as "substantially undervaluing" the 23-year-old.
Eventually officials from both clubs, including Manchester United's David Gill, met in a hotel
in London to thrash out the terms. A £7 million package was agreed, with the money paid in
full and Danny Pugh moving to Elland Road as part of the agreement.
In the days before the transfer was announced, the atmosphere in Leeds grew more acrid. On
the Saturday before he passed his medical, as rumours reached critical mass, the Yorkshire
Evening Post mocked up an image of him in Manchester United’s famous red shirt and
printed it on their front page.
Smith and United pre-empted that reaction. A clause in his new contract allowed him to
join without an immediate unveiling. Instead, the transfer was to be announced by a statement
from both clubs, with United delaying any press conference until later in the summer,
to allow the anger in Leeds to die down. Smith may have joined on May 26th, but he didn’t
appear for real in a Manchester United shirt until July 20th, midway through their pre-season.
When he was eventually introduced, it was alongside Liam Miller, who had joined from
Celtic, and with Ferguson dressed down, in polo shirt and slacks.
It was also announced that Smith had waived a signing-on fee, to help with the financial
mess at Elland Road. Whatever the politics may have been, Leeds were grateful for what
amounted to hundreds of thousands of pounds, even if that did little to quell the public
resentment.
In the years since, there have been occasional sightings of Smith at Elland Road and Leeds
are enthusiastic about the idea of reconciliation. The club and their majority shareholder, Andrea
Radrizzani, have even spoken to Smith about an ambassadorial role but, reportedly, he
isn't keen.
He also received an invitation to a centenary dinner at Elland Road in October 2019, but
he spends much of his time in the United States now and was unable to attend. A football academy
has been opened in his name in Orlando, a project largely run by others, but some who
know Smith liken him to David Batty: a man satisfied with his lot, happy out of the limelight
and content without football in his life.
Opinions on his transfer to Old Trafford remain polarised. Not everyone in Leeds resented
Smith for taking the plunge — it is not in dispute that the club needed money fast
that summer — and it is clear that the situation presented him with a professional dilemma:
Serve the public or serve his career, in a scenario where it was difficult to do both.
Rather his decision than yours.