An Away Move Posted 9 May 2013 Share Posted 9 May 2013 I though I'd start this thread as a form of respite for my high adrenalin levels re: tonight's playoff game against Watford! My dad always used to say that Alan Smith 'made' Gary Lineker? I'm 40 and I'm a little too young to know if this is true or a load of rubbish! Any wise older Foxes have an opinion? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leicester_Numan Posted 9 May 2013 Share Posted 9 May 2013 He didn't "make him", Lineker always had the talent but having the right partner up front certainly helped him and brought him to Everton's attention. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Hankey Posted 9 May 2013 Share Posted 9 May 2013 Lineker was a gifted and superb player in his own right. If I recall Smith started at Alvechurch in some minor league and did very well for us and Arsenal but Lineker without doubt was the better of the two. If anything it was Gary who brought on Smith and helped him to be the player he became. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
An Away Move Posted 9 May 2013 Author Share Posted 9 May 2013 He didn't "make him", Lineker always had the talent but having the right partner up front certainly helped him and brought him to Everton's attention. Lineker was a gifted and superb player in his own right. If I recall Smith started at Alvechurch in some minor league and did very well for us and Arsenal but Lineker without doubt was the better of the two. If anything it was Gary who brought on Smith and helped him to be the player he became. Yes, I guess both the above posts are quite correct. I suspect my dad was making the point that he thought Alan Smith wasn't getting enough credit for being such a good provider; and if he'd had a rubbish partner up front things might have been different? - On reflection Lineker would have probably done well no matter who he was playing with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MPH Posted 9 May 2013 Share Posted 9 May 2013 The more Lineker emerged as a talent the less the focus was on Smith. And infact Smith only truely became a great player once the team worked out how to play without lineker ( IMO) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fazzyfox Posted 9 May 2013 Share Posted 9 May 2013 Whilst Lineker was already standing out as a raw direct talent, Kevin McDonalds through balls to run onto were a big part of his game as well as Lynex's wingplay and balls across the box but Smith made a big impact, in his first season out of non-league he scored a hat-trick v Wolves amongst 14 or so goals and was part of a promotion winning side (I thought Vardy was going to be a case of deja-vous) and then more than held his own in the top division in just his second season. Your strike partner does help you develop but as we saw with Lineker pre-Smith you just had to put a decent ball into the space ahead of him and no one on this planet could catch him, he was a unique talent and added a quality touch and a range of finishes to his raw pace, so its fair to say that Smith shaped his style to a degree Their partnership was perfect and greater even than the sum of its parts to the degree that whilst Smith may not have been in the top 3 or 4 strikers in the country, him and Lineker could have been the best partnership for England at the time. He was very unselfish and intelligent and always looked to play others in, whether Alan Young or Jim Melrose could have stayed and done as good a job I'm not sure so his presence certainly helped the supply line to Lineker and gave him a regular partner. It's Lynex I feel more sorry for as Smith went on to score a winner in a European final for Arsenal and Lineker ended up at Barcelona, I always make sure I throw his name in with them as a trio, I always get the impression that Smith feels undervalued because of Linekers presence as when you read interviews and hear him co-commentate it's 95% about Arsenal as that's the bigger thing on his CV. If anything he wants his individuality recognised and not be thought of as Linekers foil but when you're great at holding up the ball and flicking on headers people will remember that as well as your goals and the strike partner role begins to take prominence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MPH Posted 9 May 2013 Share Posted 9 May 2013 Whilst Lineker was already standing out as a raw direct talent, Kevin McDonalds through balls to run onto were a big part of his game as well as Lynex's wingplay and balls across the box but Smith made a big impact, in his first season out of non-league he scored a hat-trick v Wolves amongst 14 or so goals and was part of a promotion winning side (I thought Vardy was going to be a case of deja-vous) and then more than held his own in the top division in just his second season. Your strike partner does help you develop but as we saw with Lineker pre-Smith you just had to put a decent ball into the space ahead of him and no one on this planet could catch him, he was a unique talent and added a quality touch and a range of finishes to his raw pace, so its fair to say that Smith shaped his style to a degree Their partnership was perfect and greater even than the sum of its parts to the degree that whilst Smith may not have been in the top 3 or 4 strikers in the country, him and Lineker could have been the best partnership for England at the time. He was very unselfish and intelligent and always looked to play others in, whether Alan Young or Jim Melrose could have stayed and done as good a job I'm not sure so his presence certainly helped the supply line to Lineker and gave him a regular partner. It's Lynex I feel more sorry for as Smith went on to score a winner in a European final for Arsenal and Lineker ended up at Barcelona, I always make sure I throw his name in with them as a trio, I always get the impression that Smith feels undervalued because of Linekers presence as when you read interviews and hear him co-commentate it's 95% about Arsenal as that's the bigger thing on his CV. If anything he wants his individuality recognised and not be thought of as Linekers foil but when you're great at holding up the ball and flicking on headers people will remember that as well as your goals and the strike partner role begins to take prominence. Wasn't it Lynex who went in goal in that cup game? Saved a penalty didn't he? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hackneyfox Posted 9 May 2013 Share Posted 9 May 2013 Wasn't it Lynex who went in goal in that cup game? Saved a penalty didn't he? It wasn't that much of a fairytale game, still unbelievable though, one of the all time classic games. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OzFox Posted 9 May 2013 Share Posted 9 May 2013 I though I'd start this thread as a from of respite for my high adrenalin levels re: tonight's playoff game against Watford! My dad always used to say that Alan Smith 'made' Gary Lineker? I'm 40 and I'm a little too young to know if this is true or a load of rubbish! Any wise older Foxes have an opinion? I think both of them owe a lot to Steve Lynex. I lost count of how many goals we scored from a Lynex cross, Smith knockdown and Lineker goal. One of my favourite Smith memories would be his two goals against Man Utd at Filbert st sometime in the mid 80s. His second was a cracking strike. If memory serves, we were 3-0 up after about 20 minutes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fazzyfox Posted 9 May 2013 Share Posted 9 May 2013 Yes both him and Alan Young went in goal v Shrewsbury in the 1/4 final. I remember him swimming on a waterlogged pitch vs Southampton too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sampson Posted 9 May 2013 Share Posted 9 May 2013 I always get the impression that Smith feels undervalued because of Linekers presence as when you read interviews and hear him co-commentate it's 95% about Arsenal as that's the bigger thing on his CV. If anything he wants his individuality recognised and not be thought of as Linekers foil but when you're great at holding up the ball and flicking on headers people will remember that as well as your goals and the strike partner role begins to take prominence. I think that's a bit harsh. It's more to do with the fact Arsenal are a Premier League side and we aren't. Last time we were in the Premier League I thought he was always kind to us in his commentary. I remember a game in particular when we drew 3-3 with Middlesbrough after being 3-1 up after 90 minutes and they scored 2 injury time goals. When they scored their 3rd (an awful own goal by John Curtis if my memory serves me correctly) the camera cut across to him where he was doing updates from the game and you could tell he looked gutted that we'd thrown away 2 points when we were in such a tight relegation battle at the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
An Away Move Posted 9 May 2013 Author Share Posted 9 May 2013 It wasn't that much of a fairytale game, still unbelievable though, one of the all time classic games. Wow. Thanks for posting this. That was the first Leicester team I ever went to see. It might be nostalgia playing tricks, but I seem to have a memory of hearing the crowd on that day when I was in a car park near where the Mercury offices are. Jim Melrose used to live on the same street as my family on Pitts Avenue in Braunstone. Us kids must have felt like right pests to him knocking on his door for autographs, which he was always decent enough to sign. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bss9401 Posted 9 May 2013 Share Posted 9 May 2013 Both Lineker and Ian Wright said that Smith took so many hits for them, created many goals for both and was quality in his own right. I definitely look back on them as a truly world class front two playing for Leicester City. Lynex was rightly given so much credit as a winger and is also a true Foxes legend but he was not in Lineker and Smith's class on his own. Who could forget the 50+ goals in one season the trio scored (twice). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burmesefox Posted 9 May 2013 Share Posted 9 May 2013 Dont forget that Lineker started up front with Big Youngy. The wealth of talent we had up front was amazing though - Smith (one of my faves) went on to Arsenal, Lineker and Wilson to Everton, and Lynex to Birmingham & WBA not to mention Jim Melrose. We had wing play and a strikeforce that we would die for right now. These players were my heroes. Those were the days my friend, I thought they'd never end........................... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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