Alan Smith wasn't exactly a disastrous signing for Newcastle, he just wasn't much of anything by the time he'd been through Sir Alex Ferguson's needlessly meddlesome ringer at Old Trafford. Signed from Leeds as a striker, Sir Alex for some reason decided that Smith would be better as a centre-midfielder, and proceeded to attempt to teach him how to play there. Unfortunately for everyone involved, all that resulted was that Smith forgot how to play as a striker and never really knew what to do in centre-midfield. He had been a victim of Sir Alex's wanton need to reinvent, and it was that state that he came to Newcastle in. Inevitably because he was still relatively young and was coming from Manchester United, Smith demanded the kind of wages that would make Mike Ashley slam the door in his face these days. According to the BBC, he was on a massive £60k a week even with the club in the Championship, and when he eventually left the club on loan for MK Dons, the lower league side were only required to pay £2,500 a week for the privilege while Newcastle footed the rest of the bill. No wonder Ashley doesn't like signing English.
