Simon Smith has been on the bench for most of the biggest moments of Newcastle United’s recent history – but admits he has probably not watched a single one.
Goalkeeper coach Smith was a constant during two turbulent periods at St James’ Park, serving under Ruud Gullit, Sir Bobby Robson and Rafael Benitez among others. His combined service of 12 years ended in the summer and now – finally – he might be able to actually enjoy watching the team he supported as a boy.
“From other people, you find out this or that has gone on in the game but when I’m on the bench I’m just sat there, watching the goalkeeper, how he’s stood, what his stance is, what he’s looking at in the game,” Smith says. “It sounds ridiculous but that’s the job. You’re single-minded. I think I’ve missed countless big goals or moments that Newcastle fans probably all remember doing that.”
i meets Smith at his local café on Tynemouth’s beautiful Longsands beach, the late summer sun catching the shimmering sea. This is his first interview since leaving Newcastle and while he is at pains to stress he’s not retired from the game or coaching, it feels an apt time to reflect.
More on Newcastle United FC
Newcastle's patchy form has provided a reality check and highlighted Wilson's importance19 September, 2022
Newcastle 1-1 Bournemouth: Gamble on sacking Parker is paying off for O'Neill's Cherries17 September, 2022
England call-up for Toney is jarring reminder of errors Newcastle cannot repeat17 September, 2022Smith’s background was in non-league football, playing for Whitley Bay and Gateshead before joining Newcastle’s centre for excellence as goalkeeping coach. Fetched out of the academy by friend John Carver to become part of Ruud Gullit’s backroom staff on a temporary basis in 1998, he survived almost by serendipity.
“It was an unbelievable experience to go from what I’d been doing to working with one of the biggest names in world football. Ruud had wanted to bring in his own goalkeeper coach and he’d narrowed it down to Dave Beasant or Ed de Goey, but Dave didn’t want to come back because he’d had a miserable time at Newcastle as a player and Ed had other things on so Ruud kept me on,” he says.
The first sign that Gullit accepted his new charge was when Smith was sent to Belgium to scout Anderlecht keeper Geert De Vlieger. “I flew out of Newcastle, got met by an agent, watched the game and then had to ring Ruud from the hotel and give him the breakdown on De Vlieger,” he says.
“When I got back, as I was driving from the airport home there was a billboard for the [Newcastle] Evening Chronicle that said ‘Newcastle bid £1m for De Vlieger’. I thought to myself ‘Oh my gosh, I’ve just spent £1m of the club’s money’.”
As it turned out, the bid was rejected but it was a crash course in the often claustrophobic world of Newcastle. Gullit presided over an unhappy camp, banishing Stuart Pearce and other established names to the so-called “bomb squad” but the final straw came when Alan Shearer was dropped before a derby game that Newcastle lost in monsoon conditions.
“It sounds naïve but I was just looking at the weather thinking ‘I hope [goalkeeper] Tommy Wright is going to be OK in this. While all that was playing out with Alan and Ruud I was on the outside of the dugout getting absolutely soaked,” he says.
It was Sir Bobby Robson who changed Smith’s life, taking a gamble on his inexperienced goalkeeper coach. “A really, really tough person to work for, but the best. He expected you to have his standards,” he says.
Shay Given and Steve Harper were at the head of a group of “absolutely first class” goalkeepers that he coached.
“If anything went wrong, goalkeeper-wise he’d shout down the dugout to me. If Shay didn’t throw the ball to Olly Bernard it’d be ‘What’s he doing there? What’s he looking at?’ So one day I summoned the courage to knock on his door and say: ‘If you’re going to have a go at me on the bench, I may as well play myself’.
“He looked at me in a fatherly way and said: ‘Simon, let’s get this clear. You will never play in goal for Newcastle United’. That sort of stopped me in my tracks but he was a real expert when it came to goalkeeping.”
Smith still has an email Robson sent him setting out the standards he expected from his goalies. “He had a favourite phrase: strong wrists, sticky fingers. It was simple technical stuff but then also they had to handle the occasion, the right mentality,” he says.
Robson’s Newcastle came so close to ending Tyneside’s wait for silverware. “It would have been really interesting if he’d been given the chance to build a new team. I think they panicked, it was too early to sack him,” Smith says.
After he left, Sir Bobby remained fiercely loyal to those he left behind. Smith recalls him bringing together his coaching team in the Copthorne Hotel in Newcastle after his dismissal to apologise for “letting them and their families down”. “There were tears in the room from grown men that day,” he says.
More on Sports Interview
Jaap Stam: 'Harry Maguire needs to prove he's No 1 if he wants to play for Man Utd'08 September, 2022
Rob Baxter hopes his hands-off approach and 'playing hard' off pitch will help Exeter rebuild07 September, 2022
'There are pressure points': Premiership DoRs on injuries, the salary cap and Eddie Jones03 September, 2022Smith left but Sir Bobby was determined to get back into management, even at the age of 71, and wanted to reunite with his goalkeeper coach. Roles at Wolves and Hearts were considered before a shock phone call.
“Sir Bobby rang the house and asked to speak to my wife Lucy. He didn’t know her but I heard him saying to her: ‘How do you fancy living in Russia?’ She was trying to sound enthusiastic but I think she was glad when it didn’t happen.”
Instead Smith went to Vancouver and worked for the Canada national team and LA Galaxy before landing a job with the FA to work with and identify the best goalkeepers in the country. Jordan Pickford was one of them.
He returned to Newcastle in 2014 to work under Steve McClaren. “He was a fantastic coach but as a manager? I always thought him and [first-team coach] Paul Simpson should have probably swapped roles,” he says.
Next was Rafa Benitez: intense, brilliant and on a mission to revive a club that had been relegated from the Premier League.
“He really knew his stuff so he’d question everything you were doing, on and off-the-field,” Smith says. “When Rafa decided he wanted a new goalie at the end of the season he sent me name after name after name – it was a huge list. He’s a fantastic manager and man but a stickler for detail.”
It was under Benitez that they picked up Martin Dubravka, now with Manchester United. Smith freely admits Dubravka’s debut for Newcastle was one of his nerviest moments in football. “I wasn’t sure he was right up to speed and ready when Rafa wanted to put him in,” he remembers. A man of the match performance followed.
Benitez left, exasperated by working with Mike Ashley. “I just thought if Rafa had stayed, we would have gone on to really achieve something,” he says, wistfully.
He remained during Steve Bruce’s unhappy reign but admits “by that point the club was in absolute turmoil”. It required tunnel vision to block out the howls of protest from supporters at the club’s direction. “You either got on with it and accepted what the club was by then or left,” he admits.
Smith doesn’t want to talk in detail about his latest departure other than to say it felt like the right time to leave. He believes he left the goalkeeping department “in good shape” for Eddie Howe and says he and the club remain on good terms. Smith plans to go back as a fan in the future.
New ownership, he says, have the vision and wherewithal to return Newcastle to the Champions League, a stage Smith believes they deserve. “Those were incredible experiences. The fans deserve to have them back,” he says.
“It’s just nice not to be putting on a tracksuit every morning for now,” he admits. “But I’m sure I’ll start to miss it.”
from Football | News and analysis from the Premier League and beyond | iNews https://ift.tt/j3bPSaC
Post a Comment