The story begins on 2 May 2004, when Leeds United were relegated 1–4 boltons ahead of schedule.
Tears goodbye to Elam Road
On that day, Alain Smith and Paul Robinson hugged and wept, and the native Leeds boy gave his blood to the White Rose without reservation, but could not recover the fact of relegation, which became his last battle for Leeds United.
24 days later, the "hero" of Leeds United fans, once known as the "new Irving", made a decision that made everyone feel incredible, he will join the "sworn enemy" Manchester United with a transfer fee of 7 million pounds.
At that moment, the former hero became a traitor and Judas in the mouths of the fans, and many fans burned his No. 17 jersey. In this regard, as Alain Smith said in an interview, he is ready,
"I know that what sits between the two clubs is not just a Pennin mountain range, but more of a gap between the fans of the two teams. I'm ready to face that and I'm looking forward to taking on new challenges at Manchester United. ”
In fact, in September 2002, when Alain Smith was on a talk show called Football Chat, he was asked by the host, and he made it clear, "Manchester United is the team I will never join in the future." ”
Alain Smith joined Manchester United for Leeds United, the only club that meets the asking price of £7 million and pays it all at once.
Alain Smith gave up his share of the transfer fee, and his "sacrifice" saved the club from being placed in administrative custody, but could not exchange the understanding of the fans.
I am afraid that he did not expect that "never" would become a "reality" so soon, and that he would embark on an even more incredible career journey.
On 8 August 2004, the Community Shield kicked off at Cardiff Stadium, with Premier League champions Arsenal in 2003/2004 playing against FA Cup champions Manchester United.
United's starting line-up
Arsenal's starting line-up
At that time, the untidy manchester United made the old lord have a huge headache in the platoon, many big names led by the "king of the penalty area" Van Nistruy could not play due to injury, the defensive core Ferdinand Shang in the suspension period, C Ronaldo and Heinze went to the Olympic Games...
As a result, Alain Smith, who has not had low traffic all summer, has made his debut in the main game of Manchester United.
This match was also arsenal's debut for Van Persie and the first start for Fabregas.
In the 3rd minute, after Alain Smith broke the ball in the ribs of the penalty area, he quickly handed the ball to Berion on the flank, who did not cross in the face of Ashley Kerr's defense, but handed the ball to the captain of the rear, Roy Keane, who did not pause and shot directly from a distance, but failed to hit the target.
In fact, from here, we can see why the old lord loves Alain Smith - he is not only a shooter who can shoulder the task of attacking the city, but also has an excellent sense of interception, never tirelessly blocking the opponent's defender and midfield in the midfield. The interception that can only be seen on the defender most of the time can be seen on him at any time.
This fighting spirit of never giving up and never accepting defeat is exactly the "typical DNA" of the years when Lord Sir Sr. coached Manchester United, from Brian Robson to Steve Bruce, from Steve Bruce to Cantona, from Cantona to Roy Keane, from Roy Keane to Ferdinand, and now there is Alain Smith.
In the 39th minute, Gary Neville's long pass instigated the attack, and Alain Smith cleverly seized the opportunity for Arsenal's defense to not be far away, and completed a sideways volley, which was also his first shot of the game. Unfortunately, under the interference of the defenders, the shot failed to hit.
A minute later, Manchester United made a comeback, swimming to the left side of the Alain Smith received a beautiful score from Giggs, left foot reverse foot direct cross, landing right in front of Gary Neville, helped him complete a beautiful fish jump to the top, fortunately Lehmann is well prepared, otherwise United would have led 1:0.
At this point, United were in full swing and Alain Smith also began to cruise widely, sometimes on the left, sometimes on the right, and in the 41st minute after escaping Ashley Kerr's defence, he tried another low shot. This time, although he still failed to break Lyman's ten-finger mark, he hit the target for the first time.
Combined with the performance in the first half, the 0-0 score could not hide Alain Smith's excellent form, and he contributed on both ends of the attack and defense, and there was only a matter of time left before the goal was scored.
Shovel sigan
In the alternate battle, Van Persie replaced Henry, debuted in england, and Arsenal attacked again.
In the 48th minute, Bergkamp planned an attack in the middle, Reyes drove straight along the right and crossed the ball to Gilberto, who was quickly forward at the moment of Howard's attack, and the Brazilian back hit the empty goal, and Arsenal scored first.
Two minutes later, the Old Lord scored one of the few cards in his hand to equalise, with Phil Neville, Fran (soon after, Flan moved to Villarreal) and Fletcher replacing Fowjong, Giggs and Keane respectively.
Goal celebration
In the 54th minute, the reinforced Manchester United received a reward, Alain Smith successfully broke the opponent's release when he actively intercepted Colo Toure, and completed a kick in the trend, the ball like a cannonball into the goal, even if Lehmann flew up, it could not be stopped.
After the goal, Alain Smith clenched his fists in celebration, as if to tell everyone, "Whenever I am, I will not give up, I will not lose"! And he is indeed infecting his teammates with repeated interceptions and runs, calling on everyone to continue to attack.
Although Reyes scored with a powerful shot in the 58th minute and Sylvester swung himself in the 76th minute, United eventually lost 3-1. But after this game, who will forget the Alain Smith, who was covered in mud and encouraged his teammates to continue to charge?
Arsenal lifted the community shield
After that, Alain Smith was loved by Manchester United fans for his fighting spirit and hard work, as a striker, even if he did not have the scoring efficiency of Van Nistruy, nor the brilliance of Rooney and C Ronaldo, his popularity was not worse than anyone.
But whenever this big boy with blond hair and handsome Möhican hairstyle appeared on the streets of Manchester, there must be many fans waiting to be photographed with him in front of him. And since he put on the Manchester United shirt, he has actually done everything for the Red Devils!
On February 18, 2006, Alain Smith, who had been playing at the back for a while at the behest of the old lord, appeared as a starter in the FA Cup "Double Red Club".
Blocking Reese's shot left himself badly injured
Liverpool, who sat at Anfield in that match, beat Manchester United 1-0, and what made Manchester United fans sadder than losing was that Alain Smith was seriously injured and fractured his lower leg + dislocated ankle while blocking The heavy bombardment of TheReser.
Afterwards, he himself said, "I know I can't go back to being the same player as I used to be. So since I was injured, I've always cherished every game I've played because I almost finished. ”
On 11 April 2007, Alain Smith played as the starting striker in the quarter-finals of the Champions League second leg between Manchester United and Roma.
In the 17th minute, Alain Smith received a pass from Giggs in front of the penalty area, the ball flew straight into the top right corner of the goal, Manchester United took a 2-0 lead, Alain Smith opened his arms and celebrated madly, the Red Devils began a wonderful goal feast, and finally "slaughtered wolves" 7-1.
It was learned in hindsight that this goal was the last goal scored by Alain Smith for Manchester United.
Alain Smith later wore the captain's armband
A few months later, as the old man who intended to continue to strengthen Manchester United and win the Champions League again took a fancy to Berbatov, Tevez and others, Alain Smith was abandoned by Manchester United, and he went to Newcastle United with the only Premier League title medal of his career and a transfer fee of £6 million.
At this point, "Born Red Devil DNA" Alain Smith ended his three-season Career at Manchester United.
His talent is not particularly outstanding, the upper limit is not very high, but he has been very diligent, very hard, just like a cold door student who read hard in the cold window and changed his life against the sky, once admitted to a famous school, and once struggled in the fierce competition of famous schools.
He is not a superstar, and even the ranks of first-line stars are difficult to enter, but it is precisely because he has the same ordinariness and hard work as many of our ordinary people in his bones that we who also have dreams like him, fall in love with him, and never forget his story.
So, to this day, do you remember that bloody Manchester United No. 14?