Was leafing through the BBC site today and stumbled upon this article about Smith's recent brace in league play for the Lady Gunners. I am hoping against hope that she comes stateside.
Impatiently waiting to hear where Kelly Smith will be playing next year, I came across this article (from Nov. 21) after a google news search. It's not an answer, but it's something.
Ms. Smith was honoured by the Queen back in June: M.B.E. - To be Ordinary Members of the Civil Division of the said Most Excellent Order: Ms Kelly Smith, Striker, Arsenal Ladies and England. For services to Football.
http://www.arsenal.com/news/ladies-news/ladies-arsenal-4-1-chelsea-highlights http://www.arsenal.com/match/report/0809/post/ladies/ladies-arsenal-4-1-chelsea-match-report?tab=report Can we please sign our two Arsenal ladies... We already lost Byrne, it doesn't make me feel good about signing Smith and Scott.
At this point, I seriously don't think Boston would have bothered trading for Scott if they weren't pretty damn certain they'd be signing her.
File this under Good News... http://news.bostonherald.com/track/...ott_Weiland___more___/srvc=home&position=also http://www.womensprosoccer.com/newsitem_ektid8216.aspx?team=boston England's Kelly Smith and Alex Scott Visit Mass Youth Soccer ODP U15 Squad
My daughter was there. Both players were very cool and answered many questions during their classroom session. Did some autographs, etc.
I was sitting with another dad and we couldnt figure out who they were until after the training session. The ODP coach introduced them to the group and they talked for 5 minutes or so, then the 2 hung out and watched the session for another hour then finished up in the classroom and answered many questions. They each had a soda and a small package of pringles....not sure why I noticed that.
So Kelly and Alex were in luxurious Marlborough this past weekend. I'm thinking that they are both going to be signed because why on Earth would they go to ODP here when there's much more grassroots work to be done in London Town with women's/girl's soccer. So here's the question, what happens first, WPS Schedule announcement or the Smith/Scott signings?
What a difference a few days makes, as illustrated by your smilies of choice. We WPS fans are a pretty pessimistic bunch (maybe rightfully so), but I gotta say, I'm impressed. Since the league was announced, we've all been weary about the league's ability to draw big-name international players, and now, Marta (#2 on the "who won't come" poll) has signed, and Kelly Smith (#1 on that poll) suddenly seems all-but-inevitable. I know they'll never be able to replicate the magic of a Meinert/Mellgren/Wiegmann/Lilly-powered offense, but this is as close as I can reasonably expect. Smith, A-Rod, Hucles, Lilly, Latham... is it April yet? Hopefully both, soon. With the Carney-Red Stars announcement today and the release of MLS's schedule, I have to imagine they can't be too far off.
http://www.fairgamemag.com/eng/fair_game_blog/the_floodgates_are_open Another bit of encouraging news from Gayle Bryan and Fairgame Magazine... League sources indicate that fans should expect announcements of deals with big name players Kelly Smith of England and Cristiane of Brazil soon, as negotiations with both players are proceeding extremely well... One of these days we'll get the shot of her holding her Breakers jersey at Harvard Stadium....
Yeah they do.... And apparently they're too cheap to keep the best english women's footballer in history on their side of the pond... On another note...As it says in the BBC article, they contract (that has yet to be confirmed by WPS or the Breakers) has a clause they she (and the other England Int'ls) will be released for the Euro warmups... I'm sure the schedules for these friendlies hasn't been set yet...Let's hope it doesn't conflict with us too much...Let's hope their last friendly is before August 15th WPS Final - August 22nd First England Euro 09 match - August 25th
It's strange that the Breakers are still silent, but the alleged signing made the New York Times Goal blog yesterday.
The article headline says she is "to" sign. I suspect the Breakers will announce when she actually signs.
I assume there is some sort of snag. I'm sure they would have liked to time an announcement about Kelly to go along with the start of ticket sales.
Teams generally are the last to announce a deal. Sources leak the information to the press and that's why we hear about it before it's officially announced. A lot of things go into signing players, and they may be still working on details about the contract (especially regarding the releasing the player for England matches). Plus the contract and paperwork has to be approved by the WPS and I'm sure Arsenal has some say in this so there are many things left to do. That being said, I can't imagine it'll take much longer, especially with preseason starting soon.