Smith has been firing blanks since his move from Manchester United to Newcastle, but to blame Ferguson is beyond belief.
The truth is .... Smith recovered from a serious leg injury at Anfield that took six months out of his career and some suggest - like Alan Shearer's similar injury suffered at Goodison Park - the player has lost some of his pace.
Shearer had to change his game, and rather than play off the target man ... he had to become the target man!
Smith hasn't the body strength of Shearer, and he seems to be stuck in limbo, unable to find a position that he can adapt to.
Although he was looked upon as one of Manchester's biggest transfers after moving from Leeds United, Smith was thrown into midfield due to Wayne Rooney's transfer the same summer, and Rooney set up a partnership with Ruud Van Nistelrooy.
See Smith's injury ...
The truth is .... Smith recovered from a serious leg injury at Anfield that took six months out of his career and some suggest - like Alan Shearer's similar injury suffered at Goodison Park - the player has lost some of his pace.
Shearer had to change his game, and rather than play off the target man ... he had to become the target man!
Smith hasn't the body strength of Shearer, and he seems to be stuck in limbo, unable to find a position that he can adapt to.
Although he was looked upon as one of Manchester's biggest transfers after moving from Leeds United, Smith was thrown into midfield due to Wayne Rooney's transfer the same summer, and Rooney set up a partnership with Ruud Van Nistelrooy.
See Smith's injury ...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pe52mPMtgRM
However, Smith is back in the frame at Newcastle and he insists there won't be a fitter team in the Premier League than Newcastle this season.
Fitness guru Mark Hulse has whipped the Toon into tip-top shape with a punishing pre-season training programme.
Smith: "All the lads have taken to Mark really well, but his training hasn't half been difficult.
"He has really put us through it - but it has been good because it is just what we needed and we realise ourselves that it had to be done.
"The gaffer has said that, with the size of our squad, we need to be one of the fittest teams in the Premier League. That is why we didn't really do a lot of football work in the first two or three weeks after reporting back."
Keegan: "We are not going to have the biggest squad in the league, so we are going to have to have the fittest.
"Last season we operated with a very small group of players, and there were times when we paid the price for that.
"The lads have not even played a single practice match in training. It's mainly been running and gym work."