SMITH WANTS TO STAY

Last updated : 14 March 2007 By Editor

"I am not leaving, it is as simple as that.

"There has been a lot of speculation but I am going nowhere.

"I feel I am good enough to play in this team, I have always believed that. That is why I signed."

About the Cardiff loan he turned down:

"The manager gave me the option to go out on loan but I didn't want to.

"I am sure he thought it was in the best interests of both myself and the club but I told him I believed I was good enough to play in his team when I am fit and he accepted that.

"If I had gone on loan and Ole and Louis had been injured and Henrik had gone, we would have been down to one striker.

"There would have been nothing worse for me than to leave and be somewhere else when this club was short on strikers.

"I don't want to be on loan somewhere else and miss the games coming up when I feel I can be an important part of this squad."