Watford Football Club News

• Nickname:The Hornets
• Founded:1881
• Manager:Adrian Boothroyd

• Ground:Vicarage Road
• Capacity:20,800

Hornets happy as Smith stays

24 Aug 2009 - 12:20:09

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Watford are determined to hang on to Tommy Smith after Reading ended their pursuit of the striker.

The in-demand forward has been chased by several clubs this summer with the Hornets recently rejecting an offer from Reading for the player.

Chairman Jimmy Russo said: "Despite claims in the press to the contrary, Reading did not match our valuation of the player.

"I was told on Friday by a Reading representative that Sir John Madejski has withdrawn Reading from the race to sign Tommy and that they are moving on to other targets.

"We cannot let other clubs take advantage because they feel they can exploit the financial position that the previous regime has left us in.

"It seems that our request for a £200,000 payment based on Tommy making a given number of appearances at Reading has prevented the deal from going through - they were that close.

"We don't really know why Reading have withdrawn their interest. The asking price was fair and they were really close to the numbers we were looking for."