Jack Smith to fill key position for next season
Neal Ardley today bolstered his defensive ranks and moved closer to assembling Wimbledon’s squad for 2014/15 by signing experienced left-back Jack Smith.
Jack, who came through the youth system at Watford and progressed into the first-team squad when Neal and his assistant Neil Cox were at Vicarage Road, has made over 250 Football League appearances in total having also played for Swindon and Millwall.
Neal Ardley said that the decision to bring in Jack (pictured in Wimbledon's new Admiral training range today) was made after careful consideration and he is a left-back who provides the quality of player that Wimbledon were aiming to attract this summer.
Speaking to Rob Cornell during an interview for Dons Player, the Wimbledon manager also likened the 30-year-old in style to former loanee Jonathan Meades.
“It’s a signing that we’ve taken our time with and we’ve looked at different options to fit the qualities that we wanted,” said Neal Ardley. “We know Jack well from Watford days and he has played for a lot of his career at a higher level. He is deceptively quick and has got a really relaxed, calm way about him. Jack is a very good one-on-one defender and he’s also two-footed. He is one of those right footed left-backs – a bit like Jon Meades was for us – who is very good at crossing with his left as well.
“Jack is a good decision maker and that’s the key to his position. He played for Millwall in central midfield too so he is technically very good. It has taken a couple of weeks to get there with this signing, but I’m very pleased with it. We are trying to improve as much as we can from last season with the players that we’re bringing in and hopefully we’ve done that again.”
Jack, who left Millwall at the end of last season after five years with the club, said: “I met with Neal Ardley last week and he sold the club to me by providing a vision of what he wants to do next season. I’m pleased to be a part of it. I’ve missed a week of pre-season training so it was a relief to sign and I can’t wait to play some games hopefully.”
Dons Player subscribers can watch video interviews with Neal Ardley and Jack Smith on our premium channel later on.