When Smith signed for us he stated that he didnt want to leave Gillingham but he could not accept the 70% pay cut that Gillingham asked him to take.The move turned out a bad one for all parties concerned.
Paul Smith arrived with us unfit as he was not able to start pre season training with us till his Gillingham contract expired. He then missed the first two games of the season through being unfit. Paul was then included in the team for the next 4 outings where his fitness looked terrible, he looked out of sorts. We failed to win any of these games. He then suffered a back injury. However the ironical thing is that now he is fit again he looks like the player we signed!! Smith had very decent games away to Port Vale and Huddersfield. He scored our goal in the 3-1 loss to Huddersfield, where he headed home a corner.
Gillingham currently lie in 23rd position in league one. They havent replaced Smith's battling midfield role. The player never moved from his house in Kent and still trained with the club, only making the commute a coulple of days a week. We havent seen the best of Paul Smith but i would place a bet that Gillingham will in the next coulple of weeks.
Gillingham are visiting Bescot on November 12th. I would presume that a clause in the loan agreement will stop him from appearing against us. Im sure after the weekends fixture more details will be released about this shocking turn of events.