There are 2 sides to Larry Smith. Yes, he did do a lot of good things for the Als. He also did other stuff, like hire his son as a VP who could not do the job, he charged organisations money for appearances as the Als president (work the Als were paying him to do), he indirectly or directly forced the Als to keep a useless kicker who was his son in law.
For the points you mentionned, #4, well Smith did not negotiate with Popp for his last contract. Popp negotiated directly with the owner. Smith also won 2 Grey Cups, not three. When the Als won in 2002, Smith was working at the Gazette (Anyone remember Ellis Prince the third
I find it funny, that when Smith was president, Herb Z. would always get “information” about negative things going on in the Als’ offices. Remember that Smith and Herb worked together at the Gazette. Since Smith has been gone, Herb Z. is no longer reporting internal office stuff. Herb is not the one who broke the story of financial problems for the Als. Maybe with Smith gone, and possibly other Als employees, Herb has lost his mole in the organisation. I think Lalonde has fired Rochon, and other Smith “yes” men in the organisation. The “information” that now gets leaked from the Als’ offices will now be much better controlled, I think. Lalonde will not let anyone whisper anything to the press, unless he wants such things revealed. This guy is known as a control freak (which can be a good thing).
Getting the team out of the Big Owe was a stroke of luck and necessity, not managerial brilliance.
Does everyone here think that Smith, more than Popp, deserves credit for hiring Trestman? I'm not a big fan of Popp but I would bet he was the one who found and hired Trestman.
You are correct, it was the U2 show that was already booked at the Big “OWE” that forced the Als (Smith) to look for an alternate venue to hold the playoff game. McGill stadium (Percival) was the choice and people came… even with the tree growing in the stands on the north side! And the rest is history as they say.
yes most fans would say smith did his share and does indeed deserve credit for same!! not by himself of course! most fans would give him a :thup: while certain smith haters can’t help but give him a :thdn: :lol: :roll: !!
Smith did some good things for the organization, most notably the stadium expansion. I'm not a fan of his, but I'm not going to pretend he was never useful to the organization.
That said, if the CKAC reports are true, it's good that he's gone. It's unacceptable for a team that has enjoyed such on-field success in the past decade to be losing that kind of money. No corporate sponsorship, no regular training facility, no high profile in Montreal, and no chance of bringing in competition for Duval: all this under Smith.
