From The Observer:
'The doctors are being very positive,' he said after being treated at Aintree hospital, following a harrowing journey in an ambulance that some Liverpool 'fans' had pelted with bottles, glasses and stones before attempting to overturn it. All that concerned Smith was his future. 'I've had the operation,' he said later. 'And now it's a question of starting on the road back.'
The return journey from serious injury is, perhaps, the greatest mental and physical test of any player. For Smith, who scored the pivotal second goal in United's 7-1 rout against Roma and who should lead the attack in the first leg of the Champions League semi-final against Milan on Tuesday, it has been no different. His progress last summer suggested he was ready to play again. But when Ferguson returned Smith to his natural role as striker, after the failed attempt to convert him to central midfield - 'His best position is definitely leading the line or off the main striker as he did with Mark Viduka at Leeds,' says Eddie Gray, the former Leeds manager - there was no sign of what was to come.
Smith's four laboured appearances between September and November ended with two disappointing Carling Cup games. 'We thought he was doing well in pre-season, but he didn't show that when we played him in the games against Crewe and Southend,' Ferguson admitted. United lost in Essex and Smith's misery was complete when he was replaced by a defender, Patrice Evra. When the United manager said Smith should go on loan in January, the player appeared to be heading for a permanent Old Trafford exit. Yet, although several Premiership clubs declared an interest in an initial loan deal, Smith insisted on staying put.
'Al believes he is the best player at United,' says Gareth Evans, Smith's best friend who has known him for 15 years and played with him in junior football and then at Leeds. 'So his attitude was, "Why should I leave?".' At a club featuring Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs, that was an ambitious attitude - one, possibly, that is needed to thrive there. As it has done throughout his life, Smith's willpower pulled him through. 'Even when we were kids playing on the computer, if he lost, Alan would throw his joystick down and storm out of the room,' Evans says. 'He just hates losing.'
Smith's second comeback has been triumphant. He has featured in four successive games and United, as against Roma and in last weekend's 4-1 defeat of Watford in the FA Cup semi-final, have been at their most fluent in the 4-2-3-1 formation that has him at the tip. 'He's brought a freshness and an enthusiasm, and an infectious enthusiasm at that, and it's spread right through the team,' says Ferguson.
'He's been absolutely unbelievable. I can't speak more highly of a player than Alan Smith in terms of what he has been through and how he has handled it. The way he approaches football is with first-class enthusiasm. He was absolutely superb against Roma.'
It was also at Liverpool that Smith announced his presence in English football. On 14 November 1998, he came on at Anfield in the 76th minute, this time for Leeds United as a replacement for the Dutch striker Clyde Wijnhard. 'Football is all about opportunities, especially when you are attempting to get into the first team,' says Gray. 'You usually only get one or two.'
Smith took his first chance. Having told his mother, Lynne, not to bother listening to the radio because he was only travelling with the squad - she ignored him - the No 39 was sent on by David O'Leary, then the Leeds boss, with the team a goal down. A minute later, a shot by David Hopkin was blocked on the edge of the area and Smith shot instantly. His first touch in the professional game was a rasping drive beyond David James in front of the Kop.
Smith moved to hated rivals Manchester United in May 2004, after the team guided by O'Leary to four successive top-five finishes and a Champions League semi-final in 2001 crumbled under mismanagement and were relegated to the Championship. The move still causes difficulties for him. 'There are fans even now in Leeds who bear grudges, so when he comes back to Rothwell he keeps a low profile,' says Evans.
Before Smith gave up BMX at 11, racing commitments had caused him to miss trials at Leeds, but the Rothwell chairman Jim O'Donnell badgered Colin Morris, then in charge of the club's youth system. 'To this day,' says O'Donnell, 'Rothwell have never so much as received a "thank you" from Leeds.'
The other notable statistic from the end of that first season with Leeds is the seven yellow cards he had been shown - a total that now stands at 70, not including any preceeding a sending off. His PE teacher in Wakefield, Martin King, recalls: 'I often refereed his games and had constant run-ins with him. But Alan was the type who was over-zealous, nothing else.' Smith has had nine red cards, including one during his 16 England appearances - in the Euro 2004 qualifier against Macedonia at St Mary's in 2002.
'He won't be fazed by playing in a Champions League semi-final, that's for sure. For a lot of players it is new, but not Alan,' says Ferguson. With Henrik Larsson back at Helsingborgs after his loan spell, Louis Saha injured and the veteran Ole Gunnar Solskjaer more suited to a substitute's role, Smith has a very good chance of featuring in all five of United's remaining Premiership matches this season.
And this from Ferguson:
'Alan has been absolutely unbelievable.
'He has brought a freshness and an infectious enthusiasm which is spreading right throughout the team. I cannot speak more highly of him than that.
'When you think of what he has been through, how he has handled it and the way he is approaching his football, he has been first class.'