Town’s greatest ever defender Kevin Beattie says fellow centre-half Tommy Smith extending his Blues contract until the summer of 2016 is a huge boost for everyone at Portman Road. Beattie has always been a fan of the New Zealand international, who deservedly carried off most of the club’s 2012/13 player of the year awards.
Legend-in-residence on Radio Suffolk’s Life’s a Pitch, Beattie regularly expressed his surprise at Smith’s lack of inclusion under previous managers.
He told TWTD: "I’m a big fan of Tommy’s, as a defender myself. He’s got better and better, he really has. He should have been playing under Roy Keane and Paul Jewell.
"When we used to walk out of the pressroom and see Tommy going into the directors’ box I used to ask why he wasn’t even on the bench. I couldn’t understand that because you could see the lad had potential.”
Former England man Beattie believes Smith has benefited from having another central defender as his current boss: "Mick McCarthy’s come along, obviously an ex-centre-half himself, and I knew he’d bring that potential out of him.
"I’ve heard people talking about him in the pressroom and in places like that in the past and they weren’t too keen, but I said he was going to be good, and he’s proved me right.”
Having formed a famous partnership with Allan Hunter during his time at Town, Beattie knows the importance of a settled central defensive pairing and he believes that that’s been another significant factor in Smith’s progress this season.
"With him and Luke Chambers, they’ve got a platform to build the team on,” he said. "That’s what it’s all about, keeping the same squad and building on it. If you get a regular partnership things start to work, as it did with me and Big Al.”
At 23, Beattie believes Smith can only get better and views him as a Town skipper in the years to come: "He’s had a fabulous season, he’s Player of the Year, he can’t go downhill because it’s all about confidence and he’s now got that confidence, he really has.
"He’s a future captain, without a doubt. He is a leader and he’s already captained his country. That proves to me that he can do that with his club.”
The 59-year-old says Smith putting pen to paper will lift everyone connected with Town: "I’m chuffed to pieces as he only had a year left and he’s signed for another two on top of that, which is fabulous.
"It’s good for the club, it’s great for the supporters especially. Tommy wouldn’t have got Player of the Year if he was a bad player and he really has stepped up this year.
"I went to the end of season do and I was speaking to his mum and dad and they thanked me for the words that I said about Tommy. But I was only telling the truth.
"He’s become a man now. He’s grown up and he’s got the confidence now and let’s hope that goes on and on.
"I know for a fact that there have been clubs sniffing because you see scouts there. He’s now signed that deal which proves he wants to play for us, which is fantastic. It’s such a boost.”
On Saturday, Beattie is handing out the trophies at a game being played to raise funds for multiple sclerosis charities at Colchester’s Weston Homes Community Stadium (KO noon).