Daniel Smith (born 5 October 1986) is an English former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

. A full back, he previously played professionally in the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

for Sunderland, in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in Association football around the wor ...

for

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The team have played home games at the Kirklees Stadium since moving from Leeds Road in 1994. Th ...

, and in the Scottish Premier League for

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

. He also appeared in the Scottish Football League as a triallist for St Johnstone, and played in non-League football for Gateshead,

Blyth Spartans Blyth Spartans Association Football Club is a football club based in Blyth, Northumberland. They are currently members of and play at Croft Park. They were founded in September 1899 by Fred Stoker, who was the club's first secretary before fo ...

, Chester-le-Street Town,

Darlington 1883 Darlington Football Club is an association football club based in Darlington, County Durham, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team competes in the National League North, at the sixth tier of English football. The club was founded in 1 ...

, Dunston UTS and Seaham Red Star. He ended his career in Australia, playing for state-level sides Holland Park Hawks and Peninsula Power.

Club career

Sunderland

Smith was born in Sunderland, and began his football career with his home-town club. He made his Sunderland first-team debut in the Football League Cup second round against

Cheltenham Town Cheltenham Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. From the 2021–22 season, the club compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league sy ...

in September 2005, in which he was sent off, receiving two bookings. In January 2006, he joined Football League One club

on a month's loan, later extended for a second month, during which he played eight League games. After returning to Sunderland, Smith played in three

matches at the end of the season, in the last of which he committed a bad tackle, described in ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...

'' as a "studs-up lunge", on Arsenal player

Abou Diaby Vassiriki Abou Diaby (born 11 May 1986), known as Abou Diaby, is a French former professional footballer. He played primarily in a box to box role, adept at both attacking and defending. Described as a player who was "languid, elusive, and a ...

, causing the player to suffer a fractured ankle and ruptured ankle ligaments. Arsenal initially threatened legal action over the incident, with Diaby out of action for eight months.

Scotland

Despite having signed a new one-year deal with Sunderland during the summer of 2006, Smith joined Scottish Premier League (SPL) club

in August on a three-year contract. He made his debut appearance in the Dons' 1–1 draw against St Mirren in the SPL. After making just 13 appearances for the club, he was released at the end of the 2007–08 season. After trial spells at

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley o ...

and Darlington, Smith turned out as a trialist for St Johnstone in their First Division match against

Morton Morton may refer to: People * Morton (surname) * Morton (given name) Fictional * Morton Koopa, Jr., a character and boss in ''Super Mario Bros. 3'' * A character in the ''Charlie and Lola'' franchise * A character in the 2008 film '' Horton H ...

on 9 August 2008. Following that match, Saints manager

Derek McInnes Derek John McInnes (born 5 July 1971) is a Scottish professional football manager and former player who is the manager of Scottish Premiership club Kilmarnock. He featured prominently for Greenock Morton, Rangers, West Bromwich Albion and Dund ...

confirmed that Smith would continue to train with the squad for a week, and he played in the next two matches, but was not offered a contract.

Later career

Smith joined

Conference North The National League North, formerly Conference North, is a division of the National League in England, immediately below the National League division. Along with the National League South, it is at the second level of the National League Syst ...

side Gateshead on 20 November 2008. He made ten starts, all but one in the league, and two substitute appearances, and was released at the end of the season. In March 2010, Smith signed for

, also of the Conference North, with a view to regaining fitness. With the club in an injury crisis, he was named once on the substitutes' bench, but never appeared for the club. In the 2011–12 season, he played for Chester-le-Street Town in the Northern League second division. Smith was one of Martin Gray's first batch of signings as new manager of

, demoted to the Northern League First Division for 2012–13. Smith was released by Darlington at the end of November and signed for Dunston UTS in December. On 27 February 2013, Smith joined Seaham Red Star. On 19 July 2013, Smith rejoined Gateshead, managed by his brother

Anth ''Anth'' is a 1994 Indian action film directed by Sanjay Khanna, produced by Ashok Honda and starred Sunil Shetty, Somy Ali in pivotal roles. Aloknath, Paresh Rawal, Mohan Joshi, Deepak Shirke, Vijayendra Ghatge, Neena Gupta, Makrand Deshpand ...

, after a trial spell during pre season. On 31 January 2014, Smith had his contract cancelled to allow him to pursue his career abroad. He landed in Australia where he joined Holland Park Hawks, captaining the side to consecutive promotions. In 2017, he left the club midseason to join Peninsula Power. He later returned to the North East, setting up a spray painting business.

References

Infobox stats

* Sunderland, Huddersfield Town: * Aberdeen: * St Johnstone (trial): * Gateshead:

Citations

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Dan 1986 births Aberdeen F.C. players Men's association football defenders Blyth Spartans A.F.C. players Chester-le-Street Town F.C. players Darlington F.C. players Dunston UTS F.C. players English Football League players English men's footballers Gateshead F.C. players Holland Park Hawks FC players Huddersfield Town A.F.C. players Living people National League (English football) players Northern Football League players Premier League players Scottish Football League players Scottish Premier League players Seaham Red Star F.C. players Footballers from Sunderland St Johnstone F.C. players Sunderland A.F.C. players