Deane Alfie Michael Smalley (born 5 September 1988) is an English 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 le ...

who is currently signed to Wythenshawe Town. His career saw him play as a striker before converting to playing as a centre-back when at Wythenshaw.

Career

Born in

Chadderton Chadderton is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, on the River Irk and Rochdale Canal. It is located in the foothills of the Pennines, west of Oldham, south of Rochdale and north-east of Manchester. Hi ...

, Greater Manchester, Smalley began his career with

Oldham Athletic Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is a professional football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The history of Oldham Athletic ...

and regularly featured in the reserve squad, before making two appearances with the first at the end of the 2006–07 season. His first team debut came on 24 February 2007 in a 1–0 loss to

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

. Smalley's first goal for the club came on 14 August 2007 in a 4–1 win versus

Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Stags', they ...

in the

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

. On 28 August 2007, Smalley made his first start in a 3–0 loss to

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Bru ...

in the League Cup. On 26 April 2008, Smalley scored his first league goal for Oldham Athletic in a 2–1 win versus

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 syst ...

. He joined

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough ...

on a month-long loan on 23 September 2010 before joining

Chesterfield Chesterfield may refer to: Places Canada * Rural Municipality of Chesterfield No. 261, Saskatchewan * Chesterfield Inlet, Nunavut United Kingdom * Chesterfield, Derbyshire, a market town in England ** Chesterfield (UK Parliament constitue ...

on loan on 1 November. At the end of the 2010–11 season he was offered a new contract by Oldham, but instead he rejected it to sign for

Oxford United Oxford United Football Club is a professional football club in the city of Oxford, England. The team plays in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The chairman is Grant Ferguson, the manager is Karl Robinson and th ...

on a two-year contract. As Smalley was under the age of 24, Oldham Athletic were entitled to compensation from Oxford and agreed an undisclosed figure with the club. He signed on loan for

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system and are currently managed by Mark Hughes. Th ...

in January 2012. He made his debut against

Burton Albion Burton Albion Football Club is a professional association football club in the town of Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club moved its home groun ...

, coming on as a 72nd-minute substitute for

Nahki Wells Nahki Michael Wells (born 1 June 1990) is a Bermudian professional footballer who plays as a forward for club Bristol City and the Bermuda national team. Wells began his career in his native Bermuda, playing for Dandy Town Hornets and Bermu ...

. He returned to Oxford at the end of the season after making 13 appearances for Bradford. On 25 August 2012, he scored twice as Oxford beat

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the team are competing in League One, the third tier of English football. They have played at Home Park, ...

2–1 at the

Kassam Stadium The Kassam Stadium (also known as Grenoble Road) is the home of Oxford United Football Club, and is named after the ground's owner and former chairman of the football club, Firoz Kassam. The Kassam Stadium currently hosts League One (third t ...

. After a poor injury-hit season, Smalley signed a new one-year deal with Oxford on reduced terms. He repaid the faith shown in him by scoring two goals in a 4–1 away victory over

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

on the opening day of the 2013–14 season. He signed for Plymouth Argyle on 20 May 2014, scoring his first goal for the club in a 1-1 League 2 draw with

Stevenage Stevenage ( ) is a large town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, about north of London. Stevenage is east of junctions 7 and 8 of the A1(M), between Letchworth Garden City to the north and Welwyn Garden City to the south. In 1946, Stevena ...

. In December 2014 he suffered cruciate ligament injuries and only returned to the match day squad in November 2015, 11 months later, in a league game against

Leyton Orient Leyton Orient Football Club is a professional football club based in Leyton, East London, England, who compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They are the second oldest football club in London to play at a professio ...

. On 21 January 2016 Smalley joined Newport County on loan until the end of the 2015–16 season. He made his Newport debut in the starting line up versus Dagenham & Redbridge on 23 January 2016. In the summer of 2018 he signed for

Chester Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Dee, close to the English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011,"2011 Census results: People and Population Profile: Chester Loca ...

after a successful trial with the club. On 13 February 2019, Smalley signed with

Hyde United Hyde United Football Club is a semi-professional football club in Hyde, Greater Manchester, England. Formed in 1919, they were renamed Hyde F.C. between 2010 and 2015 as part of a sponsorship deal with Manchester City.Abbey Hey Abbey Hey is an area of Gorton, in the city of Manchester, England. It is known mainly for Debdale Park, Wright Robinson College, Parkstone Park also known as Cat Valley field, the donkey sanctuary & Delamere Park Sports Although located just o ...

on 3 August 2019. In December 2020, he switched to

North West Counties Football League The North West Counties Football League is a football league in the North West of England. Since 2019–20, the league has covered the Isle of Man, Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Merseyside, Cumbria, northern Staffordshire, northern S ...

Premier Division rivals Wythenshawe Town.

Career statistics

Honours

;Chesterfield *

Football League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

References

External links

Deane Smalley profile
at

Oldham Athletic A.F.C. Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is a professional football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The history of Oldham Athletic be ...

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Smalley, Deane 1988 births Living people People from Chadderton English men's footballers Footballers from Oldham Men's association football forwards Newport County A.F.C. players Plymouth Argyle F.C. players Oldham Athletic A.F.C. players Rochdale A.F.C. players Chesterfield F.C. players Oxford United F.C. players Bradford City A.F.C. players Chester F.C. players Hyde United F.C. players Abbey Hey F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players Northern Premier League players North West Counties Football League players Wythenshawe Town F.C. players