Grant Gordon Smith (born 5 May 1980) is a Scottish 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 le ...
who played as a
midfielder
A midfielder is an outfield position in association football.
Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...
. He is the son of former
Rangers
A Ranger is typically someone in a military/paramilitary or law enforcement role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called “ranging”. The term most often refers to:
* Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with protecting and ...
and
Brighton & Hove Albion striker and former
Scottish Football Association
The Scottish Football Association (also known as the SFA and the Scottish FA; sco, Scots Fitba Association; Scottish Gaelic: ''Comann Ball-coise na h-Alba'') is the Sport governing body, governing body of association football, football in Scot ...
chief executive
Gordon Smith Gordon Smith may refer to:
In politics
*Gordon H. Smith (born 1952), former U.S. Senator from Oregon, and current Area Authority for the LDS Church
* Gordon Elsworth Smith (1918–2005), Canadian politician
* Gordon Smith (academic) (1927–2009), ...
.
Playing career
Smith was born in
Irvine Irvine may refer to:
Places On Earth Antarctica
*Irvine Glacier
*Mount Irvine (Antarctica)
Australia
*Irvine Island
*Mount Irvine, New South Wales
Canada
*Irvine, Alberta
* Irvine Inlet, Nunavut
United Kingdom
*Irvine, North Ayrshire, Scotla ...
. He signed a short-term contract with
Dundee United in September 2006, agreeing to stay until the next transfer window in January 2007. Smith also played for English sides
Bristol City
Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...
and
Walsall
Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands County, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east ...
(on loan).
Smith then signed one-year contract with Finnish club
HJK Helsinki in April 2007.
Smith returned to Britain in January 2008 and joined
Carlisle United
Carlisle United Football Club ( , ) is a professional association football club based in Carlisle, Cumbria, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They have played their home games at Brunton Par ...
on a short-term contract until the end of the season, after training with the club's squad.
On 8 April 2009, he was released from Carlisle United by mutual consent after not making a single first team appearance under new boss
Greg Abbott who later denied any fall-out with Smith even though impressing in reserve games out of position.
He went to Singapore for trials with some of the local
S-League
The Singapore Premier League, commonly abbreviated as SPL, officially known as the AIA Singapore Premier League for sponsorship reasons, is a men's professional football league sanctioned by the Football Association of Singapore (FAS), which re ...
teams for the 2010 season. He was brought to Singapore by the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) as part of their centralised scouting system of foreign players for S-League clubs
On 18 December 2009, he signed a short-term injury replacement deal with
North Queensland Fury
Northern Fury Football Club was an Australian professional soccer club based in Townsville, Queensland. The club was founded in 2008 and competed in the A-League under the name North Queensland Fury. On 1 March 2011, the club was removed from t ...
in the A-League linking up with Fury manager Ian Ferguson and
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...
legend
Robbie Fowler
Robert Bernard Fowler (born 9 April 1975) is an English football manager and former player, who most recently managed East Bengal in the Indian Super League.
As a player, he was a striker, and is the eighth-highest goalscorer in the history ...
.
In February 2010, Smith returned to Scotland to sign for
Ross County.
After joining Scottish 2nd Division club
Airdrie United
Airdrieonians Football Club is a Scottish professional football team in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, who are members of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) and play in Scottish League One. They were formed in 2002 as Airdrie United ...
in January 2011, he was released by them a few months later in May.
Post playing career
Smith became an agent after retiring from playing, representing players such as
Nathan Patterson and
Barrie McKay
Barrie McKay (born 30 December 1994) is a Scottish professional footballer who plays as a striker or as a winger for Heart of Midlothian. McKay has previously played for Rangers, Greenock Morton, Raith Rovers, Nottingham Forest, Swansea Cit ...
.
See also
*
2006–07 Dundee United F.C. season
References
External links
CUFC official website profile*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Grant
1980 births
Living people
Footballers from Irvine, North Ayrshire
Scottish footballers
Association football midfielders
Reading F.C. players
Heart of Midlothian F.C. players
Livingston F.C. players
Clydebank F.C. (1965) players
Sheffield United F.C. players
Halifax Town A.F.C. players
Plymouth Argyle F.C. players
Swindon Town F.C. players
Bristol City F.C. players
Walsall F.C. players
Dundee United F.C. players
Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi players
Carlisle United F.C. players
Ross County F.C. players
Airdrieonians F.C. players
Scottish Football League players
Scottish Premier League players
English Football League players
Veikkausliiga players
Scottish expatriate footballers
Expatriate footballers in Finland
Scottish expatriate sportspeople in Australia
A-League Men players
Northern Fury FC players
Klubi 04 players
Scottish expatriate sportspeople in Finland