James Smith (25 June 1896 – 24 November 1945) was a Scottish

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 for clubs including

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

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 ...

Jimmy Smith
AFC Heritage Trust as an outside left, though he began his career as a

left back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

. He was the son of

Nicol Smith Nicol Smith (25 December 1873 – 6 January 1905) was a Scottish footballer who played for Rangers. Born in Darvel, Ayrshire, Smith played as a fullback for local sides Vale of Irvine, Royal Albert and Darvel, earning junior international se ...

, who also played as a defender with great success for Rangers and

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. A son of the famous "Nick" Smith, the Rangers and Scotland back, Jimmy who at the outset of his football career was also a back, was transferred from Rangers to Aberdeen in 1922. Shortly afterwards he was tried at outside-left and made the position his own for ten seasons. During that period Smith played many brilliant games for the Dons and scored many notable goal

After leaving football Smith entered the catering business and became licensee of a hotel in Dufftown. On returning to Aberdeen he took over the managership of a licensed establishment, but had to resign when his health gave way. The native of Darvel, was 49 years of age when he died in Woodend Hospital in Aberdeen in 1945.

Career statistics

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

References

1896 births 1945 deaths Footballers from East Ayrshire Men's association football wingers Scottish men's footballers Scottish football managers Larkhall Thistle F.C. players Rangers F.C. players Glentoran F.C. players Shamrock Rovers F.C. players Brora Rangers F.C. players Scottish Football League players Scottish Junior Football Association players Highland Football League players NIFL Premiership players League of Ireland players Scottish expatriate sportspeople in Ireland Expatriate men's association footballers in the Republic of Ireland Scottish expatriate men's footballers People from Loudoun {{Scotland-footy-forward-1890s-stub