Emmanuele Gabriel Smith (born 8 November 1988) 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 le ...

who played as a defender for

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 ...

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nottingham, England. The team participate in the National League (division), National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Founded on the 2 ...

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...

and

Gateshead Gateshead () is a large town in northern England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank, opposite Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle to which it is joined by seven bridges. The town contains the Gateshead Millennium Bridge, Millennium Bridge, Sage ...

Career

Walsall

Born in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

, West Midlands, Smith progressed through the

youth system In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team in the future if ...

, eventually signing a one-year contract in May 2006, which kicked off his professional career. He was captain of Walsall reserve team during the 2006–07 season. He was on the verge of the first team during this very season, however the management at Walsall believed that he lacked that competitive match experience which was needed to become a first-team regular. He was allowed to link up with

Southern Football League The Southern League is a men's football competition featuring semi-professional clubs from the South and Midlands of England. Together with the Isthmian League and the Northern Premier League it forms levels seven and eight of the English fo ...

Premier Division side,

Halesowen Town Halesowen Town Football Club is a football club based in Halesowen, West Midlands, England. They are currently members of the and play at the Grove Recreation Ground. History The club was believed to have been established around 1873, but rece ...

on loan. During his short time at the club Smith made five league appearances for the Birmingham-based outfit before returning to

Bescot Stadium Bescot Stadium, also known as the Poundland Bescot Stadium for sponsorship purposes, is a football stadium in Walsall, England, and the current home ground of Walsall Football Club. It was built in 1989–90, by GMI Construction, with a reporte ...

, to make his professional debut on 7 April 2007 in Walsall's

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 ...

clash with

Torquay United Torquay United Football Club is a professional football club based in Torquay, Devon, England. The team currently compete in the , the fifth tier of English football. They have played their home matches at Plainmoor since 1921 and are nicknamed ...

. The centre half came on as a 70th-minute substitute in this game replacing Craig Pead. Smith started the 2007–08 campaign in high spirit after making his debut in the previous season, he had also just signed another contract with the club in May 2007, meaning he would remain at the

until May 2008. This would prove to be a difficult season for him, especially if he wanted to climb back up the ladder and break back into the first-team. However, during the start of the season he failed to do so spending a lot of time playing in the reserve side. February 2008, turned out to be a big month him following the sale of defensive colleague

Scott Dann Scott Dann (born 14 February 1987) is an English professional footballer who plays as a centre back for club Reading. He began his Football League career with Walsall, before moving on to Coventry City and then to Birmingham City in 2009. Af ...

, who joined

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of the English footbal ...

towards the very end of the January transfer window. Despite the summer departure of fellow centre half Ian Roper, Smith remained as only the third choice centre half due to the arrival of Stephen Roberts from

Doncaster Rovers Doncaster Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The team compete in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club play their home games at ...

. He signed a new two-year contract with the club on 10 May 2010. In February 2012, Smith was disciplined by the club for his offensive tweet to a lifelong supporter.

Notts County

On 9 July 2012, Smith signed a two-year deal with

League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

club

. He played his first competitive game for the club in a League Cup match against

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 ...

. However, he was stretchered off in the first half after twisting his knee in a challenge with

Alan Connell Alan John Connell (born 5 February 1983) is an English former professional footballer and current youth team coach at AFC Bournemouth. As a player, he was a striker who played between 2001 and 2016. Connell came through the youth academy at T ...

, it was later confirmed by

Keith Curle Keith Curle (born 14 November 1963) is an English football manager and former professional player, who is the current manager of League Two side Hartlepool United. He played as a centre back from 1981 to 2005, notably in the Premier League for ...

that Smith would be out for three months.

Wrexham

On 5 August 2014, he signed with

Conference Premier The National League, known as the Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest level of the National League System and fifth-highest of the overall English football league system. It is the highest league that is semi-profess ...

side Wrexham. The 25-year-old centre-back joined the Dragons on a one-year deal after impressing on trial. Smith played in every minute of Wrexham's 61 league and cup games with 1 goal, the opening goal in the 3–1 win over Maidstone in the FA Cup 2nd round, in the 2014–15 season as his performances earned him the club's Player of the Season award. Smith signed a new one-year deal with Wrexham after the 2014–15 season, keeping him at the Red Dragons for the 2015–16 season. He played in his 100th career appearance for Wrexham, as the beat

Cross-border Borders are usually defined as geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other subnational entities. Political borders ca ...

rivals

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 ...

, 3–0 at the

Racecourse A race track (racetrack, racing track or racing circuit) is a facility built for racing of vehicles, athletes, or animals (e.g. horse racing or greyhound racing). A race track also may feature grandstands or concourses. Race tracks are also use ...

Gateshead

Smith was released by Wrexham at the end of the 2015–16 season, and signed a two-year contract with another

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

club,

Return to Wrexham

On 7 June 2017, Smith returned to Wrexham after cancelling his contract with Gateshead due to personal reasons. During the 2017–18 season, Smith was a key player in Wrexham's all-time best defensive record, which earned him a spot in the National League team of the season. On 14 January 2020, Smith announced his retirement after being unable to overcome a serious knee injury.

Career statistics

Honours

Wrexham *

FA Trophy The Football Association Challenge Trophy, commonly known as the FA Trophy, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after the English Football Association and competed for primarily by semi-professional teams. The compet ...

runner-up: 2014–15

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Manny 1988 births Living people Footballers from Birmingham, West Midlands English footballers Association football defenders Walsall F.C. players Halesowen Town F.C. players Notts County F.C. players Wrexham A.F.C. players Gateshead F.C. players English Football League players Southern Football League players National League (English football) players