Michael John Smith (born 17 October 1991) is an English

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 ...

who plays as a striker for

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

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot of ...

Career

Darlington

Born in

Wallsend Wallsend is a town in North Tyneside, England, at the eastern end of Hadrian's Wall. It has a population of 43,842 and lies east of Newcastle upon Tyne. History Roman Wallsend In Roman times, this was the site of the fort of Segedunum. This f ...

, Tyne and Wear, Smith made his debut in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

on 5 April 2010, replacing Chris Moore in the 77th minute of

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town. In the 19th century, Darlington underwen ...

's 1–0 home defeat by

Hereford United Hereford United Football Club was an association football club based in Hereford, England. They played at Edgar Street for their entire history. They were nicknamed 'The Whites' or 'The Lilywhites', after their predominantly white kit, or 'Th ...

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 ...

. He scored his first Football League goal on 1 May, in the 79th minute of Darlington's 2–0 away win at

Macclesfield Town Macclesfield Town Football Club was an English professional football club based in Macclesfield, Cheshire, that was wound-up after a High Court ruling on 16 September 2020. Initially known as Macclesfield F.C., the club was formed in 1874 ...

. He 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 Sy ...

club

Workington Workington is a coastal town and civil parish at the mouth of the River Derwent on the west coast in the Allerdale borough of Cumbria, England. The town was historically in Cumberland. At the 2011 census it had a population of 25,207. Loca ...

loan In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that d ...

for a month on 29 October 2010, and made seven appearances before returning to Darlington. In his first four

Conference A conference is a meeting of two or more experts to discuss and exchange opinions or new information about a particular topic. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always decisions, are the main p ...

matches back with Darlington he scored six goals. At the end of the season, he, Phil Gray and

John McReady John Lewis McReady (born 24 July 1992) is an English semi-professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Northern Football Alliance Division One club Whitburn & Cleadon FC. McReady started his career with Darlington in their youth syste ...

all signed new two-year contracts.

Charlton

After trials with

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

and Stoke City, and an unsuccessful bid of £80,000 from

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 ...

, Smith signed a three-year contract with

club

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in ...

on 31 August 2011; the fee was undisclosed He made his Charlton debut against

FC Halifax Town FC Halifax Town is a professional association football club based in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. They currently compete in and play at the Shay. They replaced Halifax Town A.F.C., which went into administration in the 2007–08 season. ...

in the FA Cup: he came on in the 87th minute and crossed for Bradley Pritchard to score the fourth goal of the match. On 18 January 2012, Smith joined League Two club

Accrington Stanley Accrington Stanley Football Club is a professional association football club based in Accrington, Lancashire, England. The club competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They have spent their complete his ...

on loan to the end of the season. Ten days later, he scored a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

and provided an

assist Assist or ASSIST may refer to: Sports Several sports have a statistic known as an "assist", generally relating to action by a player leading to a score by another player on their team: *Assist (basketball), a pass by a player that facilitates a ba ...

for Luke Joyce as Stanley beat Gillingham 4–3. He returned to his parent club in mid-March after suffering a season-ending knee injury. On 14 August 2012, Smith made his first startand what proved to be last appearancefor Charlton Athletic in a

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 ...

defeat to

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 profession ...

. He then began a series of loan spells. In November, he joined Newport County of the Conference Premier on a one-month loan, and scored against

Cambridge United Cambridge United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Cambridge, England. They compete in EFL League one , the 3rd tier of the English football league system. The club is based at the Abbey Stadium on Ne ...

on his debut. The loan was extended for a second month. On 8 March 2013, he joined League One club

Colchester United Colchester United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Colchester, Essex, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1937, the club spent its earl ...

, also for a month. In July 2013, Smith signed for League Two club

AFC Wimbledon AFC Wimbledon is an English professional Association football, football club, based in London Borough of Merton, Merton, London, that plays in the EFL League Two, after being relegated from the EFL League One following the 2021–22 EFL Leagu ...

on loan until 1 January 2014. Wearing the number 9 shirt, he made his debut on the opening day of the 2013–14 season in a 1–1 draw 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 ...

. He was a regular in the side, finishing his loan period with 10 goals from 25 appearances.

Swindon Town

On 22 January 2014, Smith signed for

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club has played home matches at the County Ground sin ...

for an initial £100,000. He scored Swindon's first and third goals as they beat

Shrewsbury Town Shrewsbury Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of English football. The club plays its home games at the New Meadow, having mo ...

3–1 on his debut three days later.

Portsmouth

On the final day of the January 2016 transfer window, Smith joined League Two club

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 a three-month loan. The move was made permanent at the end of the season for an undisclosed fee. He scored a hat-trick against

Yeovil Town Yeovil Town may refer to: * Yeovil Town F.C., an English football team based in Yeovil, Somerset * Yeovil Town L.F.C. Bridgwater United Women's Football Club are an English women's association football club based in Bridgwater, Somerset who wer ...

in an

EFL Trophy The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Le ...

tie on 30 August, though Portsmouth lost the match 4–3.

Bury

On 31 August 2017, Smith signed a two-year contract with

Bury Bury may refer to: *The burial of human remains *-bury, a suffix in English placenames Places England * Bury, Cambridgeshire, a village * Bury, Greater Manchester, a town, historically in Lancashire ** Bury (UK Parliament constituency) (1832–19 ...

of League One.

Rotherham United

On 11 January 2018, Smith signed for fellow League One club

Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The club's colours were initially yellow and black, but changed to red and white around 1 ...

for an undisclosed fee. After an impressive month in which he scored five goals, assisting two others in five matches, Smith was awarded the

EFL League One Player of the Month The EFL League One Player of the Month is an association football award that recognises the player adjudged the best for each month of the season in EFL League One, the third tier of English football. Originally named the Football League One Pla ...

Award for October 2021. Smith won the award for the second time in the season for January 2022 after scoring four of Rotherham's five goals across the month with the fifth being an own goal deflected in from his shot. He was named as the side's Player of the Season for 2021–22, having scored 24 goals in all competitions at the time of the award.

Sheffield Wednesday

On 22 June 2022, it was announced that Smith had joined

on a free transfer following the expiration of his Rotherham United contract. Smith made his Wednesday debut, against

on 30 July 2022 coming off the bench for George Byers. His first goal would come 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. ...

in the

from the penalty spot. Following his first goal he would score back-to-back

goals against

Morecambe Morecambe ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the City of Lancaster district in Lancashire, England. It is in Morecambe Bay on the Irish Sea. Name The first use of the name was by John Whitaker in his ''History of Manchester'' (1771), w ...

and

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn profession ...

which would see him win Wednesday's September player of the month award.

Career statistics

Honours

Rotherham United *

runner-up: 2021–22; play-offs: 2018 *

: 2021–22 Individual *

: October 2021, January 2022 *Rotherham United Player of the Season: 2021–22

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Michael 1991 births Living people Sportspeople from Wallsend Footballers from Tyne and Wear English footballers Men's association football forwards Wallsend Boys Club players Darlington F.C. players Workington A.F.C. players Charlton Athletic F.C. players Accrington Stanley F.C. players Newport County A.F.C. players Colchester United F.C. players AFC Wimbledon players Swindon Town F.C. players Barnsley F.C. players Portsmouth F.C. players Northampton Town F.C. players Bury F.C. players Rotherham United F.C. players Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players