Michael Smith (born 4 September 1988) is a Northern Irish 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 plays as a defender for club

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 ...

and the

Northern Ireland national team The Northern Ireland national football team represents Northern Ireland in international association football. From 1882 to 1920, all of Ireland was represented by a single side, the Ireland national football team, organised by the Irish Foo ...

. Smith has previously played for Heart of Midlothian in Scotland,

Ballyclare Comrades Ballyclare Comrades Football Club is a semi-professional, Northern Irish football club playing in the NIFL Championship. The club hails from Ballyclare, County Antrim and plays its home matches at Dixon Park. Club colours are red and white. The ...

and

Ballymena United Ballymena United Football Club is a semi-professional football club from Northern Ireland. Based in Ballymena, County Antrim, the team competes in the NIFL Premiership and plays home matches at the Ballymena Showgrounds which is owned by the Mi ...

in Northern Ireland, and

Bristol Rovers Bristol Rovers Football Club are a professional football club in Bristol, England. They compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play home matches at the Memorial Stadium in Horfield, they have been c ...

and

Peterborough United Peterborough United Football Club is an English professional football club based in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Peterborough have a long-standing ...

in England. At Hearts, Smith was mostly utilised as a

right-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 ...

– either as a fullback or as a wing-back – however he also deputised as a

centre-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 ...

(often as the right-most of a back three) when needed. Smith has received several honours, including the Ballymena United Player of the Year in 2009–10, and Bristol Rovers Player of the Year in 2012–13.

Club career

Early career

Smith began playing football under the management of his father at Greenisland Boys Club and was picked up by his first senior club,

in 2005. He signed for

in January 2009, and made over 100 appearances for them before moving to England to join

in 2011.

Bristol Rovers

He made his debut on 6 August 2011, in a 3–2 victory away against

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 ...

. He made his home debut on 13 August in a 1–2 defeat to local rivals

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 scored his first goal for the club in August 2012, opening the scoring in a 3–1

EFL Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by the ...

defeat to

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 ...

. At the end of the 2012–13 season, he was named the club's

Player of the Year Several sports leagues honour their best player with an award called Player of the Year (POY) . In the United States, this type of award is usually called a Most Valuable Player award. Association football In association football, this award is he ...

before signing a new two-year contract. The 2013–14 season saw Rovers relegated from the Football League for the first time in the club's history, a 1–0 defeat to

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 ...

sealing their fate on the final day of the season. Despite this, both Smith and teammate

John-Joe O'Toole John Joseph O'Toole (born 30 September 1988) is an Irish professional footballer who currently plays as a defender for Mansfield Town. He has represented the Republic of Ireland at under-21 level. Club career Watford Born in Harrow, Greater ...

were named in the PFA League Two Team of the Season. Following relegation, he handed in a transfer request.

Peterborough United

On 25 July 2014, Smith moved to

, signing a three-year deal.

Heart of Midlothian

On 30 June 2017, Michael Smith signed for Hearts in the

Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, known as the cinch Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is the top division of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL), the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottish ...

. He signed a two-year deal, wearing the number 2 shirt previously worn by

Callum Paterson Callum Thomas Owen Paterson (born 13 October 1994) is a professional footballer who plays for Sheffield Wednesday as a striker and the Scotland national football team. Paterson started his career with Heart of Midlothian, helping them win promo ...

. On 7 January 2021, Smith signed an 18-month contract extension. In January 2022 he signed another one-year contract extension to his existing deal. On 25 May 2023, he was announced to be leaving the club at the end of the 2022–23 season.

Yeovil Town

On 12 September 2023, Smith signed for

National League South The National League South, formerly Conference South, is one of the second divisions of the National League in England, immediately below the top division National League. Along with National League North, it is in the second level of the N ...

side

on a one-year deal with an option of an additional year.

International career

Smith received his first call-up to the senior

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

squad on 16 March 2016 for friendlies against

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

and

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

. He scored his first international goal on 19 November 2019, in a 6–1 defeat against

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

Career statistics

Club

International goals

:''Scores and results Northern Ireland's goal tally first.''

Honours

Heart of Midlothian *

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,2018–19, 2019–20, 2021–22 *

Scottish Championship The Scottish Championship, known as the cinch Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland Scotland (, ...

2020-21 The hyphen-minus is the most commonly used type of hyphen, widely used in digital documents. It is the only character that looks like a minus sign or a dash in many character sets such as ASCII or on most keyboards, so it is also used as such. ...

Individual *

Young Player of the Year: 2006–07, 2007–08 *

Player of the Year: 2009–10 *Ballymena United Players' Player of the Year: 2009–10 *Ballymena United Goal of the Season: 2009–10 *

Player of the Year:

2012–13 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 ...

Player of the Year: 2013–14 *

PFA Team of the Year The Professional Footballers' Association Team of the Year (often called the PFA Team of the Year, or simply the Team of the Year) is an annual award given to a set of 55 footballers across the top four tiers of men's English football; the Premie ...

: 2013–14 League Two *

PFA Scotland Team of the Year The Professional Footballers' Association Scotland Team of the Year (often called the PFA Scotland Team of the Year, or simply the Team of the Year) is an annual award given to a set of 44 footballers in the four national tiers of the Scottish foot ...

2020–21 Scottish Championship The 2020–21 Scottish Championship was the eighth season of the Scottish Championship, the second tier of Scottish football. Ten teams contested the league: Alloa Athletic, Arbroath, Ayr United, Dundee, Dunfermline Athletic, Greenock Morton, ...

References

External links

Michael Smith profile
at the

Peterborough United F.C. Peterborough United Football Club is an English professional football club based in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Peterborough have a long-standing ...

website * {{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Michael 1988 births Living people People from Ballyclare Association footballers from County Antrim Men's association footballers from Northern Ireland Northern Ireland men's international footballers Men's association football defenders Ballyclare Comrades F.C. players Ballymena United F.C. players Bristol Rovers F.C. players Peterborough United F.C. players Heart of Midlothian F.C. players Yeovil Town F.C. players NIFL Premiership players English Football League players Scottish Professional Football League players National League (English football) players