Paul Smith (born 2 November 1962) is a
Scottish
Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including:
*Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland
*Scottish English
*Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...
former
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
player and manager who is currently the assistant manager at
Falkirk
Falkirk ( gd, An Eaglais Bhreac, sco, Fawkirk) is a large town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow.
Falkirk had a ...
.
Smith made his senior breakthrough with
Raith Rovers in 1983. A combative
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 enjoyed something of a journeyman career, encompassing spells with
Motherwell
Motherwell ( sco, Mitherwall, gd, Tobar na Màthar) is a town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Historically in the parish of Dalziel and part of Lanarks ...
,
Dunfermline Athletic (twice),
Falkirk
Falkirk ( gd, An Eaglais Bhreac, sco, Fawkirk) is a large town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow.
Falkirk had a ...
,
Heart of Midlothian,
Ayr United and
Berwick Rangers
Berwick Rangers Football Club is a football team based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, England, just south of the border with Scotland.
Founded in 1881, they currently play in the , the fifth tier of Scottish football, despite hailing fr ...
, where he was manager for seven years.
Career
After briefly being attached to both
Dundee
Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...
and
Dundee United, Smith first joined Raith Rovers as a player in the season 1982–83, and the following year he was joined by
Keith Wright with whom he struck up a potent striking partnership, Smith scoring 34 goals and Wright 25 in 1984–85; the following season Smith notched up 27 goals to Wright's 28. 'Smudger' as he was affectionately known as a player, was sold to Motherwell in the summer of 1986 and also had spells with Dunfermline (making over 200 appearances over two spells), Falkirk, Hearts
(Hearts player) Paul Smith
London Hearts Supporters Club and Ayr United before moving to Berwick Rangers in 1997.
Two months after his arrival at Shielfield Park
Shielfield Park is a football stadium that is home to Berwick Rangers and Berwick Bandits speedway team. Although Berwick Rangers is a Scottish Lowland Football League club, Shielfield Park is situated in the English county of Northumberland.
...
, Smith was appointed manager, a post he held until 2004, when he got the club promoted to the Scottish Second Division. He later performed the role of assistant manager to Des McKeown
Desmond McKeown (born 18 January 1970) is a Scottish retired footballer who played for Airdrieonians, Albion Rovers, Queen of the South in two spells, Partick Thistle and Stenhousemuir. He was also in the Celtic youth team but never played a ...
at Stenhousemuir
Stenhousemuir (; gd, Featha Thaigh nan Clach) is a town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. It lies within the Falkirk (council area), Falkirk council area of Scotland. The town is north-northwest of Falkirk and directly adjoins to Larbert in ...
, until the pair's dismissal in November 2006. He later worked for Raith Rovers as assistant manager to Grant Murray
Grant Robert Murray (born 29 August 1975 in Edinburgh) is a Scottish former professional Association football, football player. Murray is currently the assistant manager at Queen of the South F.C., Queen of the South.
His versatility saw him ...
; he had been assistant to John McGlynn when the club was promoted to the First Division, reached a Scottish Cup
The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,[SPL
SPL may refer to:
Association football
* Saudi Professional League
* Scottish Premier League
* SportPesa Premier League, Kenya
* Singapore Premier League
* RoboCup Standard Platform League, matches between autonomous robots
Computing Program ...](_blank)
. He was also caretaker manager at Raith following the departure of McGlynn to Hearts, following which he was appointed to continue the assistant manager role by Murray.
See also
* List of footballers in Scotland by number of league appearances (500+)
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Paul
1962 births
Ayr United F.C. players
Berwick Rangers F.C. managers
Berwick Rangers F.C. players
Dundee F.C. players
Dundee United F.C. players
Dunfermline Athletic F.C. players
Falkirk F.C. players
Heart of Midlothian F.C. players
Living people
Motherwell F.C. players
Footballers from Edinburgh
Raith Rovers F.C. players
Raith Rovers F.C. managers
Raith Rovers F.C. non-playing staff
Scottish Football League players
Scottish men's footballers
Scottish Football League managers
Men's association football midfielders
Scottish football managers