Paul Patrick Smyth (born 10 September 1997) is a

Northern Irish Northern Irish people is a demonym for all people born in Northern Ireland or people who are entitled to reside in Northern Ireland without any restriction on their period of residence. Most Northern Irish people either identify as Northern ...

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

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for Leyton Orient.

Club career

Linfield

Smyth broke into the Linfield first team as an 18-year-old in 2015, making his

NIFL Premiership The NIFL Premiership, known as the Danske Bank Premiership for sponsorship purposes, and colloquially as the Irish League or Irish Premiership, is a professional association football league which operates as the highest division of the Northe ...

debut in a 2-1 defeat to Cliftonville on 14 November 2015. In the 2016-17 season he helped the club lift a treble of trophies; the NIFL Premiership, the

Irish Cup The Irish Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly referred to as the Irish Cup (currently known as the Samuel Gelston's Whiskey Irish Cup for sponsorship purposes) is the primary football knock-out cup competition in Northern Ireland. Ina ...

, and the

County Antrim Shield The County Antrim & District Football Association Senior Shield (more commonly known as the County Antrim Shield) is a football competition in Northern Ireland. The competition is open to senior teams who are members of the North East Ulster Foo ...

, while picking up a host of individual awards including the Ulster Young Player of the Year 2016/17.

Queens Park Rangers

On 29 August 2017, Smyth joined QPR for an undisclosed fee on a two-year contract. On 1 January 2018, Smyth made his QPR,

EFL Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the E ...

and professional debut against

Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Dinas Caerdydd) is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1899 as R ...

, scoring the winning goal in the 72nd minute. He would go onto win the Supporters Young Player of the Year, after an impressive first few months in the first team. On 20 May 2021, Smyth was released by QPR at the expiry of his contract.

Wycombe Wanderers (loan)

Following a loan spell on loan at Accrington Stanley, Smyth joined

Wycombe Wanderers Wycombe Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play their home ...

on a season-long loan.

Charlton Athletic (loan)

On 16 October 2020, Smyth joined

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 C ...

on a season-long loan. He scored his first goal for Charlton in a 4-2 defeat to Burton Albion on 24 November 2020.

Accrington Stanley (loan)

On 28 January 2021, Smyth joined Accrington Stanley on loan until the end of the season, returning to the club he had previously spent time on loan with two seasons before.

Leyton Orient

Upon his contract expiry, Leyton Orient announced that they signed Smyth on 25 June 2021.

International career

Having played for Northern Ireland U21 on 22 March 2018, Smyth was called into 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 for the

friendly Friendly may refer to: Places * Friendly, West Yorkshire, a settlement in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, England * Friendly, Maryland, an unincorporated community in the United States * Friendly, Eugene, Oregon, a neighborhood in the United States * ...

with

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

on 24 March 2018. He made his debut as an 82nd minute substitute and scored the winning goal in a 2–1 victory three minutes later.

Career statistics

Club

International

International goals

:''As of match played 24 March 2018. Northern Ireland score listed first, score column indicates score after each Smyth goal.''

Honours

Linfield

2016-17 16-17 is a band from Basel, Switzerland. Their music combines punk rock, hardcore punk, jazz and industrial music. Biography 16-17 was founded in 1983 by Alex Buess, Knut Remond and Markus Kneubühler. When the group played its first conc ...

: 2016-17 *

NIFL Charity Shield The Northern Ireland Football League Charity Shield is the national association football super cup in Northern Ireland. It has been held on an occasional basis since its inauguration in 1992. Similar to the English FA Community Shield, it pits to ...

: 2017

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Smyth, Paul 1997 births Living people Linfield F.C. players Queens Park Rangers F.C. players Accrington Stanley F.C. players Wycombe Wanderers F.C. players Charlton Athletic F.C. players Leyton Orient F.C. players English Football League players Association football forwards Association footballers from Northern Ireland NIFL Premiership players Northern Ireland under-21 international footballers Northern Ireland international footballers