Stephen Smith (14 January 1874 – 19 May 1935) was an

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

international football player in the late 19th century.

Playing career

Smith was born in

Abbots Bromley Abbots Bromley is a village and civil parish in the East Staffordshire district of Staffordshire and lies approximately east of Stafford, England. According to the University of Nottingham English Place-names project, the settlement name Abbots ...

, Staffordshire.EnglandFC.com
He played for Aston Villa from 1893 to 1901, helping them to win the Football League title in 1893–94, 1895–96, 1896–97, 1898–99 and 1899–1900, as well as the

1895 FA Cup Final The 1895 FA Cup Final was contested by Aston Villa and West Bromwich Albion at Crystal Palace. Aston Villa won 1–0, with Bob Chatt being credited with scoring the fastest goal in FA Cup Final history, scored after just 30 seconds. This re ...

. Although Villa also won the cup in

1897 Events January–March * January 2 – The International Alpha Omicron Pi sorority is founded, in New York City. * January 4 – A British force is ambushed by Chief Ologbosere, son-in-law of the ruler. This leads to a puni ...

(thereby taking the "double"), Smith was not selected to play in the final although he made four appearances in the earlier rounds. He made one England appearance against

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

in 1895. In 1901 he moved south to join Southern League 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 ...

, helping them to regain the Southern League championship at the end of his first season.

Management career

In 1906 he was appointed to the role of

player-manager A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the s ...

of another Southern League club, New Brompton, a position he held until 1908.

Quotes

''The Villa News and Record'', 1 Sept. 1906

Honours

Aston Villa * Football League champions: 1893–94, 1895–96, 1896–97, 1898–99, 1899–1900 *

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

winners:

1895 Events January–March * January 5 – Dreyfus affair: French officer Alfred Dreyfus is stripped of his army rank, and sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil's Island. * January 12 – The National Trust for Places of Histor ...

References

External links

*
Steve Smith's Bio
at Aston Villa Player Database {{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Steve 1874 births 1935 deaths People from Abbots Bromley English men's footballers England men's international footballers Men's association football outside forwards Cannock Town F.C. players Hednesford Town F.C. players Aston Villa F.C. players Portsmouth F.C. players Gillingham F.C. players English Football League players English Football League representative players English football managers Gillingham F.C. managers Footballers from Staffordshire