Thomas Smith (born 1877) was a professional 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 played at outside-right for various clubs around the turn of the 20th century.

Football career

Smith was born in Ashton-in-Makerfield,

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...

and played his early football for Ashton Athletic and Ashton Town in their pre-league era. In May 1897, he joined Preston North End where another player of the same name was already playing, also as an outside-forward. Smith made four appearances in the Football League First Division, plus one in the

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 ...

, before Preston made both players available at the end of the season. The directors of

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

agreed to sign him, apparently under the misapprehension that they were signing the other player, who had established a reputation for being a "''star''". (The other Tom Smith went on to have a long career with

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. The team has playe ...

, including scoring the second goal as the "Spurs" defeated

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

to win the

1901 FA Cup Final The 1901 FA Cup Final was an association football match between Sheffield United and Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday, 20 April 1901 at the Crystal Palace stadium in south London. It was the final match of the 1900–01 FA Cup, the 30th edition ...

.) At the "Saints", Smith won the 100 yard sprint in the club's annual sports day, encouraging the directors to believe that they had signed the right player. The "Saints" were about to embark on their first season in their new stadium and Smith made his debut for Southampton in the opening match at The Dell, against Brighton United on 3 September 1898. Smith scored the final goal in a 4–1 victory - the goal was described as "''just such a goal as there is no doubt about – a shot which beats the goalkeeper almost before it is made''". Despite this auspicious start, Smith's subsequent indifferent form led the directors to realise that they had acquired the services of the wrong player, and by February Smith had lost his place, initially to Tom Nicol and then to Jimmy Yates. Smith left the Saints in the summer of 1899, to join

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus Ro ...

for their first season in the Southern League. He returned to Preston in 1900 and spent one further season in the Football League, making two more appearances.

Honours

Southampton * Southern League champions: 1898–99

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Tom 1877 births Year of death missing People from Ashton-in-Makerfield English men's footballers Men's association football forwards Preston North End F.C. players Southampton F.C. players Queens Park Rangers F.C. players English Football League players Southern Football League players Ashton Town F.C. players