Leslie Joseph Smith (24 December 1927 – 8 March 2008) was an 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 represented both

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

and

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

. Smith began his professional career with

Wolves The wolf (''Canis lupus''; plural, : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large Canis, canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of Canis lupus, subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been reco ...

, making his senior debut in April 1947. He was part of the squad that won the league title in 1953–54, although managing only four appearances during the campaign. He played in the famous Wolves v Honved game, under the first floodlights in England. Where wolves turned around a 2-0 half time score to win 3–2 against the team, which included the great's Puskas and Yashin. He became a regular starter in the following season, replacing the injured Jimmy Mullen as the club finished as runners-up. However, he found himself largely out of contention upon Mullen's return and so moved to

in February 1956 for £25,000. Smith played for Aston Villa in the 1957 FA Cup Final against

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

Busby Babes The "Busby Babes" were the group of footballers, recruited and trained by Manchester United F.C. chief scout Joe Armstrong and assistant manager Jimmy Murphy, who progressed from the club's youth team into the first team under the management of ...

, where Villa won the game 2–1 to lift the cup. However his career was cut short after an

achilles In Greek mythology, Achilles ( ) or Achilleus ( grc-gre, Ἀχιλλεύς) was a hero of the Trojan War, the greatest of all the Greek warriors, and the central character of Homer's ''Iliad''. He was the son of the Nereid Thetis and Peleus, k ...

injury forced him into retirement in 1960. In total, he made 130 appearances, scoring 27 goals for Villa. Smith died on 8 March 2008, after suffering for many years from throat and bowel cancer. He is survived by his wife Mavis and son Nigel.

External links

Obituary
at Aston Villa Player Database {{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Les 1927 births 2008 deaths People from Halesowen English footballers English Football League players Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players Aston Villa F.C. players Deaths from cancer in England Deaths from esophageal cancer Deaths from colorectal cancer Association football wingers English Football League representative players FA Cup Final players