Robert Alfred Smith (22 February 1933 – 18 September 2010) 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 lea ...

who played as a centre-forward for Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur, Brighton and Hove Albion and

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. He finished as the First Division's top scorer in the 1957–58 season and he is Tottenham Hotspur's third-highest goal scorer with 208 goals.

Club career

Smith was born in Lingdale,

North Riding of Yorkshire The North Riding of Yorkshire was a subdivision of Yorkshire, England, alongside York, the East Riding and West Riding. The riding's highest point was at Mickle Fell at . From the Restoration it was used as a lieutenancy area, having b ...

, and was spotted by Chelsea when playing for Redcar Boys' Club, where he had originally started out as a full back. He signed professional for the London club in 1950.''Soccer Who's Who'' compiled by Maurice Golesworthy, The Sportsmans Book Club London 1965 He scored 23 League goals in 74 appearances, and seven FA Cup goals in twelve appearances. He was part of the 1954–55 Chelsea side that won the First Division, though he only made four appearances that season. Despite the fact he never really became established as a regular with Chelsea between 1950 and 1955, Tottenham Hotspur paid £18,000 for his transfer in December 1955. Smith was an integral part of Bill Nicholson's famous

double Double, The Double or Dubble may refer to: Mathematics and computing * Multiplication by 2 * Double precision, a floating-point representation of numbers that is typically 64 bits in length * A double number of the form x+yj, where j^2=+1 * A ...

winning Tottenham team of 1960–61. He was Tottenham's top scorer in the double-winning season, with 33 goals scored in 43 games, including the first of the two goals in the 1961 FA Cup Final. The team also went on to retain the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

1962 The year saw the Cuban Missile Crisis, which is often considered the closest the world came to a Nuclear warfare, nuclear confrontation during the Cold War. Events January * January 1 – Samoa, Western Samoa becomes independent from Ne ...

(scoring in the Final again) and win the 1963 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup. He is one of Spurs' all-time top goal scorers, third behind

Harry Kane Harry Edward Kane (born 28 July 1993) is an English professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Striker (association football), striker for Bundesliga club FC Bayern Munich, Bayern Munich and Captain (association football), c ...

and

Jimmy Greaves James Peter Greaves (20 February 1940 – 19 September 2021) was an English professional footballer who played as a forward. Regarded as one of the greatest strikers of all time and one of England's best ever players, he is England's fifth- ...

, with 208 goals scored in 317 senior matches, including 12 hat-tricks. Smith played for Brighton & Hove Albion from 1964 to 1965, scoring 19 goals in 31 appearances.

International career

Smith won 15 full international caps for the England national team which included two goals in the 9–3 defeat of

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

at Wembley in 1961. He played for England from 1960 to 1963, scoring 13 goals.

Post-playing career

Smith published a book in 2002 to celebrate his achievements, ''Memories of Spurs'', with a foreword by Jimmy Greaves. He died on 18 September 2010 following a short illness at a hospital in Enfield, London.Bobby Smith THFC official website
Accessed 11 June 2013

Honours

Tottenham Hotspur *

Football League First Division The Football League First Division was the top division of the Football League in England from 1888 until the end of the 1991–92 season, when its teams broke away to form the Premier League. From 1992 to 2004, the name First Division was g ...

: 1960–61 *

: 1960–61, 1961–62 * FA Charity Shield: 1961,

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European association football, football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The competition's official name was originally the European Cup Winners' Cup; it was renam ...

: 1962–63 Brighton & Hove Albion *

Football League Fourth Division The Football League Fourth Division was the fourth-highest division in the English football league system from the 1958–59 season until the creation of the Premier League prior to the 1992–93 season. Following the creation of the Premier ...

: 1964–65

References

External links

Bobby Smith's book 'My Memories of Spurs'
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Bobby 1933 births People from Lingdale 2010 deaths English men's footballers England men's international footballers Men's association football forwards Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. players Chelsea F.C. players Tottenham Hotspur F.C. players Hastings United F.C. (1948) players 1958 FIFA World Cup players English Football League players First Division/Premier League top scorers London XI players Footballers from North Yorkshire 20th-century English sportsmen