Darren Lee Smith (born 27 March 1988) is a Scottish former 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 lea ...

. Smith represented the

Scotland national under-21 football team The Scotland national under-21 football team, controlled by the Scottish Football Association, is Scotland's national under 21 football team and is considered to be a feeder team for the Scotland national football team. As a European under-21 t ...

once and played nearly 60

Scottish Premier League The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the Scottish football league system, top-level league competition for professional Association football, football clubs in Scotland. The league was founded in 1998, when it broke away from the Scottish Foo ...

(SPL) games for

Motherwell Motherwell (, ) is a List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Shires of Scotland, Historically in the p ...

. He has also played for Ross County,

Stenhousemuir Stenhousemuir (; ) is a town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. It lies within the Falkirk council area of Scotland. The town is north-northwest of Falkirk and directly adjoins to Larbert in the west, where the nearest rail access is located ...

Stirling Albion Stirling Albion Football Club is a Scottish football club based in the city of Stirling. The club was founded in 1945 following the demise of King's Park after World War II. The club currently competes in as a member of the Scottish Profession ...

, Clyde, Edinburgh City and

East Kilbride East Kilbride (; ), sometimes referred to as EK, is the largest town in South Lanarkshire in Scotland, and the country's sixth-largest locality by population. Historically a small village, it was designated Scotland's first "new town" on 6 Ma ...

on loan.

Early life

Smith was born in

Lanark Lanark ( ; ; ) is a town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, located 20 kilometres to the south-east of Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Hamilton. The town lies on the River Clyde, at its confluence with Mouse Water. In 2016, the town had a populatio ...

and attended

Carluke High School Carluke High School is a secondary school in Carluke, South Lanarkshire South Lanarkshire (; ) is one of 32 unitary authorities of Scotland. It borders the south-east of the Glasgow City council area and contains some of Greater Glasgow's su ...

in South Lanarkshire.

Club career

Motherwell

Smith started his football career at boyhood heroes

, and became one of their youngest ever players when he made his debut aged 16, appearing as a substitute against Inverness CT in the 2004–05 season. It would be the 2005–06 season before he would feature in the team again, coming on as a substitute as Motherwell defeated

Falkirk Falkirk ( ; ; ) is a town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had a resident population of 32,422 at the ...

5–0. A few days later, he scored his first goal for the club against St Mirren in the League Cup. He then suffered an injury which ruled him out for the rest of the season. The 2006–07 season was a more prolific one for Smith. Despite this being an unsuccessful season for Motherwell, who finished 10th in the SPL, Smith made 13 starts and 6 substitute appearances, scoring three goals. The first and most notable of his goals was a last minute equaliser against

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

on 30 December 2006. The 2007–08 season was Smith's most successful in his time at Motherwell so far, as Motherwell finished 3rd in the SPL and qualified for the

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

. He made 27 appearances, scoring four goals. Two came against

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

in the SPL, the second being the opener in the 2–1 victory on 10 May that effectively sealed Motherwell's UEFA Cup qualification. Smith found himself on the fringes of the first team in the 2008–09 season, making only one start and failing to find the net. At the start of the 2009–10 season, he was forced to have hip surgery after tearing cartilage during pre-season. Smith spent a month on loan at

in early 2010, but played only twice due to injury. Smith was released by Motherwell at the end of the 2009–10 season.

Ross County

After leaving Motherwell, Smith had a trial at Inverness Caledonian Thistle. He then signed for Ross County on a one-year deal. Manager

Derek Adams Derek Watt Adams (born 25 June 1975) is a Scottish football manager and former player who is the manager of National League football club Morecambe. Adams became manager of Ross County in 2007, winning promotion from the Scottish Second Divisio ...

commented that "Darren is a young player with a lot of potential as well as a lot of experience. I'm delighted that after his trial period we have been able to reach an agreement with him."

Stirling Albion

On 28 July 2011, Smith signed for

of the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

after being released by Ross County. He left the club in May 2012.

Stenhousemuir

Smith signed for

during the 2012 summer transfer window.

Stirling Albion

In June 2014, Smith signed for Stirling Albion for a second time. In January 2016, he was named as Scottish League Two Player of the Month for December 2015. On 9 February 2016, in Stirling Albion's 7–0 win against Montrose, Smith scored a hat-trick in the space of four minutes. Smith won two more Player of the Month awards during the 2017–18 season, in August and December. At the end of the season he was voted PFA Scotland League Two Player of the Season.

Clyde

On 24 May 2019, Smith signed for Clyde on a one-year contract.

East Kilbride

Lowland League The Scottish Lowland Football League (SLFL, commonly known as the Lowland League) and the Park’s Motor Group Scottish Lowland League for sponsorship reasons is a senior football league based in central and southern Scotland. The league sits a ...

club

announced the signing of Smith on 15 July 2020. Smith was loaned to Edinburgh City in March 2021.

International career

Smith made his debut for the Scotland under-21s in the spring of 2007, playing the second half of a 2–0 defeat against the Germany under-21s. He also played for his country at under-19 and under-20 level.

Career statistics

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Darren 1988 births Sportspeople from Carluke Footballers from Lanark Living people 21st-century Scottish sportsmen People educated at Carluke High School Men's association football wingers Scottish men's footballers Scotland men's under-21 international footballers Motherwell F.C. players Stenhousemuir F.C. players Ross County F.C. players Stirling Albion F.C. players Clyde F.C. players East Kilbride F.C. players Edinburgh City F.C. players Scottish Premier League players Scottish Football League players Scottish Professional Football League players