David Smith (8 December 1947 – September 2022) was an English 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 ...

who scored 55 goals from 406 games in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in the world, and was the top-level football league in England from ...

playing as an

outside left In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than midfielders and defenders. As with any attacking player, the role of the forward relies heavily on be ...

left midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

for

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...

, Lincoln City and

Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional association football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. The team plays in EFL League One, the third tier of English football, after suffering relegation fr ...

Career

Smith was born in

Thornaby-on-Tees Thornaby-on-Tees, commonly referred to as Thornaby, is a town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in North Yorkshire, England, north of York and south-east of Middlesbrough. On the south bank of the River Tees, Thornaby falls within th ...

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

on 8 December 1947. An England schoolboy international, he began his career on

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

's books, but signed for

as an apprentice and then as a professional. He played only three times for that club in four seasons, and joined Lincoln City in 1968. He went straight into the first team, finished the 1968–69 season as the club's top scorer with 11 goals, Access to 1968–69 season details via Season Stats dropdown menu near foot of page. and remained a first-choice player for ten years. He missed only one game as Lincoln won the Fourth Division title in the 1975–76 season, and scored their 100th goal of that season. Released in 1978 after playing more than 400 games for the club, a total which placed him third behind only

Grant Brown Grant Ashley Brown (born 19 November 1969) is an English football coach and former professional player. As a player, he was a defender from 1988 to 2006, notably making 407 league appearances for Lincoln City between 1989 and 2002. He also pl ...

and

Tony Emery Anthony John Emery (4 November 1927 – 5 November 2005) was an English professional footballer who played as a centre half. Career Born in Lincoln, Emery played for Lincoln City and Mansfield Town, making 428 appearances in the Football Leag ...

in the club's all-time appearance list, he finished his professional career with 43 appearances for

, then played and coached in

Sunday league football Sunday league football is a term used in Britain, Ireland and Australia to describe the amateur association football competitions which take place on Sunday rather than the more usual Saturday. The term ''pub league'' may also be used, owing to ...

for many years. After retiring as a footballer, Smith had several different jobs, including running a pub, working on an

oil rig An oil rig is any kind of apparatus constructed for oil drilling. Kinds of oil rig include: * Drilling rig A drilling rig is an integrated system that Drilling, drills wells, such as oil or water wells, or holes for piling and other construc ...

, factory work and selling insurance. Smith died in September 2022, at the age of 74.

References

1947 births 2022 deaths People from Thornaby-on-Tees English men's footballers Footballers from County Durham Footballers from North Yorkshire Men's association football midfielders English Football League players Middlesbrough F.C. players Lincoln City F.C. players Rotherham United F.C. players {{England-footy-midfielder-1940s-stub