Michael John Smith (born 17 October 1991) is 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 plays as a striker for club

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional association football club in Preston, Lancashire, England. They currently play in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English footbal ...

Career

Darlington

Born in

Wallsend Wallsend () is a town in North Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, England, at the eastern end of Hadrian's Wall. It has a population of 43,842 and lies east of Newcastle upon Tyne. History Roman Wallsend In Roman times, this was the site of the fort of ...

, Tyne and Wear, Smith made his debut in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

on 5 April 2010, replacing Chris Moore in the 77th minute of

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. It lies on the River Skerne, west of Middlesbrough and south of Durham. Darlington had a population of 107,800 at the 2021 Census, making it a "large town" ...

's 1–0 home defeat by

Hereford United Hereford United Football Club was an association football club based in Hereford, England. They played at Edgar Street for their entire history. They were nicknamed 'The Whites' or 'The Lilywhites', after their predominantly white kit, or 'Th ...

in League Two. He scored his first Football League goal on 1 May, in the 79th minute of Darlington's 2–0 away win at

Macclesfield Town Macclesfield Town Football Club was an association football club based in Macclesfield, Cheshire, England. Initially known as Macclesfield F.C., the club was formed in 1874 and from 1891 played home games at Moss Rose. It competed in the short ...

. He joined

Conference North The National League North, officially known as Vanarama National League North for sponsorship reasons, is a professional Association football league in England. National League North is the second division of the National Leagues and step 2 o ...

club

Workington Workington is a coastal town and civil parish in the Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. The town is at the mouth of the River Derwent on the west coast, south-west of Carlisle and north-east of Whitehaven. At the 2021 census the ...

loan In finance, a loan is the tender of money by one party to another with an agreement to pay it back. The recipient, or borrower, incurs a debt and is usually required to pay interest for the use of the money. The document evidencing the deb ...

for a month on 29 October 2010, and made seven appearances before returning to Darlington. In his first four

Conference A conference is a meeting, often lasting a few days, which is organized on a particular subject, or to bring together people who have a common interest. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always d ...

matches back with Darlington he scored six goals. At the end of the season, he, Phil Gray and John McReady all signed new two-year contracts.

Charlton

After trials with

Watford Watford () is a town and non-metropolitan district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of Central London, on the banks of the River Colne, Hertfordshire, River Colne. Initially a smal ...

and

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, the cl ...

, and an unsuccessful bid of £80,000 from

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England. The team compete in the , the second level of the English football league system. Founded in 1894, the club competed in the Southern League and Western L ...

, Smith signed a three-year contract with

League One League One or League 1 may refer to: Association football * EFL League One, the third tier of football in England. * China League One, the second tier of football in China * K League 1, the top-tier football in South Korea * Lao League 1 * Lea ...

club

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Charlton, south-east London, England. The team compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Their home ground is ...

on 31 August 2011; the fee was undisclosed He made his Charlton debut against

FC Halifax Town FC Halifax Town is a professional association football club based in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. They currently compete in the National League (division), National League, the fifth level of English football league system. They replac ...

in the FA Cup: he came on in the 87th minute and crossed for

Bradley Pritchard Bradley Pritchard (born 19 December 1985) is a Zimbabwean former professional association football, footballer who played as a midfielder. He is currently manager of club Lewes F.C., Lewes. He previously played for Carshalton Athletic F.C., Car ...

to score the fourth goal of the match. On 18 January 2012, Smith joined League Two club

Accrington Stanley Accrington Stanley Football Club is a professional association football club based in Accrington, Lancashire, England, that compete in the , the fourth level of the English football league system. They have spent their entire history playing a ...

on loan to the end of the season. Ten days later, he scored a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

and provided an assist for

Luke Joyce Luke James Joyce (born 9 July 1987) is an English former professional footballer who is now the Lead North Scout at club Brentford. He made 700 league and cup appearances in a 19-year professional playing career. Joyce was a midfielder who ca ...

as Stanley beat Gillingham 4–3. He returned to his parent club in mid-March after suffering a season-ending knee injury. On 14 August 2012, Smith made his first startand what proved to be last appearancefor Charlton Athletic in a League Cup defeat to

Leyton Orient Leyton Orient Football Club, commonly referred to as Orient, is a professional association football club based in Leyton, Waltham Forest, London, England. The team compete in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. ...

. He then began a series of loan spells. In November, he joined Newport County of the Conference Premier on a one-month loan, and scored against

Cambridge United Cambridge United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Cambridge, England. They currently compete in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed the U’s, the club h ...

on his debut. The loan was extended for a second month. On 8 March 2013, he joined League One club

Colchester United Colchester United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Colchester, Essex, England. The team competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1937, the club spent its ea ...

, also for a month. In July 2013, Smith signed for League Two club

AFC Wimbledon AFC Wimbledon is an English professional association football club based in Wimbledon, London, Wimbledon, London Borough of Merton, London. The team competes in , the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in ...

on loan until 1 January 2014. Wearing the number 9 shirt, he made his debut on the opening day of the 2013–14 season in a 1–1 draw with

Torquay United Torquay United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Torquay, Devon, England. The team currently compete in the National League South, the sixth level of the English football league system. They have played their ho ...

. He was a regular in the side, finishing his loan period with 10 goals from 25 appearances.

Swindon Town

On 22 January 2014, Smith signed for

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team, known as the "Robins", currently compete in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded as Swindon A ...

for an initial £100,000. He scored Swindon's first and third goals as they beat

Shrewsbury Town Shrewsbury Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1886, the club were inaugur ...

3–1 on his debut three days later.

Portsmouth

On the final day of the January 2016 transfer window, Smith joined League Two club

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

on a three-month loan. The move was made permanent at the end of the season for an undisclosed fee. He scored a hat-trick against

Yeovil Town Yeovil Town may refer to: * Yeovil, a town in Somerset, England, with a council named Yeovil Town * Yeovil Town F.C., an English football team based in Yeovil, Somerset * Yeovil Town W.F.C., an English women's football team affiliated with Yeovil T ...

in an

EFL Trophy The English Football League Trophy, officially known as the Vertu Motors, Vertu Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is an annual English association football, football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL League Two and ...

tie on 30 August, though Portsmouth lost the match 4–3.

Bury

On 31 August 2017, Smith signed a two-year contract with Bury of League One.

Rotherham United

On 11 January 2018, Smith signed for fellow League One club

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 ...

for an undisclosed fee. After an impressive month in which he scored five goals, assisting two others in five matches, Smith was awarded the

EFL League One Player of the Month The EFL League One Player of the Month is an association football award that recognises the player adjudged the best for each month of the season in EFL League One, the third tier of English football. Originally named the Football League One Play ...

Award for October 2021. Smith won the award for the second time in the season for January 2022 after scoring four of Rotherham's five goals across the month with the fifth being an own goal deflected in from his shot. He was named as the side's Player of the Season for 2021–22, having scored 24 goals in all competitions at the time of the award.

Sheffield Wednesday

On 22 June 2022, it was announced that Smith had joined

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an off ...

on a free transfer following the expiry of his Rotherham United contract. Smith made his Wednesday debut, against

on 30 July 2022 coming off the bench for George Byers. His first goal would come against

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The club competes in , the third tier of English football, and is managed by Graham Alexander. The club was founded in 1903 and ...

in the

from the penalty spot. Following his first goal he would score back-to-back

goals against

Morecambe Morecambe ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the City of Lancaster district of Lancashire, England, on Morecambe Bay, part of the Irish Sea. In 2011 the parish had a population of 34,768. Name The first use of the name was by John Whit ...

and

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. The club currently competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. Ipswich Town were founded in 1878 but did not turn ...

which would see him win Wednesday's September player of the month award. He won the EFL Goal of the Month competition for October 2024, for his 25-yard strike against Portsmouth. The following month he won the clubs player of the month trophy for November, after scoring goals against

and

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. They compete in the , the second level of the English football league system. They play their home ...

. Following the end of the 2024–25 season an option was taken on his contract. On 17 July 2025, it was confirmed that Smith's contract had been terminated by mutual consent.

Preston North End

On 22 July, Smith signed a two-year contract with

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

side

Career statistics

Honours

Rotherham United *

EFL League One The English Football League One, known as Sky Bet League One for sponsorship reasons, or simply League One, is a professional association football league in England. EFL League One is the second-highest division of the English Football League an ...

runner-up: 2021–22; play-offs:

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

: 2021–22 Sheffield Wednesday *

EFL League One play-offs The EFL League One play-offs are a series of play-off matches contested by the association football teams finishing from third to sixth in the EFL League One table and are part of the English Football League play-offs. , the play-offs comprise tw ...

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

Individual *

: October 2021, January 2022 *Rotherham United Player of the Season: 2021–22 * EFL League One Team of the Year: 2021–22

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Michael 1991 births Living people Footballers from Wallsend English men's footballers Men's association football forwards Wallsend Boys Club players Darlington F.C. players Workington A.F.C. players Charlton Athletic F.C. players Accrington Stanley F.C. players Newport County A.F.C. players Colchester United F.C. players AFC Wimbledon players Swindon Town F.C. players Barnsley F.C. players Portsmouth F.C. players Northampton Town F.C. players Bury F.C. players Rotherham United F.C. players Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players Preston North End F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players 21st-century English sportsmen