Paul Michael Smith (born 9 November 1964) is an English former

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 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 ...

for

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history ...

Stockport County Stockport County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Stockport, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in EFL League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1883 as Heaton ...

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in , the third tier of the English football league system. Vale are named after the valley of ports on the Trent and Mersey Canal ...

, and Lincoln City. He was promoted out of the Third Division with Sheffield United in 1983–84 and won the

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 ...

title with Lincoln City in 1987–88.

Career

Smith began his career at

Ian Porterfield John Ian Porterfield (11 February 1946 – 11 September 2007) was a Scottish professional footballer, and an experienced football coach who worked at both club and international level for almost 30 years. At the time of his death, he was the coa ...

's "Blades" finished 11th in the Third Division in 1982–83, before winning automatic

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

in 1983–84. United then finished 18th in 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 ...

in 1984–85 and then rose up to seventh place in 1985–86. During the latter campaign, Smith scored five goals in seven Fourth Division games on

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 ...

Les Chapman Leslie Chapman (born 27 September 1948), commonly known as Les and sometimes as Chappy, is an English former football player and manager. As a player, he made 747 appearances in the Football League in a career that spanned 22 seasons, playing fo ...

. He failed to revive his career at

Bramall Lane Bramall Lane is a association football, football stadium in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which is the home of Sheffield United F.C., Sheffield United. The stadium was originally a cricket ground, built on a road named after the Bramall ...

under new

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

Billy McEwan after returning from

Edgeley Park Edgeley Park is a association football, football stadium in Edgeley, Stockport, England. Built for Stockport RFC, a rugby league club, in 1891, by 1903 the rugby club was defunct and Stockport County F.C., Stockport County Football Club moved i ...

. Smith joined

John Rudge John Robert Rudge (born 21 October 1944) is an English former professional football player and manager who is the president of club Port Vale. Rudge began his playing career at Huddersfield Town in November 1961, but made little impact at t ...

's Third Division

for a £10,000 fee in July 1986. He scored nine goals in 51 appearances in the 1986–87 season. However, after just three games into the 1987–88 season, he was sold on to Lincoln City for £40,000 (and a percentage of any future fee) in September 1987. Colin Murphy's "Imps" went on to finish the 1987–88 season as champions of the

, and were re-elected into the

. They then finished tenth in the Fourth Division in 1988–89 and 1989–90, before new boss Steve Thompson led the club to 14th in 1990–91, and then tenth once again in 1991–92. Lincoln missed out on the

play-offs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

in 1992–93 after Bury pipped them to seventh place on

goal difference Goal difference, goal differential or points difference is a form of tiebreaker used to rank sport teams which finish on equal points in a league competition. Either "goal difference" or "points difference" is used, depending on whether matches ar ...

. They then plummeted to 18th spot in 1993–94 under Keith Alexander's stewardship, before new boss Sam Ellis took them back up to 12th place in 1994–95. Smith scored 40 goals in 305 league and cup competitions during his six years at

Sincil Bank Sincil Bank Stadium, known for sponsorship reasons as LNER Stadium, is a football stadium in Lincoln, England, which has been the home of Lincoln City since 1895. Previously, Lincoln City had played at the nearby John O'Gaunts ground since t ...

. He later played in the Conference for Halifax Town and had a trial with

Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the third level of the English football league system. The club was formed in 1897 as Mans ...

Career statistics

Honours

Sheffield United *

Football League Third Division The Football League Third Division was the third tier of the English football league system in 1920–21 Football League, 1920–21 and again from 1958–59 Football League, 1958 until 1991–92 Football League, 1992. When the FA Premier League ...

third-place promotion: 1983–84 Lincoln City *

Football Conference The National League of English Football Clubs is a professional Association football, football league in England that consists of 72 teams, divided equally between the National League (division), National League North and National League South ...

: 1987–88

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Paul 1964 births Living people Footballers from Rotherham English men's footballers Men's association football wingers Sheffield United F.C. players Stockport County F.C. players Port Vale F.C. players Lincoln City F.C. players Halifax Town A.F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players 20th-century English sportsmen