Stephen Smith (28 April 1946 – 13 March 2024) was an English professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player and

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 ...

. He played for

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. They compete in , the third tier of English football league system, English football. Huddersfield Town we ...

and Halifax Town. He also managed Huddersfield Town and

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 ...

, the latter as caretaker. Smith spent the vast majority of his professional career at his hometown club. He began his career at Leeds Road as an apprentice in 1961 and remained on the playing staff until the end of the 1976-77 season. Following two seasons at Halifax Town, Smith returned to Huddersfield during the 1979-80 season, where he was appointed as the club's chief scout. Over the next decade, Smith would perform various roles at Leeds Road. While working as chief scout, he also had spells managing the youth team and the reserve team. He also turned our regularly for the reserves from 1979 to 1983 and even played a further game in the first game in 1981, during an injury crisis. When long-serving manager Mick Buxton was sacked in December 1986, Smith was asked to step in as caretaker manager. After an impressive spell of four games, where he remained unbeaten, Smith was appointed as the permanent manager in January 1987. While he successfully avoided relegation at the end of the 1986-87 season, the following season didn't start well and he resigned in October 1987, citing pressures of the job. He reverted to his previous role of chief scout and remained at the club until the end of the season, departing for pastures new in the summer of 1988. After spells working for Bradford City and the Premier League, Smith returned to Huddersfield in April 2012 as Head of Academy Recruitment. He stepped down just a year into this role, though he remained at the club for a time as a scout. Smith later suffered from dementia. In 2022 a fundraiser was launched for Smith. He died at a care home in

Bradford Bradford is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in West Yorkshire, England. It became a municipal borough in 1847, received a city charter in 1897 and, since the Local Government Act 1972, 1974 reform, the city status in the United Kingdo ...

on 13 March 2024, at the age of 77.

References

1946 births 2024 deaths English men's footballers Footballers from Huddersfield Men's association football fullbacks Men's association football midfielders English Football League players Huddersfield Town A.F.C. players Bolton Wanderers F.C. players Halifax Town A.F.C. players English football managers Huddersfield Town A.F.C. managers Huddersfield Town A.F.C. non-playing staff Bradford City A.F.C. managers Deaths from dementia in England {{England-footy-midfielder-1940s-stub