Trevor Smith (13 April 1936 – 9 August 2003) was an English

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 as a

centre half In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

for

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. The team compete in the ...

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located ...

and the England national team.

Life and career

Smith was born in

Brierley Hill Brierley Hill is a town and Ward (electoral subdivision), electoral ward in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, West Midlands (county), West Midlands (originally in Staffordshire), England. It is located south of Dudley and north of Stourbr ...

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation ''Staffs''.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It borders Cheshire to the north-west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, ...

, and attended Quarry Bank

secondary modern school A secondary modern school () is a type of secondary school that existed throughout England, Wales and Northern Ireland from 1944 until the 1970s under the Tripartite System. Secondary modern schools accommodated the majority (70–75%) of pupil ...

. In 1951 he captained the local schools' representative side, Brierley Hill, Sedgley and District, to their first final of the English Schools' F.A. Trophy, in which they lost to Liverpool Schools 5–3 on aggregate. A feature of the first leg, according to the Brierley Hill local newspaper, was the "solid play of the two centre-halves, Parkes for Liverpool and Smith for the home team", while the match programme from the second leg described him thus: When he left school he signed for

as an amateur, and played for the team that won the European Youth Cup (later renamed Blue Stars/FIFA Youth Cup) the following year. He turned professional on reaching his 17th birthday in April 1953, and made his first-team debut for Birmingham, then in the Second Division, six months later, scoring an

own goal An own goal occurs in sports when a player performs actions that result in scoring points for the opposition, such as when a Association football, footballer puts a ball into their own net. In some parts of the world, the term has become a met ...

in a 4–2 win at Derby County. Apart from interruptions due to injury or

National Service National service is a system of compulsory or voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act ...

obligations, he was a regular choice for the first team from then on. Smith's career at Birmingham coincided with probably the best period in the club's history. Under the management of Arthur Turner, they won promotion to the First Division in 1954–55, reached the

FA Cup Final The FA Cup Final is the last match in the FA Cup, Football Association Challenge Cup. It has regularly been one of the List of sports attendance figures, most attended domestic football events in the world, with an official attendance of 89,472 ...

and achieved their highest ever finishing position (sixth place) the following season, and then the FA Cup semifinal in 1957, only to lose to

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 "

Busby Babes The "Busby Babes" were the group of footballers, recruited and trained by Manchester United chief scout Joe Armstrong and assistant manager Jimmy Murphy, who progressed from the club's youth team into the first team under the management of the ...

". They went on to play on the losing side in two successive

Inter-Cities Fairs Cup The Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, most commonly referred to as the Fairs Cup and sometimes as the European Fairs Cup or Fairs Cities' Cup, was a European football competition played between 1955 and 1971. The Fairs Cup was the idea of FIFA vice-presid ...

finals, under Smith's captaincy. The club's success during this period was built on a solid defence, comprising a first-choice selection of international players Gil Merrick, Jeff Hall, Ken Green and Smith himself, together with wing-halves Len Boyd and hard-man Roy Warhurst. Smith represented his country at schoolboy and youth levels, and won no fewer than 15 caps at under-23 level. He was selected to represent England B against their West German counterparts when still only 18. He had all the attributes necessary for a top-class centre-half. Tall and powerfully built, he was good in the air and in the tackle and read the game well, combining an uncompromising physical game with good technique. When the great Billy Wright retired from international football, the 23-year-old Smith was chosen to take his place, making his

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

debut against

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

Ninian Park Ninian Park was a association football, football stadium in the Leckwith, Cardiff, Leckwith area of Cardiff, Wales, that was the home of Cardiff City F.C. for 99 years. Opened in 1910 with a single wooden stand, it underwent numerous renovatio ...

on 17 October 1959. A calf injury sustained early on which hampered his movement meant he failed to do himself justice, but he kept his place for the next match, against

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

later that month. England performed poorly overall against the Swedes, Smith and his defence failed to cope with Swedish forward Agne Simonsson, and he was not chosen for his country again;

Brian Clough Brian Howard Clough ( ; 21 March 1935 – 20 September 2004) was an English football player and manager, primarily known for his successes as a manager with Derby County and Nottingham Forest. He is one of four managers to have won the Englis ...

's England career was also restricted to these same two games. By the early 1960s, Birmingham were past their best. The Cup Final team had dispersed, league form was poor, but the new League Cup competition provided some relief. In 1963 they reached the final against local rivals

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The team have p ...

, who were hot favourites having won the league meeting two months earlier by four clear goals. However, under the captaincy of the inspirational Smith, Birmingham won the home leg by a comfortable 3–1 margin, and a goalless draw in the away leg gave them their first major trophy. At the start of the 1964–65 season, Smith lost his place through injury, and when he recovered he moved to

of the Third Division for a fee of £18,000. He was able to make only 13 appearances for the club before

arthritis Arthritis is a general medical term used to describe a disorder that affects joints. Symptoms generally include joint pain and stiffness. Other symptoms may include redness, warmth, Joint effusion, swelling, and decreased range of motion of ...

forced his retirement in 1966 at the age of 29. Walsall were critical of Birmingham, believing they had knowingly sold them an unfit player. After leaving the game Smith went into the licensed trade, first with a pub in Tamworth, then as manager of

off-licence A liquor store is a retail business that predominantly sells prepackaged alcoholic beverages, including liquors (typically in bottles), wine or beer, usually intended to be consumed off the store's premises. Depending on region and local idiom ...

s in Birmingham and later in

Dagenham Dagenham () is a town in East London, England, within the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. Dagenham is centred east of Charing Cross. It was historically a rural parish in the Becontree Hundred of Essex, stretching from Hainault Fo ...

. He retired to

Walton-on-the-Naze Walton-on-the-Naze is a seaside town on the North Sea coast. It is part of the parish of Frinton and Walton, in the Tendring District, Tendring district in Essex, England. The town is located north of Clacton and south of the port of Harwich; ...

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

and died 18 months later of lung cancer on 9 August 2003 at the age of 67.

Career statistics

Honours

Birmingham City Youth * European Youth Cup: 1952 Birmingham City *

Football League Second Division The Football League Second Division was the second level division in the English football league system between 1892 and 1992. Following the foundation of the FA Premier League, the Football League divisions were renumbered and the third tier ...

: 1954–55 *

Football League Cup The English Football League Cup, often referred to as the League Cup and currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout competition in men's domestic football in England. Orga ...

: 1962–63 *

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

runner-up: 1955–56 *

runner-up: 1958–60, 1960–61

Sources

* *

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Trevor 1936 births Sportspeople from Brierley Hill 2003 deaths English men's footballers England men's under-23 international footballers England men's B international footballers England men's international footballers Men's association football central defenders Birmingham City F.C. players Walsall F.C. players English Football League players English Football League representative players Deaths from lung cancer in England 20th-century English sportsmen