Mick Smith (footballer)

Last updated

Mick Smith
Personal information
Full name Michael Smith [1]
Date of birth (1958-10-28) 28 October 1958 (age 65) [1]
Place of birth Sunderland, [1] England
Height 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) [2]
Position(s) Centre half
Youth career
Lambton Street B.C.
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps(Gls)
1977–1979 Lincoln City 25 (0)
1979–1988 Wimbledon 205 (14)
1984–1985 → Aldershot (loan) 7 (0)
1988–1989 Bath City 21 (2)
1989 Seaham Red Star
1989–1992 Hartlepool United 55 (6)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Michael Smith (born 28 October 1958) is an English former footballer who made nearly 300 appearances in the Football League playing for Lincoln City, Wimbledon, Aldershot and Hartlepool United. He played as a centre half. [3] Between leaving Wimbledon and joining Hartlepool, he spent time with Southern League club Bath City [4] and Seaham Red Star of the Northern League.

Life and career

Smith was born in 1958 in Sunderland, [1] where he played football for Lambton Street Boys' Club. In 1977, he was one of four youngsters from that club –the others were Alan Eden, Mick Harford and Keith Laybourne  –who signed for Football League Third Division club Lincoln City. [5] Smith made 27 appearances over two seasons, [6] At the end of the 1979–80 season, he joined Wimbledon, newly promoted to the Third Division having joined the Football League only two years before. [7]

He was a mainstay of the Wimbledon team for several seasons as they were twice relegated to the Fourth Division before working their way up the league to gain promotion to the First Division in 1986. [7] According to Dave Bassett and Wally Downes in the book The Crazy Gang, Smith "simply enjoyed being a typical son-of-the-soil centre-half who went in, got the ball and cleared it." [8] He played little in the top flight because of injury, [8] [9] and retired from football in 1988. [10]

After making a partial recovery, Smith signed for Bath City of the Southern League during the 1988–89 season, and became their player of the year. He and the club failed to agree terms for the next season, so he returned to the north-east of England. [10] After a short period with Seaham Red Star of the Northern League, he joined Hartlepool United, and made a major contribution to the club's successful fight against relegation from the Football League. [11] The following year, he was part of the Hartlepool team that won promotion to the Third Division for the first time since 1968. [12]

Smith was youth team manager of Hartlepool for two years, from 1998 to 2000. [11]

Related Research Articles

Raymond Thomas Harford was an English footballer, better known for his successes as a coach and manager than as a player. He is considered to have been one of the top coaches of his generation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wimbledon F.C.</span> Former English football club

Wimbledon Football Club was an English football club formed in Wimbledon, south-west London, in 1889 and based at Plough Lane from 1912 to 1991. Founded as Wimbledon Old Centrals, the club were a non-League team for most of their history. Nicknamed "the Dons" and latterly also "the Wombles", they won eight Isthmian League titles, the FA Amateur Cup in 1963 and three successive Southern League championships between 1975 and 1977, and were then elected to the Football League. The team rose quickly from obscurity during the 1980s and were promoted to the then top-flight First Division in 1986, just four seasons after being in the Fourth Division.

Christopher Robert Turner is an English former footballer and former director of football at Wakefield. He made 589 league and cup appearances in a 19-year career as a professional in the English Football League, and then took charge of a further 469 matches as a manager.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mick Harford</span> English footballer and manager (born 1959)

Michael Gordon Harford is an English football manager and former professional player. He is the chief recruitment officer at Luton Town, a club where he has spent a large portion of both his playing and non-playing career. In addition to two separate spells as a player at Luton, including as part of the team that won the League Cup in 1988, Harford has been the club's director of football, first-team coach and manager; the latter role saw him lead Luton to victory in the Football League Trophy in 2009 and win League One in a separate spell in 2018–19.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Glyn Hodges</span> Welsh footballer and manager

Glyn Peter Hodges is a Welsh football coach and former professional player who was most recently assistant manager at Bradford City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chris Maguire</span> Scottish association football player

Christopher Patrick Joseph Maguire is a Scottish professional footballer who plays as a striker for National League club Eastleigh. He made two international appearances for Scotland in 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kevin Cooper (footballer)</span> English footballer and manager

Kevin Lee Cooper is an English football manager and former professional footballer. He is currently the manager of Malaysia M3 League club, Armed Forces.

George Herd is a Scottish former footballer, who played for Inverness Thistle, Queen's Park, Clyde, Sunderland, Vancouver Royal Canadians, Hartlepool United and Scotland.

The 1984–85 season was the 86th completed season of The Football League.

The 1986–87 season was the 88th completed season of The Football League.

Trevor Carson is a Northern Irish professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Scottish Premiership club Dundee.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wally Downes</span> English football player, coach and manager

Walter John Downes is an English professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. He was most recently manager of AFC Wimbledon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ryan Noble</span> English footballer

Ryan Andrew Noble is an English footballer who is currently a free agent. Noble has played as a striker for Sunderland, Watford, Derby County, Hartlepool United, Burnley and Gateshead.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Craig Lynch</span> English footballer

Craig Thomas Lynch is an English former professional footballer who played as a striker. He is currently manager of Morpeth Town.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charlie Wyke</span> English footballer

Charles Thomas Wyke is an English professional footballer who plays as a forward for EFL Championship club Rotherham United, on loan from League One club Wigan Athletic.

Nathan Thomas is a professional footballer who plays as a winger for Northern Premier League Premier Division club Whitby Town.

George Robert Gray was an English professional footballer during the early years of the twentieth century. He played in the Football League for Swansea Town, Northampton Town and Durham City. He spent a season in the Southern League with Gillingham, was on the books of Bury without playing for their first team, had a trial with Scottish League club Clydebank, and played North-Eastern League football for Seaham Harbour and Hartlepools United. After his playing career ended he had a lengthy career as a trainer.

Mark McLeod is an English football midfielder who plays for Northern Premier League Division One East club Consett.

Joshua Stuart Hawkes is an English footballer who plays for EFL League Two club Tranmere Rovers.

Darlington Football Club, an English association football club based in Darlington, County Durham, was founded in 1883. For their first six years, there was no league football, so matches were arranged on an occasional basis, supplemented by cup competitions organised at both local and national level. In 1889, Darlington joined the newly formed Northern League, and moved into the North-Eastern League in 1908. They were founder members of the Football League Third Division North in 1921, and spent two seasons in the Second Division in the mid-1920s. Thereafter, they remained in the lower divisions of the Football League until 1989, when they were relegated for one season to the Football Conference. After another 20 years in the Football League, they were again relegated to the Conference. Two years later, financial issues stemming from administration forced a demotion of four divisions and a change of name: Darlington 1883 was chosen. Five years later, after three promotions, they reverted to their original name.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Mick Smith". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 24 May 2018.
  2. ↑ Rollin, Jack, ed. (1990). Rothmans Football Yearbook 1990–91 (21st ed.). Queen Anne Press. p. 274. ISBN   0-356-17911-7.
  3. ↑ "Mick Smith". UK A–Z Transfers. Neil Brown. Retrieved 25 May 2018.
  4. ↑ "1988–1989". Bath City F.C. Archived from the original on 24 December 2017. Retrieved 25 May 2018.
  5. ↑ "Mick Harford". The Lincoln City FC Archive. Lincoln City F.C. Archived from the original on 13 March 2016.
  6. ↑ "The players". The Lincoln City FC Archive. Lincoln City F.C. Archived from the original on 2 June 2016.
  7. 1 2 "Wimbledon". Football Club History Database. Richard Rundle. Retrieved 25 May 2018.
  8. 1 2 Bassett, Dave; Downes, Wally (2016). The Crazy Gang. Bantam. pp. 207–208. ISBN   9780857503251.
  9. ↑ "Blow". Daily Mirror. London. 3 December 1986. p. 30. Mick Smith, the Wimbledon defender, will miss the rest of their debut season in the first division. He goes into hospital on Friday for a bone graft operation to his pelvis.
  10. 1 2 "Past players: S". Bath City F.C. Archived from the original on 14 October 2017. Retrieved 25 May 2018.
  11. 1 2 "Scott takes on coaching role". Sunderland Echo. 1 September 2000. Retrieved 27 May 2018.
  12. ↑ "Invincibles reunite for a night of Pools nostalgia". The Northern Echo. Darlington. 23 November 2010. Retrieved 25 May 2018.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.