| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Robert William Smith[1] | ||
| Date of birth | (1944-03-14)14 March 1944 (age 81)[2] | ||
| Place of birth | Prestbury, England[2] | ||
| Height | 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)[3] | ||
| Position | Inside forward | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1961–1965 | Manchester United | 0 | (0) |
| 1965–1967 | Scunthorpe United | 82 | (12) |
| 1967–1968 | Grimsby Town | 52 | (1) |
| 1968–1971 | Brighton & Hove Albion | 75 | (2) |
| 1971 | Chester | 2 | (0) |
| 1971–1973 | Hartlepool United | 69 | (7) |
| 1973 | Bury | 0 | (0) |
| Total | 280 | (20) | |
| International career | |||
| England Schoolboys | 6 | (0) | |
| 1961 | England Youth | 5 | (0) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 1973–1977 | Bury | ||
| 1977–1978 | Port Vale | ||
| 1978–1980 | Swindon Town | ||
| 1985–1986 | Newport County | ||
| 1995 | Swansea City (caretaker) | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Robert William Smith (born 14 March 1944) is an English formerfootballer and footballmanager. He wascapped by England atSchoolboys andYouth level. He is the son ofConway Smith and grandson ofBilly Smith, from whom he gets his middle name.
Areserve player forManchester United, he moved on toScunthorpe United in 1965, where he established himself in the first team. Moving on toGrimsby Town in 1967, hetransferred toBrighton & Hove Albion the following year. In 1971, he signed withHartlepool United viaChester, before he finished his playing career withBury in 1973.
Appointing as Bury's manager in 1973, he led the club topromotion out of theFootball League Fourth Division in1973–74, before he was sacked in November 1977. Quickly installed asPort Vale manager, he moved on toSwindon Town the following year, having failed to prevent the club from sufferingrelegation. Despite promising league campaigns and cup runs, he was sacked in October 1980. Spending time as acoach atBlackpool, he returned to management in 1985 withNewport County, as the club were in financial meltdown; he departed the following year. Remaining in the game as a coach atCardiff City,Hereford United, andSwansea City, he was appointed caretaker manager at Swansea in 1995. However, he resigned after less than three months in charge and took a role in the back-room staff atSheffield Wednesday.
Smith began his career withManchester United, turning professional in April 1961.[4] He made over 200 appearances for theUnited reserve team, butMatt Busby did not give him hisFirst Division debut.[4] Smith leftOld Trafford in March 1965 to joinScunthorpe United. UnderFred Goodwin, theIron finished the1964–65 campaign in 18th place in theThird Division. They rose to fourth in1965–66, still 12 points short of apromotion place, before they dropped to 18th in1966–67.
Smith moved toGrimsby Town, for a fee of £8,000, but failed to preventDon McEvoy'sMariners from slipping into theFourth Division in1967–68.[3] Smith remained in the Third Division, signing withFreddie Goodwin'sBrighton & Hove Albion in June 1968.[4] TheSeagulls finished 12th in1968–69, before rising to fifth in1969–70, only five points shy of the promotion places. Goodwin chided theGoldstone Ground supporters for barracking Smith in January 1970, writing in thematchday programme that "he has done nothing to warrant this behaviour".[4] Brighton dropped down to 14th-place in1970–71 underPat Saward.
In June 1971, Smith signed withKen Roberts'Chester on afree transfer.[4] He moved toHartlepool United – initially onloan – in October of that year.[3] Both teams struggled at the foot of theFootball League, withLen Ashurst'sPools finishing just above the re-election places in1971–72 and1972–73. In August 1973, he moved toBury as a player-coach, but failed to appear in their league side.[4]
Smith won six caps forEngland Schoolboys and played twice for theEngland youth-team in a 1–0 loss to theNetherlands inUtrecht on 9 March 1961, and a 2–0 defeat toWest Germany inFlensburg three days later.[4]
Smith was a tough-tacklingmidfielder with aggression but limitedtechnical skill.[4]
Smith began his managerial career with Bury in November 1973, taking over fromAllan Brown. At the age of 29, he was the youngestmanager in theFootball League. He had initial success, guiding Bury to promotion from theFourth Division in the fourth automatic place at the end of the1973–74 season.[4] He stabilised theGigg Lane club in theThird Division in1974–75 with a 14th-place finish. They went on to finish 13th in1975–76, before finishing five points off the promotion places in1976–77. He was sacked by Bury on 16 November 1977 after a poor start to the season. TheShakers finished the1977–78 campaign in 15th place under the stewardship ofBob Stokoe.
A day after leaving Bury, he was appointed as manager ofPort Vale.[5] He replaced club legendRoy Sproson. He was given a large war chest to spend after a successful lottery scheme was set up atVale Park.[5] He took over with the club in 21st place in theThird Division. His first game in charge was a 0–0 draw with Midland Counties League sideArnold in the first round of theFA Cup.[5] In January, veteran defenderGraham Hawkins was signed as a player-coach fromBlackburn Rovers for £6,000.[5] ForwardNeville Chamberlain also joined the club as a professional, becoming the club's firstblack pro.[5]John Froggatt also joined the club, signing fromColchester United for £10,000.[5] Chairman Arthur McPherson celebrated this abandonment of frugality by declaring "we are going places".[5] Local journalist Chris Harper slated the board for their decisions, calling them 'berserk'. Froggatt scored 15 seconds into his debut in a 4–0 win overExeter City.[5] However, this would be as good as it got for both Froggatt and Vale that season. In February, Vale beatFort Lauderdale Strikers in afriendly, but also started a five-game sequence without a win.[5]Ged Stenson arrived the next month fromEverton for a 'bargain' £3,000, andJohn Lumsdon joined on loan fromStoke City.[5] Vale improved and were unbeaten in six of their seven March games, with Chamberlain scoring on his debut.[5] Yet on 28 March, they started a club-record streak of twelve home games without a win that would continue into the following season. Encouragement came from theyouth team, who reached the Quarter finals of theFA Youth Cup.[5] With four games to go, Vale were one point clear of the drop, However, by losing all of their remaining games theValiants ended the1977–78 season in 21st place and wererelegated into theFourth Division.[5] Smith was appointed as manager ofSwindon Town in May 1978, with the club having to pay a compensation fee of £10,500 to Port Vale. His assistant,Dennis Butler, stayed on at the club and was appointed as his successor.[2]
Despite still being a relatively young manager, Smith guided Swindon to aThird Division promotion challenge in hisfirst season in charge - missing out by three points after losing the last two games of the season.[1] His two signings,Alan Mayes andAndy Rowland, formed a deadlystrike partnership, and were both selected on thePFA Team of the Year.[6]
Thefollowing season Swindon beatStoke City,Wimbledon andArsenal to reach theLeague Cup semi-final.[6] They lost out toWolverhampton Wanderers when Wolves scored the winner five minutes from the end of the second leg.[1] However, Town squandered a promising league position to finish the campaign in tenth place.[1] During the campaign, his team recorded an 8–0 win over former clubBury.[6]
Having spent large amounts of money, particularly on £150,000 left-backDavid Peach and £110,000 midfielderGlenn Cockerill, expectations were high at Swindon for the1980–81 season.[1][6] However, Smith was sacked in October 1980 after Swindon lost their first five games and were stuck in the relegation zone.[1] They finished the campaign in 17th place under the stewardship ofJohn Trollope.
In 1981, he joined the coaching staff atBlackpool and in July 1982 moved to be a coach atNewport County. He was appointed manager of Newport in June 1985. He kept the club rooted to 18th in theThird Division in1985–86, before a run of seven straight defeats saw the club hovering above the relegation places and ultimately cost him his job. His replacementJohn Relish managed to steer the club to safety.
He coachedCardiff City between 1989 and July 1990 after being brought to the club by managerFrank Burrows. Later that year, he became assistant manager toColin Addison atHereford United. He joined the coaching staff atSwansea City in March 1991, and the following year, Burrows appointed him as his assistant.[7] In October 1995, he became caretaker manager of Swansea after the departure of Burrows but resigned just 80 days later in December of the same year.[7] With four more managerial changes (Kevin Cullis,Jan Mølby as player-manager andJimmy Rimmer as caretaker manager on two occasions), theSwans finished1995–96 in theSecond Division relegation zone. In 1996, Smith was appointed to the coaching staff atSheffield Wednesday byDavid Pleat, where he performed a variety of roles before leaving in the summer of 1999.
| Club | Season | League | FA Cup | Other[A] | Total | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Scunthorpe United | 1964–65 | Third Division | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 0 |
| 1965–66 | Third Division | 45 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 49 | 8 | |
| 1966–67 | Third Division | 25 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 28 | 6 | |
| Total | 82 | 12 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 87 | 14 | ||
| Grimsby Town | 1966–67 | Third Division | 22 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 22 | 0 |
| 1967–68 | Third Division | 30 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 34 | 1 | |
| Total | 52 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 56 | 1 | ||
| Brighton & Hove Albion | 1968–69 | Third Division | 30 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 33 | 1 |
| 1969–70 | Third Division | 23 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 26 | 1 | |
| 1970–71 | Third Division | 22 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 26 | 0 | |
| Total | 75 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 85 | 2 | ||
| Chester City | 1971–72 | Fourth Division | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Hartlepool United | 1971–72 | Fourth Division | 32 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 34 | 2 |
| 1972–73 | Fourth Division | 37 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 42 | 6 | |
| Total | 69 | 7 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 76 | 8 | ||
| Bury | 1973–74 | Fourth Division | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Career total | 280 | 22 | 16 | 1 | 11 | 1 | 307 | 24 | ||
| Team | From | To | Record | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P | W | D | L | Win % | |||
| Bury | 19 October 1973 | 17 November 1977 | 215 | 90 | 58 | 67 | 041.9 |
| Port Vale | 17 November 1977 | 17 May 1978 | 33 | 6 | 14 | 13 | 018.2 |
| Swindon Town | 17 May 1978 | 30 September 1980 | 132 | 63 | 25 | 44 | 047.7 |
| Newport County | 1 June 1985 | 1 March 1986 | 39 | 11 | 16 | 12 | 028.2 |
| Swansea City (caretaker) | 2 October 1995 | 28 December 1995 | 15 | 2 | 5 | 8 | 013.3 |
| Total | 434 | 172 | 118 | 144 | 039.6 | ||
Bury
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