Jeff Smith (footballer, born 1980)

Jeffrey Smith (born 28 June 1980) is an English former footballer who played as a midfielder.

Jeff Smith

Personal information
Full name	Jeffrey Smith[1]
Date of birth	28 June 1980
Place of birth	Middlesbrough, England
Height	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)[2]
Position(s)	Defender; midfielder
Youth career
	Hartlepool United
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1998–1999	Hartlepool United	3	(0)
1999	Barrow	1	(0)
1999–2001	Bishop Auckland
2001–2004	Bolton Wanderers	2	(0)
2001–2002	→ Macclesfield Town (loan)	8	(2)
2004	→ Scunthorpe United (loan)	1	(0)
2004	→ Rochdale (loan)	1	(0)
2004	→ Preston North End (loan)	5	(0)
2004–2007	Port Vale	88	(5)
2007–2009	Carlisle United	55	(2)
2009–2010	Darlington	24	(0)
2010–2011	Olympic Charleroi	12	(1)
2011–2012	Whitby Town	22	(2)
2012–201?	Celtic Nation
Total		221	(16)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

He started his career with Hartlepool United in 1998, but a year he later moved on to Barrow, and shortly after Bishop Auckland. After two years at Bishop Auckland, he was signed by Bolton Wanderers. Rarely used by Bolton, he was instead loaned out to Macclesfield Town, Scunthorpe United, Rochdale, and Preston North End, before he signed permanently with Port Vale in 2004. A regular in the first team at Vale, he left after three years to sign with Carlisle United. In 2009, he joined Darlington, but only spent one season at the club. In August 2010 he moved to Belgium to play one season with Olympic Charleroi, before he returned to England with Whitby Town a year later. In July 2012, he joined Celtic Nation.

Playing career

Early career

Smith started his footballing career at Hartlepool United in 1998, but was released a year later in 1999 following a long-term injury. After his release, Smith joined non-League team Barrow, but played only one game before moving on to Bishop Auckland.

Bolton Wanderers

Smith's performances at Bishop Auckland were much improved and he was hailed as one of the best crossers in non-league football.[3] In March 2001, Smith joined Football League First Division club Bolton Wanderers on a short contract deal after impressing during a week-long trial. Smith wanted to show Wanderers manager Sam Allardyce that he could make the grade in the Football League.[3] Smith played in the final league match of the 2000–01 season, a 1–1 draw against Sheffield United.

He signed a new contract following Bolton's promotion to the Premier League, but struggled to get into the first team, playing a few League Cup matches. Smith was loaned to Macclesfield Town for two months to gain some experience in December 2001, and scored two goals in eight league games. He still struggled to get into the first team, playing in one Premier League match away to West Ham United, again the last game of the season.

In the two following seasons Smith played only a handful of League Cup and FA Cup matches and was loaned out to Scunthorpe United, Rochdale and Preston North End for brief periods at the back end of the 2003–04 season.[4] During the three loan spells he made a combined total of just two starts and five substitute appearances, with injury also plaguing him.[5] He was released by Wanderers in the summer.

Port Vale

In June 2004, Smith joined Port Vale on a one-year contract.[6] He was a first team regular during his first season at the club and Vale offered Smith a new contract, which he accepted.[7] Smith was again in and around the first team throughout the 2005–06 season, and signed a new one-year deal at the end of the campaign.[8] Smith started the first half of the 2006–07 season very strongly, attracting interest from other clubs.

Carlisle United

In January 2007, Smith joined Carlisle United for a fee of £60,000 on a 2½ year contract.[9] Smith made his Carlisle début in a goalless draw at Brentford,[10] scoring his first goal at Doncaster Rovers a week later.[11] He was injured in a 2–1 win over Luton Town after coming on as a substitute, causing him to be replaced himself.[12] This was his last game of the campaign. Smith was released from Carlisle at the end of 2008–09 after having played just twenty games all season, with the club narrowly avoiding relegation out of League One.

Darlington

He was signed by League Two's Darlington manager Colin Todd in June 2009. Darlington had a poor season, relegated out of the English Football League, eighteen points from safety, losing 32 of their 46 games, the team managed to score just 33 goals.

Later career

In July 2010 he went on trial at Scottish Premier League side Aberdeen,[13] but was not offered a contract.[14] The following month he signed a two-year contract with Olympic Charleroi of the Belgian Third Division B. After one season of football in Belgium he returned to England, and spent July 2011 on trial at Rotherham United.[15] In November, he joined up with Whitby Town in the Northern Premier League Premier Division.[16] Darren Williams' "Seasiders" finished the 2011–12 season in 17th place, six points above the relegation zone. In July 2012, he signed with Celtic Nation of the Northern League Division One.

Statistics

Club	Season	Division	League		FA Cup		League Cup		Other		Total
			Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Hartlepool United	1998–99[17]	Third Division	3	0	0	0	0	0	1[lower-alpha 1]	0	4	0
Bolton Wanderers	2000–01[18]	First Division	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
	2001–02[19]	Premier League	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	2	0
	2002–03[20]	Premier League	0	0	2	0	1	0	0	0	3	0
	2003–04[21]	Premier League	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	2	0
	Total		2	0	4	0	2	0	0	0	8	0
Macclesfield Town (loan)	2001–02[19]	Third Division	8	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	8	2
Scunthorpe United (loan)	2003–04[21]	Third Division	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
Rochdale (loan)	2003–04[21]	Third Division	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
Preston North End (loan)	2003–04[21]	First Division	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	0
Port Vale	2004–05[22]	League One	34	1	2	0	1	0	2[lower-alpha 1]	0	39	1
	2005–06[23]	League One	27	1	2	0	0	0	1[lower-alpha 1]	1[lower-alpha 1]	30	2
	2006–07[24]	League One	27	3	2	0	4	1	1[lower-alpha 1]	0	34	4
	Total		88	5	6	0	5	1	4	1	103	7
Carlisle United	2006–07[24]	League One	17	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	17	1
	2007–08[25]	League One	22	1	2	0	2	0	2[lower-alpha 1]	0	28	1
	2008–09[26]	League One	16	0	3	0	1	0	0	0	20	0
	Total		55	2	5	0	3	0	2	0	65	2
Darlington	2009–10[27]	League Two	24	0	1	0	1	0	2[lower-alpha 1]	0	28	0
Olympic Charleroi	2010–11	Third Division B	12	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	12	1
Whitby Town	2011–12[28]	Northern Premier	22	2	0	0	0	0	1	0	23	2
Career total[lower-alpha 2]			221	12	16	0	11	0	10	2	258	14

1. Appearance/s and goal/s in the EFL Trophy.
2. Barrow, Bishop Auckland, and Celtic Nation statistics not known.

Honours

Bishop Auckland

• Durham Challenge Cup winner: 2001

Bolton Wanderers

• Football League First Division play-off winner: 2001

References

1. "Jeff Smith". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 9 March 2017.
2. "FootballSquads - Port Vale - 2006/07". www.footballsquads.co.uk. Retrieved 24 June 2019.
3. "Jeff Smith". ESPNsoccernet. 14 August 2002. Retrieved 25 January 2007.
4. "Smith signs for Preston". BBC Sport. 4 March 2004. Retrieved 20 July 2010.
5. "Rochdale snap up Smith". BBC Sport. 18 February 2004. Retrieved 20 July 2010.
6. "Port Vale snap up Smith". BBC Sport. 22 June 2004. Retrieved 25 January 2007.
7. "Pair pen new deals at Vale Park". BBC Sport. 23 May 2005. Retrieved 25 January 2007.
8. "Winger Smith stays with Port Vale". BBC Sport. 23 June 2006. Retrieved 20 July 2010.
9. "Carlisle snap up Vale midfielder". BBC Sport. 25 January 2004. Retrieved 25 January 2007.
10. "Brentford 0–0 Carlisle". BBC Sport. 27 January 2007. Retrieved 1 April 2007.
11. "Doncaster 1–2 Carlisle". BBC Sport. 3 February 2007. Retrieved 1 April 2007.
12. "Ward fury at ref over Smith knock". BBC Sport. 12 March 2008. Retrieved 20 July 2010.
13. "Winger Smith keen on Aberdeen FC move". Evening Express. 19 July 2010. Archived from the original on 26 July 2011. Retrieved 20 July 2010.
14. "Latest news". afc.co.uk. 23 July 2010. Archived from the original on 26 July 2010. Retrieved 24 July 2010.
15. "Smith to stay on with Millers". rotherhamunited-mad.co.uk. 19 July 2011. Retrieved 19 July 2011.
16. "Experienced Smith Joins Seasiders". nonleague.pitchero.com. 14 November 2011. Retrieved 21 November 2011.
17. "Games played by Jeff Smith in 1998/1999". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
18. "Games played by Jeff Smith in 2000/2001". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
19. "Games played by Jeff Smith in 2001/2002". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
20. "Games played by Jeff Smith in 2002/2003". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
21. "Games played by Jeff Smith in 2003/2004". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
22. "Games played by Jeff Smith in 2004/2005". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
23. "Games played by Jeff Smith in 2005/2006". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
24. "Games played by Jeff Smith in 2006/2007". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
25. "Games played by Jeff Smith in 2007/2008". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
26. "Games played by Jeff Smith in 2008/2009". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
27. "Games played by Jeff Smith in 2009/2010". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
28. "Whitby Town FC Playing Squad 2011–12". Archived from the original on 25 August 2010.