William Smith (born 6 December 1943) is a Scottish retired professional football wing half who played in the Football League for Brentford.
Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Full name | William Smith[1] | ||
Date of birth | (1943-12-06) 6 December 1943 (age 78) | ||
Place of birth | Glasgow, Scotland | ||
Position(s) | Wing half, inside left | ||
Youth career | |||
0000–1960 | Blantyre Celtic | ||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
1960–1963 | Celtic | 0 | (0) |
1963–1965 | Brentford | 25 | (0) |
Hastings United | |||
*Club domestic league appearances and goals |
Born in Glasgow, Smith began his career as an inside left with junior club Blantyre Celtic before securing a move to Scottish League First Division club Celtic in 1960.[2] He failed to appear for the first team and departed Celtic Park in 1963.[2][3]
Smith moved to England to sign for Third Division club Brentford on a free transfer in June 1963.[3][4] Playing as a wing half, Smith made something of a breakthrough into the first team during the 1963–64 season and made 18 appearances.[5] Over the course of the following two seasons, Smith lost his place to Mel Scott and made just 12 appearances.[3][5] He was mostly confined to the reserves and won the London Challenge Cup with the team in 1965.[6] Smith departed Griffin Park at the end of the 1965–66 and made 30 appearances for the club.[3]
After his release from Brentford, Smith dropped into non-league football and signed for Southern League First Division club Hastings United during the 1966 off-season.[3] He helped the club to a second-place finish in the 1966–67 season, which secured promotion to the Premier Division.[3]
Brentford Reserves
Club | Season | League | FA Cup | League Cup | Total | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
Brentford | 1963–64[5] | Third Division | 13 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 18 | 0 |
1964–65[5] | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | ||
1965–66[5] | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | ||
Career total | 25 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 30 | 0 |
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