Paul Smith (footballer, born 1979)

For other people with the same name, see Paul Smith (disambiguation).

Paul Daniel Smith (born 17 December 1979) is an English football coach and former player. He is currently head of Academy goalkeeper coaching at League Two club Colchester United.

Paul Smith

Smith in 2007
Personal information
Full name	Paul Daniel Smith[1]
Date of birth	(1979-12-17) 17 December 1979 (age 45)[1]
Place of birth	Epsom, England
Height	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)[2]
Position(s)	Goalkeeper
Team information
Current team	Colchester United (Academy Goalkeeping Coach)
Youth career
1997–1998	Walton & Hersham
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1998	Epsom & Ewell	1	(0)
1998–1999	Charlton Athletic	0	(0)
1999–2000	Carshalton Athletic
2000–2004	Brentford	87	(0)
2004–2006	Southampton	16	(0)
2006–2012	Nottingham Forest	120	(0)
2011	→ Middlesbrough (loan)	10	(0)
2012–2016	Southend United	34	(0)
Total		267	(0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Education

Smith holds A-levels in PE, Home Economics, Sociology, Advanced Mathematics, Biology and Geography.^{[citation needed]}He studied at the Glyn school in Ewell, Epsom.

Career

Early playing career

Smith was born in Epsom and made an appearance for his hometown club on the final day of the 1997–98 Isthmian League Third Division season.^[3][4] He continued his career at Charlton Athletic, but was released in the summer of 1999, after one year as a professional. After a short period with Walton & Hersham, Smith moved to Carshalton Athletic in late 1999, but moved to Brentford in August 2000 after they spotted Smith guesting for Crawley Town in a pre-season friendly against The Bees. At Brentford, he made 104 appearances.^[5]

Southampton

In January 2004, to address financial problems at Brentford, Smith was sold to Southampton for a fee reported to be £250,000, with additional add on fees totalling £250,000.^[6] At Southampton, he was initially deputy to Antti Niemi, but, following Niemi's departure, Smith took over as their number one. However, he found himself further down the pecking order with the arrival of Bartosz Białkowski and Kevin Miller.

Nottingham Forest

In search of first team football, Smith signed for League One side Nottingham Forest for around £500,000 in July 2006.^[7] He established himself ahead of Rune Pedersen as Forest's first choice goalkeeper for the club's 2006–07 promotion campaign.

In the 2007–08 campaign, Smith helped Forest gain automatic promotion finishing second in the league they were promoted from League One to the Championship. Smith had a good season and helped enormously in goal, making match winning saves to help the Reds gain promotion. He kept 24 clean sheets in 46 games,^[8] the record for the league in that season. This achievement was recognised when he received the Puma Golden Glove award.

He also made footballing history in the Football League Cup when he scored after 15 seconds against Leicester City in the second round of the competition on 18 September 2007. Smith became the quickest goalkeeper ever to score in world football, and the quickest ever goalscorer in the League Cup and for Nottingham Forest. The unusual goal came about because the tie had been previously abandoned at half-time due to the collapse of Leicester City's Clive Clarke, while Nottingham Forest were 1–0 up. In a show of sportsmanship, Leicester allowed Forest to take the kick-off and run up uncontested to score the goal, to restore the score-line to what it was at the abandonment of the previous match. It was decided that Smith should be the player to score, to avoid suspicions surrounding betting patterns. Leicester City did come back into the game to beat Forest 3–2.^[9][10] In July 2008, Smith signed a new two-year contract with Forest, keeping him at the City Ground until 2010,^[11] and signed another extension in 2009, to keep Smith at the City Ground until 2012.^[12]

After falling out of favour with manager Billy Davies, Smith lost his first choice status to Lee Camp, despite having played in all three of their League Cup matches. On 30 July 2010, Smith was placed on the transfer list and told he was free to seek first team football elsewhere.^[13] This was two days after a pre-season friendly at the City Ground against French Ligue 1 team Olympique Lyonnais which Forest lost 3–1. Smith was replaced by youngster Karl Darlow in the 75th minute,^[14] and Smith's performance was criticised.^{[citation needed]}

In the 2011–12 season, Smith was restricted to one first team game, a Football League Cup tie at home to neighbours Notts County which ended in a 3–3 draw, Forest winning the penalty shoot-out.

Smith's contract expired with Forest at the end of the 2011–12 season and he was released by the club.^[15]

Middlesbrough (loan)

On 8 March 2011, Smith joined Middlesbrough on loan until the end of the season; he made his debut that night in a 2–1 win against Derby County.^[2] He played in 10 first team games.

Southend United

On 18 August 2012, Smith signed a two-year deal with Southend United.^[16]

Colchester United

On 6 July 2017, Smith joined Colchester United as head of academy goalkeeper coaching.^[17]

Career statistics

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			FA Cup		League Cup		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Epsom & Ewell	1997–98[4]	Isthmian League Third Division	1	0	―		―		―		1	0
Brentford	2000–01[18]	Second Division	2	0	0	0	0	0	1[a]	0	3	0
	2001–02[19]	Second Division	18	0	0	0	0	0	4[b]	0	22	0
	2002–03[20]	Second Division	43	0	4	0	2	0	2[a]	0	51	0
	2003–04[21]	Second Division	24	0	2	0	1	0	2[a]	0	29	0
	Total		87	0	6	0	3	0	9	0	105	0
Southampton	2003–04[21]	Premier League	0	0	―		―		―		0	0
	2004–05[22]	Premier League	6	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	9	0
	2005–06[23]	Championship	10	0	1	0	2	0	0	0	13	0
	Total		16	0	4	0	2	0	0	0	22	0
Nottingham Forest	2006–07[24]	League One	45	0	4	0	1	0	2[c]	0	52	0
	2007–08[8]	League One	46	0	3	0	2	1	1[a]	0	52	1
	2008–09[25]	Championship	28	0	3	0	2	0	―		33	0
	2009–10[26]	Championship	1	0	0	0	3	0	0	0	4	0
	2010–11[27]	Championship	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	2011–12[28]	Championship	0	0	0	0	1	0	―		1	0
	Total		120	0	10	0	9	1	3	0	142	1
Middlesbrough (loan)	2010–11[27]	Championship	10	0	―		―		―		10	0
Southend United	2012–13[29]	League Two	34	0	4	0	0	0	7[a]	0	45	0
	2013–14[30]	League Two	0	0	0	0	0	0	1[a]	0	1	0
	2014–15[31]	League Two	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	0
	2015–16[32]	League One	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Total		34	0	4	0	1	0	8	0	47	0
Career total			268	0	24	0	15	1	20	0	327	1

1. Appearance in Football League Trophy
2. Three appearances in Second Division play-offs, one appearance in Football League Trophy
3. Appearances in League One play-offs

Honours

Brentford

• Football League Trophy runner-up: 2000–01^[33]

Nottingham Forest

• Football League One second-place promotion: 2007–08^[8]

Southend United

• Football League Trophy runner-up: 2012–13^[34]

References

1. Hugman, Barry J., ed. (2009). The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2009–10. Mainstream Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84596-474-0.
2. "Paul Smith – player profile". mfc.co.uk. Middlesbrough F.C. Archived from the original on 26 September 2012. Retrieved 7 April 2011.
3. "Player Information File". Epsom And Ewell FC – Your One Stop Resource. Retrieved 17 September 2022.
4. "First XI Results & Line Ups". Retrieved 18 September 2022.
5. Paul Smith at Soccerbase
6. "Brentford | News | Latest News | Latest News | SMITH COMPLETES MOVE". brentfordfc.co.uk. 28 January 2004. Retrieved 19 February 2018.
7. "Calderwood snaps up keeper Smith". BBC Sport. 11 July 2006.
8. "Games played by Paul Smith in 2007/2008". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
9. "Forest given 'free goal' by Foxes". BBC Sport. 18 September 2007. Retrieved 19 September 2007.
10. "Nottingham Forest 2 v 3 Leicester City". nottinghamforest.co.uk. Nottingham Forest F.C. 18 September 2007. Retrieved 19 September 2007.
11. "Smith signs new Forest contract". BBC Sport. 29 July 2008.
12. "Nottingham Forest goalkeeper Paul Smith signs new deal". BBC Sport. 23 December 2009.
13. Burton, Chris (31 July 2010). "Smith listed by Forest". Sky Sports. Retrieved 27 August 2010.
14. "Nottingham Forest 3 Lyon 1". thisisnottingham.co.uk. Nottingham Post. 29 July 2010. Archived from the original on 5 May 2013. Retrieved 8 July 2012.
15. Birtles, Garry (7 July 2012). "Luke Chambers has made the right decision to leave Forest". thisisnottingham.co.uk. Nottingham Post. Archived from the original on 10 July 2012. Retrieved 8 July 2012.
16. Scriven, David (18 August 2012). "Blues sign up Paul Smith". southendunited.co.uk. Southend United F.C. Retrieved 18 August 2012.
17. Hudson, Matt (6 July 2017). "Smith Joins Academy Ranks". Colchester United FC. Retrieved 7 July 2017.
18. "Games played by Paul Smith in 2000/2001". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
19. "Games played by Paul Smith in 2001/2002". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
20. "Games played by Paul Smith in 2002/2003". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
21. "Games played by Paul Smith in 2003/2004". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
22. "Games played by Paul Smith in 2004/2005". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
23. "Games played by Paul Smith in 2005/2006". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
24. "Games played by Paul Smith in 2006/2007". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
25. "Games played by Paul Smith in 2008/2009". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
26. "Games played by Paul Smith in 2009/2010". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
27. "Games played by Paul Smith in 2010/2011". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
28. "Games played by Paul Smith in 2011/2012". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
29. "Games played by Paul Smith in 2012/2013". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
30. "Games played by Paul Smith in 2013/2014". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
31. "Games played by Paul Smith in 2014/2015". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
32. "Games played by Paul Smith in 2015/2016". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
33. "Vale vault Brentford to lift Vans trophy". BBC Sport. 22 April 2001. Retrieved 22 March 2024.
34. "Starting Lineups - Crewe vs Southend". Sky Sports. 7 April 2013. Retrieved 10 March 2024.

External links

• Paul Smith at Soccerbase