Willie Smith (footballer, born 1943)

William Smith (born 6 December 1943) is a Scottish retired professional football wing half who played in the Football League for Brentford.

Willie Smith
Personal information
Full name William Smith[1]
Date of birth (1943-12-06) 6 December 1943
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
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Career

Early years

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]

Brentford

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]

Hastings United

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]

Honours

Brentford Reserves

Career statistics
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
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

References
  1. "Willie Smith". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 12 March 2017.
  2. "Players Who Never Played a Game M – Z". thecelticwiki.com. Retrieved 15 June 2015.
  3. Haynes, Graham; Coumbe, Frank (2006). Timeless Bees: Brentford F.C. Who's Who 1920–2006. Harefield: Yore Publications. p. 150. ISBN 978-0955294914.
  4. Margate Football Club – Official Programme – Margate v. Brentford. 20 November 1963.
  5. White, Eric, ed. (1989). 100 Years Of Brentford. Brentford FC. pp. 388–388. ISBN 0951526200.
  6. Haynes, Graham (1998). A-Z Of Bees: Brentford Encyclopaedia. Yore Publications. p. 82. ISBN 1 874427 57 7.


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