Willie Smith (footballer, born 1943)

Willie Smith
Personal information
Full name	William Smith
Date of birth	6 December 1943 (age 80)
Place of birth	Glasgow, Scotland
Position(s)	Wing half, inside left
Youth career
0000–1960	Blantyre Celtic
Senior career*
Years	Team
1960–1963	Celtic
1963–1965	Brentford
	Hastings United
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals

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

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

London Challenge Cup: 1964–65^[6]

Career statistics

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club	Season	League			FA Cup		League Cup		Total
Club	Season	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

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

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[1] "Willie Smith". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 12 March 2017.

[celticwiki-2] "Players Who Never Played a Game M – Z". thecelticwiki.com. Retrieved 15 June 2015.

[Timeless-3] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f 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.

[White-5] White, Eric, ed. (1989). 100 Years Of Brentford. Brentford FC. p. 388. ISBN 0951526200.

[AZBees-6] Haynes, Graham (1998). A-Z Of Bees: Brentford Encyclopaedia. Yore Publications. p. 82. ISBN 1-874427-57-7.

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