Alan Smith (footballer, born 1962)

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This article is about the former Arsenal footballer. For other people with the same name, see Alan Smith (disambiguation).
Alan Smith
Alan Smith 2014.jpg
Personal information
Full name Alan Martin Smith
Date of birth (1962-11-21) 21 November 1962 (age 53)
Place of birth Hollywood, Worcestershire, England
Height 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Playing position Striker
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1981–1982 Alvechurch -
1982–1987 Leicester City 200 (76)
1987–1995 Arsenal 264 (115)
National team
1988–1992 England[1] 13 (2)
1990–1992 England B 4 (4)
-- England C - (-)

* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.

Alan Martin Smith (born 21 November 1962 in Hollywood, Worcestershire) is an English former professional footballer and current sports television pundit, Football commentator and the club patron of Alvechurch F.C.. As a player he was a striker from 1981 until retiring from injury in 1995.

He played for Leicester City before joining Arsenal where he played in the Premier League. He also won thirteen caps for England.

Playing career[edit]

Leicester City[edit]

A striker, Smith started his career at non-league Alvechurch in north Worcestershire. He then signed professional forms with Leicester City in June 1982. In his first season, he scored 13 goals in a partnership with Gary Lineker, as the Foxes won promotion to the First Division. He spent five seasons at Leicester, scoring 84 goals in 217 appearances. He was transferred to Arsenal in 1987.

Arsenal[edit]

During Smith's tenure with the Gunners the team won all three major domestic trophies – two League Championships, the FA Cup, the Football League Cup (in their 1993 'Cup Double') and in Europe the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup. He scored the first goal in Arsenal's League Championship winning victory at Anfield in May 1989, and the only goal of the 1994 European Cup Winners' Cup Final victory against Parma.[2] Smith was Arsenal's top scorer for four consecutive seasons, and the top scorer in the First Division in the 1988–89 season with 23 goals.[3]

He received just one yellow card throughout his entire career.[4] He retired from professional football in July 1995. Several clubs, including Watford, had expressed an interest in signing Smith just before he announced his retirement from playing.[5]

In eight seasons at Highbury, he scored a total of 115 league goals, His first league goals for the club came on 29 August 1987, when he netted a hat-trick in a 6–0 game versus Portsmouth at Highbury.[6] His last came on 12 December 1994 in a 2–1 win over Manchester City in the FA Premier League at Maine Road.[7] As well as his goals in the 1989 title clinching game and the European triumph of 1994, he scored a hat-trick against Manchester United in the First Division on 6 May 1991.[8]

Media career[edit]

Smith is currently a regular co-commentator and sometimes studio pundit for Sky Sports. In 2011 he commentated on the Champions League final alongside Martin Tyler. On 30 June 2011, EA Sports announced that Smith would replace Andy Gray as Martin Tyler's partner in commentating in FIFA 12. This partnership continued in the subsequent FIFA 13, FIFA 14, FIFA 15, FIFA 16, and the most recent installment FIFA 17.

Playing style[edit]

Alan Smith was well known for his headers [9] and his headed passes.

Club[edit]

Professional club career statistics.[10]

Club statistics
Season Club Division League FA Cup League Cup Europe Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Leicester City 1982–83 Second Division 39 13 1 1 1 0 — 41 14
1983–84 First Division 40 15 1 0 2 1 — 43 16
1984–85 First Division 39 12 4 2 2 1 — 45 15
1985–86 First Division 40 19 1 0 1 0 — 42 19
1986–87 First Division 42 17 1 1 3 2 — 46 20
Total 200 76 8 4 9 4 — 217 84
Arsenal 1987–88 First Division 39 11 3 1 8 4 — 50 16
1988–89 First Division 36 23 2 0 5 2 — 43 25
1989–90 First Division 38 10 2 0 4 3 — 44 13
1990–91 First Division 37 22 8 2 4 3 — 49 27
1991–92 First Division 39 12 1 1 2 0 4 4 46 17
1992–93 Premier League 31 3 7 1 7 2 — 45 6
1993–94 Premier League 25 3 2 1 5 1 9 2 41 7
1994–95 Premier League 19 2 1 0 3 1 4 1 27 4
Total 264 86 26 6 38 16 17 7 347 115
Career Total 464 162 34 10 47 20 17 7 564 199

Honours[edit]

Club[edit]

Leicester City
Arsenal

International[edit]

England

Individual[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Alan Smith at National-Football-Teams.com
  2. ^ "uefa.com – UEFA Cup Winners' Cup". UEFA. 1 June 1994. 
  3. ^ Young, James (4 April 1993). "Football: FA Cup semi-final: Guy Hodgson meets the men at the sharp end in today's Spurs-Arsenal FA Cup semi-final at Wembley: Alan Smith – Arsenal – Sport". The Independent. 
  4. ^ "GGM 42: Last-gasp Linighan clinches FA Cup | History". Arsenal F.C. 16 August 2007. 
  5. ^ Young, James (21 June 1995). "Rioch signs Bergkamp to signal new era – Sport". The Independent. 
  6. ^ "Arsenal appearances 1987/88". Arseweb.com. 
  7. ^ "Football Stats | Premier League Fixtures, Players, Goal Scorers & Assists". Statbunker.com. 
  8. ^ "Arsenal - 1991". youtube.com, video clip at 3:53. 
  9. ^ "Alan Smith's footballing memories". telegraph.co.uk. 
  10. ^ "Alan Smith: Leicester City career stats". FoxesTalk Stats. Retrieved 14 January 2015. 

http://www.avfc.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10265~2554511,00.html

External links[edit]


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