Joe Smith (footballer)

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Joe Smith
Personal information
Full name	Joseph Smith
Date of birth	June 25, 1889 (1889-06-25)
Place of birth	Dudley, England
Date of death	August 11, 1971 (aged 82)
Place of death	Blackpool, England
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1908-1927 1927-1929 1929-1931	Bolton Wanderers Stockport County Darwen (player/manager) Career	492 (277) 069 0(61) 051 0(42) 612 (380)
National team
1913-1920	England	005 00(1)
Teams managed
1929-1931 1931-1935 1935-1958	Darwen (player/manager) Reading Blackpool
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. * Appearances (Goals)

Joseph "Joe" Smith (June 25, 1889 – August 11, 1971) was an English professional football player and manager. He was manager of Blackpool for 23 years and guided them to victory in the 1953 FA Cup Final, the only time they have won the competition since their 1887 inception.

Contents 1 Playing career 1.1 International career 2 Managerial career 2.1 Managerial stats 3 See also 4 Notes 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Playing career

Born in Dudley in the West Midlands, Smith spent almost his entire playing career with Bolton Wanderers, for whom he signed in 1908, either as an inside or centre-forward. He helped them to reach two FA Cup finals, in 1923 and 1926, as well as playing for England on five occasions, either side of the First World War.^[1]

With the help of Trotters teammate Ted Vizard, during the 1920-21 season Smith scored a then club record 38 goals. In his nineteen years with Bolton, Smith scored 277 goals in 492 games.^[2] He is currently tenth in the list of England's top-flight goal scorers with 243 league goals to his name.

Upon leaving Wanderers in 1927, Smith signed for Stockport County and went on to score 61 goals in 69 league games.

Smith finished his playing career with Darwen (see "Managerial career" section below).

[edit] International career

The first of Smith's five England caps came on February 15, 1913, against Ireland at Belfast's Windsor Park in the Home Championship. The hosts won 2-1, despite being positioned 21 places below England in the ELO Ranking at the time.

His other caps came against Wales (a 2-0 victory, with Smith scoring the opening goal), Scotland (a 3-1 loss), Ireland (a 1-1 draw), and Wales (a 2-1 loss).

[edit] Managerial career

In 1929, Smith became player/manager of Darwen (see a 1931 team photo with Smith — front row, fourth from left — as captain here). As a player, he scored 42 goals in 51 games.^[3] As manager, he guided them to wins in Lancashire Combination Championship (twice), the Combination Cup (twice), the Lancashire Junior Cup, and the Lancashire Challenge Trophy.

Upon hanging up his playing boots in 1931, Smith became manager of Third Division South outfit Reading. In his four years at Elm Park, he led the club to runners-up spot twice and to third and fourth in the other two seasons.

In August 1935, Smith was approached to become the new manager of Blackpool, in place of the departed Sandy MacFarlane, an offer he immediately accepted; a love of the seaside apparently being one of the main deciding factors.

In 1936-37, only his second season at Bloomfield Road, Smith achieved promotion to Division One after leading the club to second place in the league. The famous early 1950s "M" forward line of Mortensen, Matthews and Mudie that Smith constructed was responsible for three FA Cup final appearances (two losses, one win - see below) and several challenges for the League Championship. Of his 23 seasons at the seaside, 21 were spent in the top flight.

His greatest achievement was guiding Blackpool to their dramatic 1953 FA Cup Final victory over his former club, Bolton.

After 714 Football League games in charge of Blackpool, Smith resigned in 1958, at the age of 68, due to poor health. Blackpool had won 306, drawn 164 and lost 244 under his guidance. The Blackpool board rewarded his services by giving him a hefty "golden handshake" and bought him a house in the town.

Smith died on August 11, 1971, aged 82.

[edit] Managerial stats

Team	Nat	From	To	Record
				G	W	D	L	Win %
Reading		July 1, 1931	August 1, 1935	184	92	49	43	50.00
Blackpool		August 1, 1935	April 30, 1958	730	317	247	166	43.42

[edit] See also

• Blackpool F.C. season 1935-36 to Blackpool F.C. season 1957-58

[edit] Notes

1. ^ Profile at www.englandstats.com
2. ^ http://www.btinternet.com/~dajaca/dar3.jpg
3. ^ Joseph Smith

[edit] References

• Calley, Roy (1992). Blackpool: A Complete Record 1887-1992. Breedon Books Sport. ISBN 1-873626-07-X. 

[edit] External links

• Smith's profile at the Darwen Royal British Legion (mirror posting)
• Playing profile at Soccerbase
• Managerial profile at Soccerbase
• England profile at the FA.com

v • d • e Blackpool F.C. – Managers Barcroft (1903–09) • Cox (1909–11) • Norman (1918–23) • Buckley (1923–27) • Beaumont (1927–28) • Evans (1928–33) • MacFarlane (1933–35) • Smith (1935–58) • Suart (1958–67) • Mortensen (1967–69) • Shannon (1969–70) • Meadows* (1970) • Stokoe (1970–72) • Potts (1972–76) • Brown (1976–78) • Meadows* (1978) • Stokoe (1978–79) • Ternent (1979–80) • Ball (1980–81) • Brown (1981–82) • Ellis (1982–89) • Mullen (1989–90) • White* (1990) • Carr (1990) • Ayre (1990–94) • Allardyce (1994–96) • Megson (1996–97) • Worthington (1997–99) • McMahon (2000–04) • Hendry (2004–05) • Grayson (2005–) * as caretaker-manager

v • d • e Reading F.C. – Managers Sefton (1897–1901) • Sharp (1901–02) • Matthews (1902–22) • Marshall (1922–23) • Chadwick (1923–25) • Bray (1925–26) • Wylie (1926–31) • Joe Smith (1931–35) • Butler (1935–39) • Cochrane (1939) • Edelston (1939–47) • Drake (1947–52) • Jack Smith (1952–55) • Johnston (1955–63) • Bentley (1963–69) • Mansell (1969–72) • Hurley (1972–77) • Evans (1977–84) • Branfoot (1984–89) • Chatterley (1989c) • Porterfield (1989–91) • McGhee (1991–94) • Gooding, Hopkins, Williams & Quinn (1994–95c) • Gooding & Quinn (1995–97) • Bullivant (1997–98) • Pardew (1998) • Burns (1998–99) • Pardew (1999–03) • Dillon (2003c) • Coppell (2003–) (c) = caretaker manager

Awards
Preceded by Fred Morris	First Division top scorer 1920–21	Succeeded by Andrew Wilson