Alan Smith (footballer, born 1962)

This article is about the former Arsenal footballer. For other people with the same name, see Alan Smith (disambiguation).
Alan Smith
Personal information
Full name Alan Martin Smith
Date of birth (1962-11-21) 21 November 1962
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 (86)
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

Leicester City

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

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 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

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

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

Club

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 391311104114
1983–84 First Division 401510214316
1984–85 First Division 391242214515
1985–86 First Division 401910104219
1986–87 First Division 421711324620
Total 20076849421784
Arsenal 1987–88 First Division 391131845016
1988–89 First Division 362320524325
1989–90 First Division 381020434413
1990–91 First Division 372282434927
1991–92 First Division 39121120444617
1992–93 Premier League 3137172456
1993–94 Premier League 253215192417
1994–95 Premier League 192103141274
Total 264862663816177347115
Career Total 46416234104720177564199

Honours

Club

Leicester City
Arsenal

International

England

Individual

References

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

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/6/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.