*Indicates unconfirmed information. Figures in brackets after English team names indicate all appearances made and goals scored in competitive matches for Football League clubs from 1888 onwards. For Scottish League clubs the figures show details of all competitive appearances and goals scored from 1946/47 onwards.
Paul Smith
Appearances: 9 Goals: 0
Date / Year of birth: 18th September 1971
Position: Midfielder
Season of first appearance: 2008/09
Season of last appearance: 2008/09
Also played for: Southend United (18+3,1), Dover Athletic, Brentford (198,17), Gillingham (391+8,27), Walsall (9,1), Swindon Town (5+4,0), AFC Sudbury, Torquay United (5+3,0), Great Wakering Rovers, St.Albans City and Billericay Town
Classy 5' 11 tall midfielder born in East Ham, London who started his career as a trainee at Southend before turning professional in 1990. Paul found first team opportunities hard to come by at the Division 2 (later Championship) club and during the 1992/93 season he was loaned to Conference outfit Dover. He eventually made 21 senior appearances for Southend (three as sub) and scored once before being released in the summer of 1993.
In August 1993 Paul joined Brentford and he went on to make almost 200 appearances for the Bees over the course of the next four seasons, scoring 17 goals. Brentford were in the third tier of English football during that time.
In the summer of 1997 Paul signed for Gillingham and made his debut in a 0-0 draw with Preston at Priestfield on 9.8.97. He became a legendary figure at the club as they gained promotion to the 1st Division (later Championship) for the 2000/01 campaign and spent five seasons at that level - the highest ever reached by the Gills. Paul was captain for most of his time at Gillingham and won the club's 'Player of the Year' award four times. He made 394 appearances (eight as sub) and scored 27 goals before leaving the Gills at the end of the 2004/05 campaign following their relegation back to League One.
In July 2005 Paul joined League One club Walsall and made his debut in a 2-2 home draw with his old club Southend on 13.8.05. He made nine appearances during the first two months of the 2005/06 season and scored once - in a 3-1 defeat at Huddersfield on 15.10.05 - before being loaned back to Gillingham towards the end of October 2005.
Paul's second spell with the Gills started with a 2-1 home win over Blackpool on 29.10.05 and he made five appearances without scoring to take his career tally for the club to 399 before going back to Walsall early in December 2005.
Paul didn't play for Walsall again and in January 2006 he joined Swindon on a free transfer. Ironically he made his debut as a substitute in a 3-0 defeat at Gillingham on 14.1.06 and after making three more sub appearances Paul started for the first time in a 2-1 home win over Doncaster on 4.2.06. By then end of the season he'd featured in nine games for Swindon (four as sub) without scoring and Paul was released in June 2006.
After a few months out of football Paul signed for Isthmian League Division 1 North outfit AFC Sudbury in October 2006 and at the end of January 2007 he returned to the Football League when he joined Torquay.
Paul made his debut for the Gulls as a half-time substitute in a 5-0 defeat at Mansfield on 30.1.07 and then started for the first time in a 1-1 home draw with Barnet on 3.2.07. He went on to make a total of eight appearances (three as sub) without scoring as Torquay were relegated to the Conference at the end of the 2006/07 season.
In August 2007 Paul was signed by League Two club Barnet but never played as he was released again within days after manager Paul Fairclough changed his mind about the deal.
Paul then made one appearance for Great Wakering in the Isthmian League Division 1 North early in the 2007/08 campaign and Iain O'Connell was their manager at the time.
Early in September 2007 Paul moved on to St.Albans of the Conference South and made his debut for them in a 4-3 win at Bishop's Stortford on 7.9.07. He made three more appearances without scoring before leaving the club at the end of the month.
In October 2007 Paul rejoined AFC Sudbury and spent the remainder of the 2007/08 season there, making 21 Division 1 North appearances (three as sub) and scoring three times.
In May 2007 Paul joined Margate as player-coach on a one-year contract at the same time as his former Gillingham team-mate Barry Ashby was appointed as manager. Paul was originally due to be joint manager with Ashby but boardroom upheaval resulted in a change of role.
After featuring in one pre-season friendly Paul made his competitive debut in a holding midfield role as Margate lost 1-0 at Dover in the Isthmian League Premier Division on 25.8.08. The Isle of Thanet Gazette said he "added much-needed experience in midfield" and "ran the show in the middle of the park". The paper also added that Paul was "not really fit yet but still has his Football League class to draw on". Meanwhile Barry Ashby told the paper "Smudge has had a bit of an ankle injury in pre-season and personally I think he's still two or three weeks or maybe even a month from full fitness. Smudge sat in there and dictated the pace of the game. He was talking to the back four and the young midfielders ahead of him. He's not had a pre-season so it's a risk playing him but it gave the boys confidence having someone who's been there, seen it and done it."
Paul started three of Margate's next five matches and after he'd gone off with a knee problem in a 1-1 draw at Harlow on 2.9.08 Barry Ashby told the Isle of Thanet Gazette "In all the time I played with him I don't think he was ever fully-fit because he goes in for everything. He's a Bryan Robson character - he won't shirk anything."
After sitting out a 5-1 defeat at Worthing in the FA Cup on 13.9.08 Paul returned to the side for a 1-0 win at Ashford (Middlesex) on 20.9.08 and then played in each of the next four games. Following a 0-0 draw with Tonbridge at Hartsdown Park Barry Ashby told the Isle of Thanet Gazette "To be honest, we'd rather not be playing Smudge but he has that calming influence. We'd rather not play him till he's 70/80 per cent fit, because to me he's about 40 per cent at the moment. But he doesn't moan, he gets on with it and he's enjoying it. We all know that when you get older it takes longer for the timber to come off but he's working his socks off."
On 18.10.08 Paul made what turned out to be his final appearance in the number five shirt as Margate lost 1-0 at home to Hendon in the FA Trophy and a few days after he'd missed a 1-0 defeat against visitors Wealdstone on 25.10.08 Paul left the club when Barry Ashby was sacked. He'd made a total of nine appearances without scoring.
Immediately after leaving Margate Paul signed for Billericay having turned down an approach from Iain O'Connell's Great Wakering and in a strange twist of fate he made his debut for Ricay as they took on Margate at New Lodge on 1.11.08. Remarkably Paul headed his new side in front early on and Billericay ended up winning the game 3-2. The Thanet Times said "it was a surprise to see him" whilst adding "an even bigger surprise was he lasted 90 minutes - a feat he only managed once at Blues as he battled for fitness". The Margate match was Paul's only outing for Billericay and he retired from football shortly afterwards.
|
SEASON (CLUB) |
FULL (MAX) |
SUB |
GLS |
FAC |
FAT |
ILC |
KSC |
| |
|
2008/09 (MFC) |
9 (46) |
0 |
0 |
ISTHMIAN LEAGUE PREMIER DIVISION (19TH OF 22) |
1QR |
1QR |
2R |
1R |
|
Margate finished in
relegation position but were reprieved and remained in the Isthmian League
Premier Division. | |||||||||