Tommy Smith (footballer born 1945)
Encyclopedia
Thomas "Tommy" Smith MBE
(born 5 April 1945) was a long-serving footballer with Liverpool
, known for his uncompromising defensive style. Manager Bill Shankly
once said of him: "Tommy Smith wasn't born, he was quarried."
, Smith joined Liverpool F.C.
under new manager Bill Shankly
as a schoolboy on 19 May 1960 and made his début three years later on 8 May 1963, the last day of the season in a comprehensive 5–1 victory over Birmingham City
at Anfield
. However, he made no appearances throughout the following season, as Liverpool won the League
title. He scored his first goal in the 3–2 league defeat to Blackburn Rovers
at Ewood Park
on 29 August 1964.
In 1965, Smith started to feature more regularly and was an integral part of the Liverpool side that won the FA Cup
for the first time in the club's history, They beat Leeds United
2–1 after extra-time in the final at Wembley on 1 May. Although a defender, Smith wore the #10 shirt; a cunning ploy by manager Bill Shankly to confuse opponents in the days when specific numbers always represented specific positions on the pitch. The #10 shirt usually was worn by an inside forward.
The 1965–66 campaign saw Smith become a fixture in the team which went on to regain the League title, earning Smith the first of his four championship medals, However, the season also had the taste of disappointment as Liverpool lost 2–1 in the 1966 European Cup Winners' Cup Final to Borussia Dortmund
at Hampden Park
. Had Liverpool won, with future successes in other European competitions to come, Smith would have attained a rare haul of three winners' medals from the three different European contests.
After the success of 1966 there then followed a barren period for Liverpool in the late 1960s and after a disastrous cup defeat at Vicarage Road
to Watford
in February 1970, Shankly decided to dismantle the team and build a new, younger side.
Smith and team-mates Ian Callaghan
, Chris Lawler
and Emlyn Hughes
survived the cull which saw the likes of Alec Lindsay
, Brian Hall and Ray Clemence
emerge from the reserves and Steve Heighway
, John Toshack
and, later, Kevin Keegan
join the club. Smith was given the honour of club captaincy and led the team to the 1971 FA Cup final, which Liverpool lost to Arsenal
.
In 1973 Smith skippered the team to their first double success of the League and UEFA Cup
when they topped the league by three points over Arsenal and beat Borussia Mönchengladbach
3–2 on aggregate. He then had the disappointment of losing the captaincy to Hughes after he had complained to Shankly at being left out of the team for a game. Earlier, Hughes had told Shankly to remove the captaincy from Smith and give it to a younger man. When he returned, he was also moved from his favoured central defensive role to full back. Smith ultimately settled his differences with his manager satisfactorily, though less so with Hughes who went on to lift the FA Cup in 1974 after Liverpool comprehensively beat Newcastle United FC in one of the most one-sided of Wembley finals. Although Smith did miss out on receiving the trophy from The Princess Anne
he did have the joy of setting up the third and final goal for the young striker Keegan, a stunning team goal.
As Smith's twilight years approached, he made fewer appearances and with the emergence of youngsters Phil Thompson
and Phil Neal
as central defender and full back respectively, though he still played an important role as Liverpool managed another League and UEFA Cup dual success in 1976, when he appeared 24 times in the league and played a left-back role in both legs of the UEFA final. The following year, which Smith had announced would be his final season with the club, started with him out of the side for several months, but ended with his finest moment.
Smith was left out of the side that started the 1976–77 season but, when Thompson picked up an injury in Liverpool's 1–0 win over Newcastle in the March, he was recalled and kept his place as the side went on to retain the League title. He then played in the 1977 FA Cup final which Liverpool lost to bitter rivals Manchester United
, thereby ruining the chance of a treble, with the club's first European Cup
final in Rome
due a few days later. Despite the disappointment of the defeat at Wembley, Liverpool played magnificently to beat old UEFA Cup
foes Borussia Mönchengladbach
3–1, with Smith scoring a towering header from a corner to make the score 2–1. It was his 48th and final goal for the club and the first for the season.
Two days after the remarkable night in Rome, Smith had his testimonial game at Anfield
, a Bobby Charlton
select Xl and 35,694 fans turned out to honour the Liverpool hardman as the side played out an entertaining 9–9 draw, such was the party atmosphere of the evening the Liverpool goalscorers included 2 from goalkeeper Clemence and 2 from the now 'prolific' Smith! He decided to delay his retirement and played a further season for Liverpool (missing the successful retention of the European Cup after a DIY accident at home injured his foot).
He spent the summer of 1978 in the NASL
with the Los Angeles Aztecs
. He started as a player but became player/head coach halfway through the season. At the end of the season he was replaced by Dutch legend Rinus Michels
.
Smith left for Swansea City
after 638 games in 1978, receiving the M.B.E for services to football that same year. The Swans were being managed by his former Liverpool team-mate John Toshack
at the time and Smith helped Swansea to promotion from the old Third Division. He retired from playing in 1979. It's notable that despite his long association with a winning team, level of respect within the game and amount of medals, he was only ever selected once to play for England
, in a 0–0 drawn British Home Championship
match against Wales
at Wembley in 1971. He also made junior and under-23 appearances for his country early in his career.
Apart from a brief spell as youth coach at Liverpool, Smith has not stayed in the game to any great extent, preferring business and journalistic careers after his playing days ended, but his legend lives on whenever people refer to the vernacular
of the "hard men of football" and Smith has made a reasonable living from talking about his career as the Anfield Iron – a nickname
afforded to him by Liverpool supporters.
Smith was known for his sharp tongue during games, often seen berating and even trying to instruct the referee
in command. That said, he certainly had the respect of his peers, with fellow "hard man" Jack Charlton
once saying "Tommy Smith was easily the hardest player I faced. I ran into him once and he knocked every ounce of breath out of me. I tried to get up and look like he hadn't hurt me, but he had." Charlton's defensive partner at Leeds United, Norman Hunter, and Chelsea
's Ron Harris
, both considered as tough players, also pay similar respects to Smith.
For a time, Smith ran a pub in Billinge, Wigan called "The Smithy".
In 1988 Smith caused considerable controversy after making derogatory comments about black people to author Dave Hill while being interviewed in the Adelphi Hotel
in Liverpool for a book Hill was writing about black Liverpool F.C player John Barnes
. Smith was uncomplimentary about Howard Gayle
, a black former Liverpool player with whom Smith had been at the club in the 1970s while the striker was a youth team player, saying that: "Howard suffered from a black man's attitude towards the white man. See, everybody thinks whites have an attitude towards blacks. In reality it's blacks who have a problem with the whites". Smith later added that in order to gain his respect and friendship, "coloured" people have to learn to "think like the white man" and that he later grew to like Gayle, remarking that "I used to call Howard the 'White Nigger'. Now that is a compliment. It was the only way I could find to describe that I thought he was OK." Smith then went on to comment to Hill that "I'm not prejudiced but if a coon moved in next door, I'd move, like most white people would. If my daughter came home with a nigger, I'd go mad. But I'm only being truthful and normal." Hill reproduced Smith's comments in his 1989 book Out Of His Skin: The John Barnes Phenomenon. Smith reacted by implying that he intended to sue Hill but he in fact had no grounds to take legal action as Hill had recorded all of Smith's comments on tape during the interview and had quoted all of his statements accurately while keeping the tape safe in his possession. Hill's book was widely praised by critics but Smith was heavily condemned for his comments quoted in the book.
In his later years, Smith had a hip replacement
operation (both knees and an elbow are made of plastic as well) and also began to suffer from arthritis
to the extent that he couldn't work and often needed a wheelchair
or walking stick and had to claim incapacity benefit
. He then had to go to a social security
tribunal
to explain himself after he managed to take a penalty on the Wembley pitch in a light-hearted contest for charity which featured former footballers which took place at half-time during the FA Cup final in 1996. The informer was an employee for the DSS
. Smith, perhaps only half-seriously, claimed in his newspaper column that the informer must have been an Everton supporter and had only reported him because of his probable anti-Liverpool bias. Staff at the same DSS branch at which the individual worked denied that he was an Everton supporter and claimed that he had no interest whatsoever in football, being a rugby league
fan. Nonetheless, the myth of Smith being shopped by an Evertonian still persists. In any case, Smith's allowance was stopped for a while, but he is now back on the top level of disability benefit. He now supplements his income on the after-dinner circuit and by writing a column for a local newspaper
. In March 2008 he published his autobiography, Anfield Iron.
He has been a weekly columnist for the Liverpool Echo for over 25 years and lives quietly in the Crosby
area of Liverpool with his wife Susan. He is also still held in high regard amongst the Kopites as he was voted 25th in the Official Liverpool Football Club web site poll 100 Players Who Shook The Kop.
On 6 June 2007, Smith had a heart attack at his home in Liverpool and was rushed to hospital to receive treatment. He underwent a six-way heart bypass shortly after, from which he made an excellent recovery and is back as a regular at Anfield for home matches.
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(born 5 April 1945) was a long-serving footballer with Liverpool
Liverpool F.C.
Liverpool Football Club is an English Premier League football club based in Liverpool, Merseyside. Liverpool has won eighteen League titles, second most in English football, seven FA Cups and a record seven League Cups...
, known for his uncompromising defensive style. Manager Bill Shankly
Bill Shankly
William "Bill" Shankly, OBE was a Scottish football player and manager, most noted for managing Liverpool between 1959 and 1974. One of Britain's most successful and respected football managers, Shankly was also a fine player whose career was interrupted by the Second World War...
once said of him: "Tommy Smith wasn't born, he was quarried."
Life and playing career
Born in LiverpoolLiverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
, Smith joined Liverpool F.C.
Liverpool F.C.
Liverpool Football Club is an English Premier League football club based in Liverpool, Merseyside. Liverpool has won eighteen League titles, second most in English football, seven FA Cups and a record seven League Cups...
under new manager Bill Shankly
Bill Shankly
William "Bill" Shankly, OBE was a Scottish football player and manager, most noted for managing Liverpool between 1959 and 1974. One of Britain's most successful and respected football managers, Shankly was also a fine player whose career was interrupted by the Second World War...
as a schoolboy on 19 May 1960 and made his début three years later on 8 May 1963, the last day of the season in a comprehensive 5–1 victory over Birmingham City
Birmingham City F.C.
Birmingham City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, they became Small Heath in 1888, then Birmingham in 1905, finally becoming Birmingham City in 1943.They were relegated at the end of the...
at Anfield
Anfield
Anfield is an association football stadium in the district of Anfield, Liverpool, England, with a seating capacity of 45,522. It has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since their formation in 1892 and was originally the home of Everton F.C. from 1884 to 1892, before they moved to Goodison Park...
. However, he made no appearances throughout the following season, as Liverpool won the League
Football League First Division
The First Division was a division of The Football League between 1888 and 2004 and the highest division in English football until the creation of the Premier League in 1992. The secondary tier in English football has since become known as the Championship....
title. He scored his first goal in the 3–2 league defeat to Blackburn Rovers
Blackburn Rovers F.C.
Blackburn Rovers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Blackburn, Lancashire. The team currently competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football....
at Ewood Park
Ewood Park
Ewood Park is a football stadium in the English town of Blackburn, Lancashire, and is the home of Blackburn Rovers Football Club — one of the founder members of the Football League and Premier League. Rovers have played there since they moved from Leamington Street in the summer of 1890. The...
on 29 August 1964.
In 1965, Smith started to feature more regularly and was an integral part of the Liverpool side that won the FA Cup
FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football and is the oldest association football competition in the world. The "FA Cup" is run by and named after The Football Association and usually refers to the English men's...
for the first time in the club's history, They beat Leeds United
Leeds United A.F.C.
Leeds United Association Football Club are an English professional association football club based in Beeston, Leeds, West Yorkshire, who play in the Football League Championship, the second tier of the English football league system...
2–1 after extra-time in the final at Wembley on 1 May. Although a defender, Smith wore the #10 shirt; a cunning ploy by manager Bill Shankly to confuse opponents in the days when specific numbers always represented specific positions on the pitch. The #10 shirt usually was worn by an inside forward.
The 1965–66 campaign saw Smith become a fixture in the team which went on to regain the League title, earning Smith the first of his four championship medals, However, the season also had the taste of disappointment as Liverpool lost 2–1 in the 1966 European Cup Winners' Cup Final to Borussia Dortmund
Borussia Dortmund
Ballspielverein Borussia Dortmund, commonly BVB, are a German sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. Dortmund are one of the most successful clubs in German football history. Borussia Dortmund play in the Bundesliga, the top league of German football...
at Hampden Park
Hampden Park
Hampden Park is a football stadium in the Mount Florida area of Glasgow, Scotland. The 52,063 capacity venue serves as the national stadium of football in Scotland...
. Had Liverpool won, with future successes in other European competitions to come, Smith would have attained a rare haul of three winners' medals from the three different European contests.
After the success of 1966 there then followed a barren period for Liverpool in the late 1960s and after a disastrous cup defeat at Vicarage Road
Vicarage Road
Vicarage Road, a stadium in Watford, Hertfordshire, England, is the home of the football club Watford and their tenants, the Saracens rugby union club. An all-seater stadium, its current capacity is 17,477.-History:...
to Watford
Watford F.C.
Watford Football Club is an English professional football club based in Watford, Hertfordshire. It is often referred to as Watford F.C., Watford, or by the team's nickname The Hornets . Watford Rovers, Founded in 1881, entered the FA Cup for the first time in 1886, and the Southern League a decade...
in February 1970, Shankly decided to dismantle the team and build a new, younger side.
Smith and team-mates Ian Callaghan
Ian Callaghan
Ian Robert Callaghan MBE is a former Liverpool footballer who holds the record for most appearances for the club.-Life and playing career:...
, Chris Lawler
Chris Lawler
Chris Lawler is a former footballer who enjoyed much of Liverpool's success of the 1960s and 1970s.-Life and playing career:...
and Emlyn Hughes
Emlyn Hughes
Emlyn Walter Hughes, OBE was an English footballer who captained both the England national team and the much-decorated Liverpool F.C. team of the 1970s.- From Blackpool to Liverpool :...
survived the cull which saw the likes of Alec Lindsay
Alec Lindsay
Alexander 'Alec' Lindsay was a strong full back who played in The Football League for Bury, Liverpool and Stoke City.-Life and playing career:...
, Brian Hall and Ray Clemence
Ray Clemence
Raymond Neal "Ray" Clemence, MBE is one of English and European football's most decorated goalkeepers ever and was part of the Liverpool team of the 1970s.-Scunthorpe United:...
emerge from the reserves and Steve Heighway
Steve Heighway
Stephen Derek "Steve" Heighway is a former footballer who was part of the hugely successful Liverpool team of the 1970s.-Life and playing career:...
, John Toshack
John Toshack
John Benjamin Toshack OBE is a Welsh former footballer and manager. He is currently the manager of Macedonia. He has also managed several others clubs including Swansea City, who he took from the Fourth Division to the First in four seasons.As a player, he is remembered for being part of the...
and, later, Kevin Keegan
Kevin Keegan
Joseph Kevin Keegan, OBE is a former international footballer and former manager of the England national football team and several English clubs, most notably Newcastle United....
join the club. Smith was given the honour of club captaincy and led the team to the 1971 FA Cup final, which Liverpool lost to Arsenal
Arsenal F.C.
Arsenal Football Club is a professional English Premier League football club based in North London. One of the most successful clubs in English football, it has won 13 First Division and Premier League titles and 10 FA Cups...
.
In 1973 Smith skippered the team to their first double success of the League and UEFA Cup
UEFA Cup
The UEFA Europa League is an annual association football cup competition organised by UEFA since 1971 for eligible European football clubs. It is the second most prestigious European club football contest after the UEFA Champions League...
when they topped the league by three points over Arsenal and beat Borussia Mönchengladbach
Borussia Mönchengladbach
Borussia Mönchengladbach is a German association football club based in Mönchengladbach, North Rhine-Westphalia. The team plays in the Bundesliga and is one of the country's most well-known, well-supported, and successful teams. Borussia Mönchengladbach has over 40,000 members and is the sixth...
3–2 on aggregate. He then had the disappointment of losing the captaincy to Hughes after he had complained to Shankly at being left out of the team for a game. Earlier, Hughes had told Shankly to remove the captaincy from Smith and give it to a younger man. When he returned, he was also moved from his favoured central defensive role to full back. Smith ultimately settled his differences with his manager satisfactorily, though less so with Hughes who went on to lift the FA Cup in 1974 after Liverpool comprehensively beat Newcastle United FC in one of the most one-sided of Wembley finals. Although Smith did miss out on receiving the trophy from The Princess Anne
Anne, Princess Royal
Princess Anne, Princess Royal , is the only daughter of Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh...
he did have the joy of setting up the third and final goal for the young striker Keegan, a stunning team goal.
As Smith's twilight years approached, he made fewer appearances and with the emergence of youngsters Phil Thompson
Phil Thompson
Philip Bernard Thompson is a retired English footballer, who played as a defender for Liverpool team of the 1970s and 1980s. During this time, he also represented the England national football team on 42 occasions...
and Phil Neal
Phil Neal
Philip George "Phil" Neal is a former footballer who was, at one time, the most successful player in English football history. He played for Liverpool 650 times over an eleven year period and is the only player to have appeared in the first five of their European Cup finals, winning four of them...
as central defender and full back respectively, though he still played an important role as Liverpool managed another League and UEFA Cup dual success in 1976, when he appeared 24 times in the league and played a left-back role in both legs of the UEFA final. The following year, which Smith had announced would be his final season with the club, started with him out of the side for several months, but ended with his finest moment.
Smith was left out of the side that started the 1976–77 season but, when Thompson picked up an injury in Liverpool's 1–0 win over Newcastle in the March, he was recalled and kept his place as the side went on to retain the League title. He then played in the 1977 FA Cup final which Liverpool lost to bitter rivals Manchester United
Manchester United F.C.
Manchester United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, that plays in the Premier League. Founded as Newton Heath LYR Football Club in 1878, the club changed its name to Manchester United in 1902 and moved to Old Trafford in 1910.The 1958...
, thereby ruining the chance of a treble, with the club's first European Cup
UEFA Champions League
The UEFA Champions League, known simply the Champions League and originally known as the European Champion Clubs' Cup or European Cup, is an annual international club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations since 1955 for the top football clubs in Europe. It...
final in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
due a few days later. Despite the disappointment of the defeat at Wembley, Liverpool played magnificently to beat old UEFA Cup
UEFA Cup
The UEFA Europa League is an annual association football cup competition organised by UEFA since 1971 for eligible European football clubs. It is the second most prestigious European club football contest after the UEFA Champions League...
foes Borussia Mönchengladbach
Borussia Mönchengladbach
Borussia Mönchengladbach is a German association football club based in Mönchengladbach, North Rhine-Westphalia. The team plays in the Bundesliga and is one of the country's most well-known, well-supported, and successful teams. Borussia Mönchengladbach has over 40,000 members and is the sixth...
3–1, with Smith scoring a towering header from a corner to make the score 2–1. It was his 48th and final goal for the club and the first for the season.
Two days after the remarkable night in Rome, Smith had his testimonial game at Anfield
Anfield
Anfield is an association football stadium in the district of Anfield, Liverpool, England, with a seating capacity of 45,522. It has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since their formation in 1892 and was originally the home of Everton F.C. from 1884 to 1892, before they moved to Goodison Park...
, a Bobby Charlton
Bobby Charlton
Sir Robert "Bobby" Charlton CBE is an English former professional football player, a member of the England team who won the World Cup and Ballon d'Or for European Footballer of the Year in 1966...
select Xl and 35,694 fans turned out to honour the Liverpool hardman as the side played out an entertaining 9–9 draw, such was the party atmosphere of the evening the Liverpool goalscorers included 2 from goalkeeper Clemence and 2 from the now 'prolific' Smith! He decided to delay his retirement and played a further season for Liverpool (missing the successful retention of the European Cup after a DIY accident at home injured his foot).
He spent the summer of 1978 in the NASL
North American Soccer League
North American Soccer League was a professional soccer league with teams in the United States and Canada that operated from 1968 to 1984.-History:...
with the Los Angeles Aztecs
Los Angeles Aztecs
The Los Angeles Aztecs were a soccer team that competed in the North American Soccer League from 1974-81. The team was based in Los Angeles, California and part-owned by Elton John.-History:...
. He started as a player but became player/head coach halfway through the season. At the end of the season he was replaced by Dutch legend Rinus Michels
Rinus Michels
Marinus Jacobus Hendricus Michels OON was a Dutch association football player and coach...
.
Smith left for Swansea City
Swansea City A.F.C.
Swansea City Association Football Club are a Welsh professional football club based in Swansea, Wales. One of the most successful clubs in Welsh football, it has won 10 Welsh Cups and led the English Football League First Division in December 1981, before finishing the season in 6th position...
after 638 games in 1978, receiving the M.B.E for services to football that same year. The Swans were being managed by his former Liverpool team-mate John Toshack
John Toshack
John Benjamin Toshack OBE is a Welsh former footballer and manager. He is currently the manager of Macedonia. He has also managed several others clubs including Swansea City, who he took from the Fourth Division to the First in four seasons.As a player, he is remembered for being part of the...
at the time and Smith helped Swansea to promotion from the old Third Division. He retired from playing in 1979. It's notable that despite his long association with a winning team, level of respect within the game and amount of medals, he was only ever selected once to play for England
England national football team
The England national football team represents England in association football and is controlled by the Football Association, the governing body for football in England. England is the joint oldest national football team in the world, alongside Scotland, whom they played in the world's first...
, in a 0–0 drawn British Home Championship
British Home Championship
The British Home Championship was an annual football competition contested between the United Kingdom's four national teams, England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland from the 1883–84 season until the 1983–84...
match against Wales
Wales national football team
The Wales national football team represents Wales in international football. It is controlled by the Football Association of Wales , the governing body for football in Wales, and the third oldest national football association in the world. The team have only qualified for a major international...
at Wembley in 1971. He also made junior and under-23 appearances for his country early in his career.
Apart from a brief spell as youth coach at Liverpool, Smith has not stayed in the game to any great extent, preferring business and journalistic careers after his playing days ended, but his legend lives on whenever people refer to the vernacular
Vernacular
A vernacular is the native language or native dialect of a specific population, as opposed to a language of wider communication that is not native to the population, such as a national language or lingua franca.- Etymology :The term is not a recent one...
of the "hard men of football" and Smith has made a reasonable living from talking about his career as the Anfield Iron – a nickname
Nickname
A nickname is "a usually familiar or humorous but sometimes pointed or cruel name given to a person or place, as a supposedly appropriate replacement for or addition to the proper name.", or a name similar in origin and pronunciation from the original name....
afforded to him by Liverpool supporters.
Smith was known for his sharp tongue during games, often seen berating and even trying to instruct the referee
Referee
A referee is the person of authority, in a variety of sports, who is responsible for presiding over the game from a neutral point of view and making on the fly decisions that enforce the rules of the sport...
in command. That said, he certainly had the respect of his peers, with fellow "hard man" Jack Charlton
Jack Charlton
John "Jack" Charlton, OBE, DL is a former footballer and manager who played for Leeds United in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, and was part of the England team who won the 1966 World Cup...
once saying "Tommy Smith was easily the hardest player I faced. I ran into him once and he knocked every ounce of breath out of me. I tried to get up and look like he hadn't hurt me, but he had." Charlton's defensive partner at Leeds United, Norman Hunter, and Chelsea
Chelsea F.C.
Chelsea Football Club are an English football club based in West London. Founded in 1905, they play in the Premier League and have spent most of their history in the top tier of English football. Chelsea have been English champions four times, FA Cup winners six times and League Cup winners four...
's Ron Harris
Ron Harris (footballer)
Ronald Edward Harris , better known as Ron "Chopper" Harris, is a former English footballer who played for Chelsea in the 1960s and 1970s. Harris is widely regarded as one of the toughest defenders of his era - along with players such as Tommy Smith MBE and Norman Hunter - hence the nickname...
, both considered as tough players, also pay similar respects to Smith.
For a time, Smith ran a pub in Billinge, Wigan called "The Smithy".
In 1988 Smith caused considerable controversy after making derogatory comments about black people to author Dave Hill while being interviewed in the Adelphi Hotel
Adelphi Hotel
The Adelphi Hotel was a hotel based in the city centre of Sheffield, England. It was notable for the founding of three major sports teams; Yorkshire County Cricket Club , Sheffield Wednesday and Sheffield United...
in Liverpool for a book Hill was writing about black Liverpool F.C player John Barnes
John Barnes (footballer)
John Charles Bryan Barnes MBE is an English football manager and former player.During his playing career, Barnes had successful periods at Watford and Liverpool in the 1980s and 1990s, winning the First Division twice, the FA Cup twice, and playing for England 79 times...
. Smith was uncomplimentary about Howard Gayle
Howard Gayle
Howard Gayle was the first black player to play for Liverpool.-Career:He was at the club for six years but was only given a total of five first team matches, later playing for several clubs including Birmingham City and Sunderland...
, a black former Liverpool player with whom Smith had been at the club in the 1970s while the striker was a youth team player, saying that: "Howard suffered from a black man's attitude towards the white man. See, everybody thinks whites have an attitude towards blacks. In reality it's blacks who have a problem with the whites". Smith later added that in order to gain his respect and friendship, "coloured" people have to learn to "think like the white man" and that he later grew to like Gayle, remarking that "I used to call Howard the 'White Nigger'. Now that is a compliment. It was the only way I could find to describe that I thought he was OK." Smith then went on to comment to Hill that "I'm not prejudiced but if a coon moved in next door, I'd move, like most white people would. If my daughter came home with a nigger, I'd go mad. But I'm only being truthful and normal." Hill reproduced Smith's comments in his 1989 book Out Of His Skin: The John Barnes Phenomenon. Smith reacted by implying that he intended to sue Hill but he in fact had no grounds to take legal action as Hill had recorded all of Smith's comments on tape during the interview and had quoted all of his statements accurately while keeping the tape safe in his possession. Hill's book was widely praised by critics but Smith was heavily condemned for his comments quoted in the book.
In his later years, Smith had a hip replacement
Hip replacement
Hip replacement is a surgical procedure in which the hip joint is replaced by a prosthetic implant. Hip replacement surgery can be performed as a total replacement or a hemi replacement. Such joint replacement orthopaedic surgery generally is conducted to relieve arthritis pain or fix severe...
operation (both knees and an elbow are made of plastic as well) and also began to suffer from arthritis
Arthritis
Arthritis is a form of joint disorder that involves inflammation of one or more joints....
to the extent that he couldn't work and often needed a wheelchair
Wheelchair
A wheelchair is a chair with wheels, designed to be a replacement for walking. The device comes in variations where it is propelled by motors or by the seated occupant turning the rear wheels by hand. Often there are handles behind the seat for someone else to do the pushing...
or walking stick and had to claim incapacity benefit
Social security
Social security is primarily a social insurance program providing social protection or protection against socially recognized conditions, including poverty, old age, disability, unemployment and others. Social security may refer to:...
. He then had to go to a social security
Social security
Social security is primarily a social insurance program providing social protection or protection against socially recognized conditions, including poverty, old age, disability, unemployment and others. Social security may refer to:...
tribunal
Tribunal
A tribunal in the general sense is any person or institution with the authority to judge, adjudicate on, or determine claims or disputes—whether or not it is called a tribunal in its title....
to explain himself after he managed to take a penalty on the Wembley pitch in a light-hearted contest for charity which featured former footballers which took place at half-time during the FA Cup final in 1996. The informer was an employee for the DSS
Department for Work and Pensions
The Department for Work and Pensions is the largest government department in the United Kingdom, created on June 8, 2001 from the merger of the employment part of the Department for Education and Employment and the Department of Social Security and headed by the Secretary of State for Work and...
. Smith, perhaps only half-seriously, claimed in his newspaper column that the informer must have been an Everton supporter and had only reported him because of his probable anti-Liverpool bias. Staff at the same DSS branch at which the individual worked denied that he was an Everton supporter and claimed that he had no interest whatsoever in football, being a rugby league
Rugby league
Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players...
fan. Nonetheless, the myth of Smith being shopped by an Evertonian still persists. In any case, Smith's allowance was stopped for a while, but he is now back on the top level of disability benefit. He now supplements his income on the after-dinner circuit and by writing a column for a local newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
. In March 2008 he published his autobiography, Anfield Iron.
He has been a weekly columnist for the Liverpool Echo for over 25 years and lives quietly in the Crosby
Crosby, Merseyside
Crosby is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, in Merseyside, England. Historically part of Lancashire it is situated north of Bootle, south of Southport, Formby and west of Netherton-History:...
area of Liverpool with his wife Susan. He is also still held in high regard amongst the Kopites as he was voted 25th in the Official Liverpool Football Club web site poll 100 Players Who Shook The Kop.
On 6 June 2007, Smith had a heart attack at his home in Liverpool and was rushed to hospital to receive treatment. He underwent a six-way heart bypass shortly after, from which he made an excellent recovery and is back as a regular at Anfield for home matches.
Liverpool F.C
(1962–1978) – 638 appearances, 48 goals- 4 First Division (level 1) championship winners medals (1966, 1973, 1976 and 1977)
- 2 FA Cup winners medals (1965 & 1974)
- 2 European Cup winners medals (1977 & 1978)
- 2 UEFA Cup winners medals (1973 & 1976)
- 1 European Cup Winners Cup runners-up medal (1966)
- 1 European Super Cup winners medal (1977)
- 3 Community Shield/Charity Shield winners medals (1965 shared), 1966 and 1977
- 2 First Division runners-up (1969 & 1978)
- 2 FA Cup runners-up medal (1971 & 1977)
- 1 Football League Cup runners-up medal (1978)
- 1 Charity Shield runners-up medal 1971
- 1 [FA Youth Cup] runners-up medal 1963