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Andy Smith (footballer, born 1980)

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Andy Smith
Personal information
Full name Andrew William Smith
Date of birth (1980-09-25) 25 September 1980 (age 44)
Place of birth Lisburn, Northern Ireland
Height 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Position(s) Striker
Team information
Current team
 Ludogorets Razgrad (assistant)
Youth career
Glenavon
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1999 Ballyclare Comrades 9 (3)
1999–2002 Sheffield United 6 (0)
2000 → Bury (loan) 2 (0)
2001 → Glenavon (loan) 13 (3)
2002–2004 Glentoran 93 (57)
2004–2007 Preston North End 14 (0)
2004 → Stockport County (loan) 1 (0)
2005 → Motherwell (loan) 7 (0)
2006 → Cheltenham Town (loan) 2 (0)
2007 Bristol City 10 (0)
2007 Portadown 10 (6)
2008–2009 Portadown 8 (3)
2009–2011 Ballymena United 53 (7)
2011–2012 Union Royale Namur 15 (2)
2012 Carrick Rangers 0 (0)
2014 Crusaders 4 (0)
International career‡
2003 Northern Ireland B 1 (0)
2003–2005 Northern Ireland 18 (0)
Managerial career
2015 Vitória (assistant)
2015– Ludogorets Razgrad (assistant)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 18:05, 2 January 2014 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 23:59, 30 January 2012 (UTC)

For the former Scottish footballer, see Andy Smith (footballer born 1968)

Andy Smith (born 25 September 1980, in Lisburn) is a professional footballer who is currently a free agent.

Club career

Andy started in the youth team of Glenavon, before joining Ballyclare Comrades in February 1999. He signed for Sheffield United in September 1999, and made his debut against Lincoln City on 5 September 2000 in the league cup. He had a loan spell at Bury before signing for Glenavon then for Glentoran in 2002.

He was a prolific scorer with Glentoran which made Championship club Preston North End pay £130,000 to bring him back to England in 2004.

Unfortunately, Andy could not replicate his prolific goal-scoring form in the Championship- he failed to score for Preston North End in three years and as a result he was sent out on loan to Stockport County and Motherwell in which he also did not score.

Cheltenham Town fans were asked to fund a loan striker in the 2006–07 season and the then manager John Ward brought in Andy Smith from Preston. He joined Cheltenham Town on loan on 2 November 2006 He refused to sit on the bench for an FA Cup first round replay at Scunthorpe United and promptly returned to his parent club without scoring.[1]

He returned to Preston North End, again without scoring, before being released on a free transfer at the end of January 2007. He spent the next six months with Bristol City.

He signed for Portadown in October 2007, and left in December 2007 when his short term contract ended. After failing to get back into full-time football with Port Vale, Smith rejoined Portadown on 19 February 2008, signing a contract which ought to have brought him through to the end of the 2009–10 season. However, on 3 December, Portadown boss Ronnie McFall confirmed that Smith had not reported to training for over 2 months, in protest at the club's refusal to release him from his contract. The striker felt that it was in the interests of his career to leave Portadown because of their demotion from the top level of Northern Irish league football.[2] On 7 July Smith joined Grimsby Town on trial but failed to earn a contract. On 3 August he signed a two-year deal with Ballymena United.

The following season saw Andy score 10 goals in 39 appearances for his new club, one of which was an equalising goal in an Irish Cup semi-final defeat to Portadown. The celebration that followed this goal was both bizarre and controversial, with Andy donning a white glove which he pulled out from his shorts and mimicking a loyalist marcher along the touchline. Under prompting from the Andersontown News and Sinn Féin Assemblyman Paul Butler, the IFA agreed to look into the incident but no disciplinary action was ever taken.

In August 2011 Smith signd for Belgian side Union Royale Namur.[3] In August 2012, he joined CSO Amnéville on trial but the deal fell through, and he then joined Carrick Rangers, but left one day later after accepting further trials with clubs in France and Belgium. It was rumoured that he had been playing in Vietnam, but this turned out to be false.[4]

After joining old club Glentoran on trial in July 2013 to keep his fitness up, he signed for Crusaders on 2 January 2014 until the end of the season.[5] He scored one goal in the Irish Cup against Crumlin Star, and was released at the end of the season.

International career

Smith is a former Northern Ireland international with 18 caps and no goals, he made his debut for Northern Ireland against Italy on 3 June 2003 while still with Irish league side Glentoran. On one appearance against Wales, on 8 September 2004, he came on as a sub only to be substituted himself 20 minutes later. His final international appearance came in a glamour friendly against Germany on 5 June 2005, where Northern Ireland lost4–1.

Smith also appeared for Northern Ireland B, playing against Scotland Future in May 2003.

Honours

Glentoran

References

  1. ^ "Allen set for emergency loan kitty". Gloucestershire Media Group. 12 February 2009. Retrieved 12 February 2009.
  2. ^ "Smith goes missing from Portadown". BBC. 3 December 2008. Archived from the original on 6 December 2008. Retrieved 3 December 2008. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  3. ^ "Season 2011–12". Retrieved 5 February 2012.
  4. ^ http://nifootball.blogspot.co.uk/2007/04/andy-smith.html
  5. ^ http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/25574344

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