Graeme Meldrum Smith (born 8 June 1983) is a Scottish former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

. He was employed as the goalkeeping coach at

Bonnyrigg Rose Athletic Bonnyrigg Rose Football Club is a Scottish football club from the town of Bonnyrigg. Formed in 1881 and nicknamed ''the Rose'', the team plays in the , having been relegated in 2024–25. Their home ground is New Dundas Park, and they have ...

but left in May 2024. Smith started his career at

Rangers A ranger is typically someone in a law enforcement or military/paramilitary role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called "ranging" or "scouting". The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with prot ...

, later playing for Ross County,

Motherwell Motherwell (, ) is a List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Shires of Scotland, Historically in the p ...

Brighton Brighton ( ) is a seaside resort in the city status in the United Kingdom, city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England, south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age Britain, Bronze Age, R ...

, Hibernian, Gabala,

Partick Thistle Partick Thistle Football Club are a professional association football, football club from Glasgow, Scotland and currently plays in the . Despite their name, the club are based at Firhill Stadium in the Maryhill area of the city, and have not ...

Ayr United Ayr United Football Club are a football club in Ayr, Scotland, who play in the , the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League. Formed in 1910 by the merger of Ayr Parkhouse and Ayr F.C., their nickname is The Honest Men, fro ...

Brechin City Brechin City Football Club is a Scottish football club based in the townDespite the name of the football club, Brechin is not an official city. Brechin was historically known as a city because it has a cathedral. of Brechin in Angus. The club w ...

Stenhousemuir Stenhousemuir (; ) is a town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. It lies within the Falkirk council area of Scotland. The town is north-northwest of Falkirk and directly adjoins to Larbert in the west, where the nearest rail access is located ...

and

Berwick Rangers Berwick Rangers Football Club is a football team based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed in England, who play in the Scottish football system. Founded in 1881, they currently play in the , the fifth tier of Scottish football, despite being ba ...

Career

Smith was born in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

. He started his career with

but failed to make an appearance for the club. During his time at Ibrox, Smith spent the 2003–04 season on loan to

Scottish First Division The Scottish Football League First Division was the second tier in the Scottish football league system between 1975 and 2013. It was replaced by the Scottish Championship. History The First Division was introduced in 1975–76 in Scottish footb ...

side Ross County.

Motherwell

On 25 June 2005, Smith signed for

. During four seasons at

Fir Park Fir Park Stadium is a football stadium situated in Motherwell, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. The stadium plays host to the home matches of Scottish Premiership club Motherwell and was the temporary home of Gretna for the 2007–2008 SPL season. ...

, Smith made 127 SPL appearances for Motherwell. Smith was included in the

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

squad to face the

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ) (alt. the Faroes) are an archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean and an autonomous territory of the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. Located between Iceland, Norway, and the United Kingdom, the islands have a populat ...

and

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

Euro 2008 The 2008 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2008 or simply Euro 2008, was the 13th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by the member nations of UEFA (the Union of European ...

qualifiers played in September 2006, but he did not play in either game. Smith made one appearance for the Scotland B team during this time, playing in a 1–1 draw with the Republic of Ireland B team in November 2007. He was part of the Motherwell side that finished third in the SPL in the 2007–08 season, qualifying for the

2008–09 UEFA Cup The 2008–09 UEFA Cup was the 38th season of the UEFA Europa League, UEFA Cup association football, football tournament. The 2009 UEFA Cup Final, final was played at the Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium, home ground of Fenerbahçe S.K. (football), F ...

Brighton & Hove Albion

On 1 July 2009, Smith transferred to

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

League One League One or League 1 may refer to: Association football * EFL League One, the third tier of football in England. * China League One, the second tier of football in China * K League 1, the top-tier football in South Korea * Lao League 1 * Lea ...

side

Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club, commonly referred to as Brighton, is a professional football club based in Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Their home gr ...

, signing a two-year contract. However, he conceded five goals on his debut, coming as a substitute after the regular goalkeeper Michel Kuipers had been sent off, as Brighton lost 7–1 at

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confl ...

. Smith went on to make nine further appearances for Brighton.

Hibernian

Smith returned to the SPL on 1 January 2010 by signing for Hibernian on a free transfer. He immediately took possession of the

position at Hibs, as

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

John Hughes John Hughes may refer to: Arts and Entertainment Literature *John Hughes (poet) (1677–1720), English poet *John Hughes (1790–1857), English author *John Ceiriog Hughes (1832–1887), Welsh poet *John Hughes (writer) (born 1961), Australian au ...

sought to put a "goalkeeping school" in place. Smith was involved in a remarkable game towards the end of the 2009–10 season, as he conceded six goals against his former club

, the match finishing drawn 6–6. Smith eventually fell behind Mark Brown and Graham Stack in the selection order under the management of

Colin Calderwood Colin Calderwood (born 20 January 1965) is a Scottish professional football manager and former player. As a player, he was a centre-back who played in the Premier League for Tottenham Hotspur and Aston Villa and in the Football League for Mansfi ...

and was released by the club in April 2011. He had made 16 league appearances during his 15 months with the club.

Gabala

Smith was invited by

Tony Adams Tony Alexander Adams (born 10 October 1966) is an English former football manager and player. Adams played for Arsenal and England, captaining both teams. Known as Mr. Arsenal, he spent his entire playing career of 19 years as a centre-back t ...

to train with

Azerbaijan Premier League The Azerbaijan Premier League (), also known as Misli Premyer Liqası for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Azerbaijan and the highest level of the Azerbaijani football league system. It is contested by twelve ...

club Gabala in July 2011. Smith signed a one-year contract with Gabala after a pre-season tour of England. He made his debut for Gabala in an

Azerbaijan Cup The Azerbaijan Cup () is a major association football competition in Azerbaijan. In its original form, it started in 1936, when Azerbaijan was a republic of the Soviet Union and it was not disputed by Azerbaijani teams in the Soviet league pyramid ...

tie against Neftchala, in which they won 3–0. Smith made his league debut on 7 March in a 3–2 defeat against Kəpəz. On 17 May, Smith's contract was not renewed by Gabala.

Return to Scotland

Smith trained with

Dunfermline Dunfermline (; , ) is a city, parish, and former royal burgh in Fife, Scotland, from the northern shore of the Firth of Forth. Dunfermline was the de facto capital of the Kingdom of Scotland between the 11th and 15th centuries. The earliest ...

, in his native Scotland, in July 2012. On 13 November 2012, he signed a 9-week deal with

club

. Smith scored an

own goal An own goal occurs in sports when a player performs actions that result in scoring points for the opposition, such as when a Association football, footballer puts a ball into their own net. In some parts of the world, the term has become a met ...

in his debut appearance for Thistle, a 1–0 defeat against

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: * Alexander Hamilton (1755/1757–1804), first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States * ''Hamilton'' (musical), a 2015 Broadway musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda ** ''Hamilton'' (al ...

on 16 November. He left the club at the end of his contract. Smith signed a contract with

in February 2013 for the remainder of the season.

Brechin City

On 3 July 2013, Smith signed for

Scottish League One The Scottish League One, known as William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill League One for sponsorship reasons, is the third tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional association football, foot ...

side

. He signed a new two-year contract on 19 May 2014. On 21 November 2015, Smith travelled to the Ochilview ground for the away game against Stenhousemuir. Unfortunately for him, the match was actually a home fixture for Brechin, 83 miles away. He did make it in time to play, but the side lost 2–1. Smith extended his contract with Brechin City for another year on 1 June 2016. After five year with Brechin, Smith left Glebe Park at the end of the 2017–18 season.

Stenhousemuir

On 22 May 2018, Smith signed a two-year contract with

side

. On 22 April 2022, Smith joined

Lowland League The Scottish Lowland Football League (SLFL, commonly known as the Lowland League) and the Park’s Motor Group Scottish Lowland League for sponsorship reasons is a senior football league based in central and southern Scotland. The league sits a ...

side

on an emergency loan for the remainder of the 2021–22 season.

Career statistics

Honours

;

Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup, also known as the Premier Sports Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League cup in ...

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

Notes

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Graeme Living people 1983 births Footballers from Edinburgh Men's association football goalkeepers Scottish men's footballers Scotland men's under-21 international footballers Scotland men's B international footballers Rangers F.C. players Ross County F.C. players Motherwell F.C. players Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. players Hibernian F.C. players Scottish Premier League players Scottish Football League players English Football League players Gabala SC players Scottish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Azerbaijan Partick Thistle F.C. players Ayr United F.C. players Brechin City F.C. players Scottish Professional Football League players Stenhousemuir F.C. players Berwick Rangers F.C. players 21st-century Scottish sportsmen