John Reid Smith (2 April 1895 – 1 September 1946) was a Scottish

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

centre forward In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than midfielders and defenders. As with any attacking player, the role of the forward relies heavily on be ...

and helped

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club ( ) is a professional association football, football club based in Horwich, Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in EFL League One, League One, the third level of the Englis ...

win the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

1923 In Greece, this year contained only 352 days as 13 days was skipped to achieve the calendrical switch from Julian to Gregorian Calendar. It happened there that Wednesday, 15 February ''(Julian Calendar)'' was followed by Thursday, 1 March ' ...

and

1926 In Turkey, the year technically contained only 352 days. As Friday, December 18, 1926 ''(Julian Calendar)'' was followed by Saturday, January 1, 1927 '' (Gregorian Calendar)''. 13 days were dropped to make the switch. Turkey thus became the ...

. His son (Jack Denver Smith) and grandson (Barry Smith) also played for Bolton Wanderers.

Football career

Smith was born in

Pollokshaws Pollokshaws () is an area on the South side of the city of Glasgow, Scotland. It is bordered by the residential neighbourhoods of Auldhouse, Glasgow, Auldhouse to the east, Eastwood, Glasgow, Eastwood and Hillpark, Glasgow, Hillpark to the south ...

, to the south of

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

and played youth football with Battlefield Juniors, before joining

Albion Rovers Albion Rovers Football Club is a semi-professional football team from Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. They play in the , the fifth tier of the Scottish football league system. Founded in October 1882, the club joined the Scottish Foot ...

. From there he moved on to

Kilmarnock Kilmarnock ( ; ; , ), meaning "the church of Mernóc", is a town and former burgh in East Ayrshire situated in southwest Scotland. The town has served as the administrative centre of East Ayrshire Council since 1996 and is the region's main ...

, where he scored seven of their 14 goals on the way to winning the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,1920 Events January * January 1 ** Polish–Soviet War: The Russian Red Army increases its troops along the Polish border from 4 divisions to 20. ** Kauniainen in Finland, completely surrounded by the city of Espoo, secedes from Espoo as its ow ...

, including scoring the third goal for Kilmarnock in the final when they defeated his former team, Albion Rovers, 3–2. Following a disagreement with Kilmarnock, Smith joined

Cowdenbeath Cowdenbeath () is a town and burgh in west Fife, Scotland. It is north-east of Dunfermline and north of the capital, Edinburgh. The town grew up around the extensive coalfields of the area and became a police burgh in 1890. According to a 20 ...

, where during 1921–22, he netted 45 goals as they finished runners-up in

Division Two Division II or Division 2 may refer to: Sports * NCAA Division II, an intermediate-level division of the National Collegiate Athletic Association * Division 2 (Swedish football) * Division 2 (Swedish ice hockey), the fourth tier of ice hockey in S ...

. At the season's end he joined

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 ...

for £3,000, making his debut at

Ibrox Park Ibrox Stadium is a football stadium on the south side of the River Clyde in the Ibrox area of Glasgow, Scotland. The home of Scottish Premiership team Rangers, Ibrox is the third-largest football stadium in Scotland, with an all-seated ca ...

on 15 August 1922, scoring in a 2–0 victory over

Alloa Athletic Alloa Athletic Football Club is a Scottish association football semi-professional club based in the town of Alloa, Clackmannanshire. They compete in as a member of the Scottish Professional Football League. According to the official club hist ...

. He only made two further appearances for Rangers, scoring once more, before losing his place to

Geordie Henderson George Donald Henderson (15 April 1897 – 14 June 1953) was a Scottish footballer who played professionally in Scotland and briefly in the United States, England and Wales. Playing as a centre forward, he saw his greatest success with Rangers i ...

signed him three months later. Smith arrived at

Burnden Park Burnden Park was the home of England, English association football, football club Bolton Wanderers F.C., Bolton Wanderers, who played home games there between 1895 and 1997. As well as hosting the 1901 FA Cup final replay, in 1946 it was the sc ...

in November 1922 as a replacement centre-forward for Frank Roberts who had joined

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

. He scored an 89th-minute winner on his debut, against Manchester City, but quickly became thought of as a "crock", for he always appeared to be limping. Despite this, he managed to get his fair share of goals, scoring 21 goals in 35 games in the 1924–25 season, thus helping Bolton to finish in third place in the First Division table. He netted Bolton's second goal in the 1923 FA Cup Final against

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Stratford, London, Stratford, East London, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English f ...

. The goal was scored in controversial circumstances when outside-forward

Ted Vizard Edward Vizard (7 June 1889 – 25 December 1973) was a Welsh international Association football, footballer who became a manager. He spent almost all his playing career at Bolton Wanderers F.C., Bolton Wanderers. Playing career Born in Cogan, V ...

played the ball into a central position and Smith hit the ball past Hufton in the West Ham goal. West Ham's players claimed that the ball had not entered the goal but rebounded into play from the goalpost, but referee D. H. Asson overruled them, stating that in his view the ball had entered the goal but then rebounded off a spectator. Smith won another winners' medal in

in a 1–0 victory over Manchester City. After the arrival of Harold Blackmore, Smith found it difficult to hold his place in the first team, and in March 1928, Bury paid £1,500 for him. "The Shakers" were still in the First Division and Smith netted a hat-trick on his debut against

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an off ...

. At Bury he scored 107 goals in 157 League games before joining

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England, and the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale. In the United Kingdom 2021 Census, 2021 Census, the town had a population of 111,261, compared to 223,773 for the wid ...

in August 1933. In 1939 he was appointed assistant trainer at

Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It currently competes in , the third tier of the English football league system in the 2025–26 season following relegation. Founded in 1899 a ...

, who were managed by another ex-Wanderer, Bill Jennings. Smith died at

Whitchurch, Cardiff Whitchurch () is a suburb and community in the north of Cardiff, capital of Wales. It is approximately 3 miles north of the centre of the city on the A470 road and A4054 road. It falls within the Whitchurch & Tongwynlais ward. The population of ...

in September 1946.

Honours

;Kilmarnock *

;Cowdenbeath *

Scottish League Division Two The Scottish Football League (SFL) is a defunct league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4 k ...

runners-up: 1921–22 ;Bolton Wanderers *

winners:

and

References

External links

Article on "Spartacus"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Jack 1895 births Footballers from Glasgow 1946 deaths Scottish men's footballers Albion Rovers F.C. players Kilmarnock F.C. players Cowdenbeath F.C. players Rangers F.C. players Bolton Wanderers F.C. players Bury F.C. players Rochdale A.F.C. players Men's association football forwards Ashton National F.C. players Wishaw F.C. players 20th-century Scottish sportsmen