James Smith (born 20 November 1980 in

Alexandria Alexandria ( ; ) is the List of cities and towns in Egypt#Largest cities, second largest city in Egypt and the List of coastal settlements of the Mediterranean Sea, largest city on the Mediterranean coast. It lies at the western edge of the Nile ...

) is a Scottish retired 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 ...

and currently Executive Director at Tennessee United Soccer Club. Prior to this, Smith served as Academy Director for Nashville SC. Smith spent the majority of his playing career in his native country with

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

and

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

in the

Scottish Premier League The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the Scottish football league system, top-level league competition for professional Association football, football clubs in Scotland. The league was founded in 1998, when it broke away from the Scottish Foo ...

. He was also capped twice by

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 ...

Playing career

Early career

Born in

West Dunbartonshire West Dunbartonshire (; , ) is one of the 32 Local government in Scotland, local government council areas of Scotland. The area lies to the north-west of the Glasgow City council area and contains many of Glasgow's commuter towns and villages. ...

, Smith started his career with

; a graduate of the club's

youth system In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team if they show en ...

, he played 66 games and scored six goals in all competitions across his five years as a senior player. Smith won three major honours (two league titles and the League Cup in 2001) and was an unused substitute in the 2003 UEFA Cup Final, but limited first team opportunities saw him join Dutch club

ADO Den Haag Alles Door Oefening Den Haag (), commonly known by the abbreviated name ADO Den Haag (), is a Dutch association football club from the city of The Hague. They play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football, following relegation ...

in July 2004, spending one season there.

Aberdeen

He returned to Scotland in season 2005–06 with

. In August 2005, Smith struck a late winner as the ''Dons'' defeated

rivals A rivalry is the state of two people or Social group, groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each ...

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 ...

in a league match for the first time since April 1998, wowing the Aberdeen support in only his third competitive game for the club. He was involved in a car crash along with teammate Michael Hart in July 2007, while on a pre-season tour of

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

. Smith was treated for concussion, while Hart was unhurt. In December 2007, Smith played a key role in Aberdeen's victory over Danish team

FC Copenhagen Football Club Copenhagen (, ), commonly known as F.C. København, F.C. Copenhagen, Copenhagen, or simply FCK, is a Danish professional football club based in Copenhagen. FCK was founded in 1992 as a superstructure on top of Kjøbenhavns Boldklu ...

in the

2007–08 UEFA Cup The 2007–08 UEFA Cup was the 37th edition of the UEFA Europa League, UEFA Cup, UEFA's former second-tier club association football, football tournament. The 2008 UEFA Cup Final, final was played at the City of Manchester Stadium, Manchester, E ...

, scoring two goals in the 4–0 victory that saw Aberdeen through to the last 32 of the competition. Smith's contract at Aberdeen ended at the end of the 2008–09 season and he expressed concern that he had not been offered a contract extension, stating that he may need to look for a new club in summer.

Colorado Rapids

In May 2009, he was given permission to discuss a contract with

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

side

Toronto FC Toronto Football Club is a Canadian professional Association football, soccer club based in Toronto. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conference. The team plays its home matc ...

. However, Toronto passed on the signing of Smith and he later signed with

Colorado Rapids The Colorado Rapids are an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Denver metropolitan area. The Rapids compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. Founded in ...

in July 2009. In his first season with the Rapids he played only four games before suffering a season-ending knee injury. On 28 August 2010, Smith scored his first MLS goal two minutes into a match against

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

in which he was named man of the match. Smith remained with Colorado through the 2012 season. After the conclusion of the 2012 season, Colorado declined the 2013 option on Smith's contract and he entered the

2012 MLS Re-Entry Draft The two-stage 2012 MLS Re-Entry Draft took place on December 7, 2012 (Stage 1), and December 14, 2012 (Stage 2). All 19 Major League Soccer clubs were eligible to participate. The Stage 1 and Stage 2 Drafts were conducted in the same order as th ...

. Smith became a free agent after he went undrafted in both rounds of the draft. Smith was re-signed by Colorado on 8 February 2013. On 10 January 2014, Smith announced his retirement from playing and joined

academy coaching staff.

International

Smith made two appearances for

in 2003, in friendly matches against

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

and

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. He later played twice for Scotland B.

Coaching career

After retiring from playing, he joined the coaching staff of

as U23 manager in 2014. He had a spell as Academy manager of Continental FC before being appointed to the same role at

Nashville SC Nashville Soccer Club is an American professional soccer club based in Nashville, Tennessee. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The team spent two seasons in the USL Championship before joining ...

in 2019.

Personal life

His brother-in-law, Allan Sieczkowski, is the lead singer of the Scottish rock band Little Eye.

used their song ''Burgundy Sky'' as their official anthem to reflect on their famous burgundy kits.

Career statistics

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

International

Honours

; Celtic *

: 2002, 2004 *

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 ...

: 2001 *

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

: Runner-up 2002–03 ; Colorado Rapids *

** Eastern Conference Championship:

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

** MLS Cup:

References

External links

* * *
Profile and stats
at ''AFC Heritage Trust''
Player profile
at ''The Celtic Wiki'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Jamie 1980 births Living people Scottish men's footballers Scotland men's international footballers Scotland men's B international footballers Scottish Premier League players Scottish Football League players Eredivisie players Major League Soccer players Celtic F.C. players Livingston F.C. players ADO Den Haag players Aberdeen F.C. players Colorado Rapids players Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Scottish expatriate sportspeople in the United States Scottish expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Scottish expatriate men's footballers Footballers from Alexandria, West Dunbartonshire Colorado Rapids non-playing staff Nashville SC non-playing staff Men's association football wingers 21st-century Scottish sportsmen