David Smith

Last updated : 27 February 2005 By Gtm
David for Grimsby!
Former England U21 International David Smith played for The Mariners for 5 seasons and became a great servant to the club.

David started his career of in 1986 with Coventry City. Smith played the majority of his career at Highfield Road and played just under 200 apperances until his move to Birmingham City in 1993 following a short loan stay at AFC Bournemouth. Smith was swaped with David Rennie and he moved to St Andrews.

Smith only lasted 10 months at Birmingham before he was sold onto West Bromwich Albion for £90,000. Smith became a favourite at The Hawthorns settling in well under Alan Buckley.

He proved himself at the club and asserted himself well alongside Paul Groves and Stacy Coldicott in the West Brom squad.

In January 1998 Alan Buckley forked out £200,000 to re-unite the pair at Blundell Park. Smith joined fellow new boy Wayne Burnett and forced themselves into the team which ended up being the most succesful in the
David for Grimsby!
clubs history.

Smith became a regular little figure on those ice cold rainy saturday afternoons on Blundell Park, and settled in as one of the regulars at the club.

David stayed at Grimsby until the end of the 2001/2002 when Groves decided to release him after a season full of injury woe. Smith always struggled with injury as did fellow midfielder Wayne Burnett and after Smith played 5 games in his last season he left the club, as did Burnett.

With injury threatning to end his professional career in football he moved to South Wales. Swansea City virtually rescued him from the rotten pile of football casualties,only known to well by a lot of released Grimsby players.
Smith played only 4 games for Swansea before his injury woe came back to haunt him.

Smith left Swansea by mutual consent and retired from playing in September 2002.

David returned to Grimsby a few months later earning himself a job back at the club as the new Commerical Manager, which David stil does today.