Sep Smith - Career

Career

Smith was snapped up for Leicester in 1929 by Willie Orr as an inside-forward at the age of 16. where two of his older brothers, Thomas and Joe, were both already playing for Leicester. Tom was a regular in the first-team before moving to Manchester United and Joe was a reserve player who later joined Watford

He made his debut against Huddersfield Town on 31 August 1929 coming in for Arthur Lochhead who had been suffering from illness, but after a disappointing performance in which the local press described him as being "unable to pull his weight" he played no further part in that season. However as he began to grow he began to show his poachers instinct, top scoring for the reserves the following season and earning himself a recall to the first team. In 1931-32 he scored 11 times in 22 matches though still as he began to cement his place in the first team.

However, it wasn't until 1932-33, when Smith began to truly blossom after was moved from his role of inside forward and shifted into a deeper role at right half, the position he would make his own for the club for the next 17 years. He helped Leicester to their first ever FA Cup semi-final in 1934 in which came up against two other of his older brothers, Jack and Bill, who were both playing for Leicester's opponents Portsmouth.

He was made club captain two years later in 1936 and won his only honour with the club the following year, winning the Second Division title in 1936-37.

During his time at Leicester, Smith was known to take many young up and coming players under his wing and tutor them, the most notable of these was Don Revie, Smith said of Revie "I could see he had potential when he came down for a trial and I used to coach him lots with the ball. I'd say come on with me, and we'd go into a corner and I'd teach him things. He was an eager young player but I used to make him cry when I told him he did things wrong. He told me he would go home after the match and start to cry. I was pushing him because I believed in him. When he used to cry, I told him he should do things right. But he could cross a ball and kick a ball the right way. I would teach him the way to go … to pass the ball in front of the player so he could run on to it. And I would teach him how to trap it.

In his biography of Don Revie: Portrait of a Footballing Enigma author Andrew Mourant states Smith's influence on Revie: "He drummed into the young, receptive Revie four principles: when not in position, get into position; never beat a man by dribbling if you can beat him more easily with a pass; it is not the man on the ball but the one running into position to take the pass who constitutes the danger; and the aim is to have a man spare in a passing move. Soccer would then become easy."

During his final season with the club Leicester reached the 1949 FA Cup final in which Revie missed out on through illness. He was many fans' choice to replace Revie for the final, but this would mean a tactical shift and the moving of star striker Jack Lee to facilitate Smith's inclusion so never happened. He helped aid Johnny Duncan's tactical preparations instead.

Smith would end his career on the final fixture of the 1948-49 season, in which Leicester staved off relegation to the Third Division with a dramatic 1-1 draw with Cardiff City (there are still suggestions that the game may have been fixed). Smith retired from the game at the age of 37 after 20 years in the Leicester team. He stayed on as a coach at Leicester, however after Johnny Duncan resigned a few weeks later, Smith's ties with the club were cruelly severed under Duncan's replacement Norman Bullock