MARK SMITH

Born: 21 March 1960

Came from: Sheffield Wednesday   Went to: Barnsley

First game: 15 August 1987   Last game: 19 September 1989

Appearances: 97 (97/0)   Goals: 7

Born in Sheffield, in South Yorkshire, Smith grew up in the Shirecliffe area of the city. Always an Owl rather than a Blade, he could see Hillsborough from the back garden of his parents' house and represented Sheffield schools from under-11 to under-15 levels.

However at the time United were in a higher league than Wednesday and he trained at United whilst also being a ball-boy at Bramall Lane, before being taken on as an apprentice at Wednesday in 1976. One of his jobs during his early apprentice years, was cleaning boots, including those of Tommy Tynan.

In March 1978 he signed his first professional contract with the Owls and made his debut in the penultimate game of the 1977-78 season, away at Colchester United. The following season saw him establish himself in the team and Wednesday manager Jack Charlton pushed for his international recognition and he was to win five England under-21 caps. Smith formed a key part of Wednesday's revival and was part of the team promoted from the Third Division in 1979-80, which also saw him named in the PFA Team of the Season for the Third Division. He was then also voted Wednesday's Player of the Season for the 1980-81 season.

Further success followed as the club regained its top-flight status, with promotion from the Second Division in 1983-84, under Howard Wilkinson. A foot injury in last few moments of the 1985-86 FA Cup quarter-final proved serious and took him out of the side for some time, and Smith found it difficult to regain his place. With his contract running down, and fancying a change of scenery, after over 350 appearances, and 20 goals, his 11-year association with the club was at an end.

Most expected a sideways move to another First Division club, so it was to some surprise that Smith joined Argyle from Sheffield Wednesday for a then record fee of £170,000 in the summer of 1987. The surprise was not only at the move to Argyle, but also the fee spent in an era when the club rarely spent big, and certainly not six-figured fees.

However Dave Smith's investment was not wasted. He joined to try to help Argyle towards the upper half of the Second Division table, and the fact he signed suggested Smith too though this possible. He was a cultured signing and dubbed by many that saw him play as a real 'Rolls Royce of a defender' who was hugely popular with fans for his classy displays.

His standard of performance however, wasn't always matched by some of his team-mates, and in both seasons at Home Park, Argyle finished in the lower half of the Second Division rather than pushing on as intended. Rumours of him being unsettled in the south-west surfaced and he did subsequently put in a transfer request. After just six games of the 1989-90 season, his third, he played his last game for Argyle. Perhaps fittingly given the stage, it was against Arsenal at Highbury in September 1989, as Argyle lost 2-0.

He then returned north and signed for Barnsley. In three full seasons at Oakwell he played 104 times and scored 10 goals. He also won Barnsley's Player of the Season for 1991-92. The fact he won that award almost a decade of winning the same award at Hillsborough, speaks volumes for the consistency of his performances throughout his career.

After nearly three years at Oakwell he moved on to Notts County but found his chances there limited, making just five league appearances in the 1992-93 season. Whilst at Meadow Lane he had loan spells at Port Vale (six games, 1992), Huddersfield Town (five games, 1993) and Chesterfield (six games, one goal, 1993) before finishing his career with a season at Lincoln City where he played 20 times and scored once in the 1993-94 season.

Having amassed a 17-year Football League career and totalled 618 games and 42 goals, it was no surprise that following his playing career he stayed in the game, starting off coaching the youth team at his last club Lincoln.

He then performed a similar role at Notts County and was briefly caretaker-manager for the Magpies in 1996-97 and later serving as Sam Allardyce's assistant. He then held Academy roles at both Barnsley and Sheffield Wednesday and, as at Notts County, was briefly caretaker-manager at Hillsborough in 2004 following the departure of Chris Turner and before the arrival of former Argyle manager Paul Sturrock.

In 2006-07 he took on an assistant manager role at Ilkeston Town before returning to Sheffield United as International Youth Director in October 2007. After nearly five years in the role he then left to join Chesterfield as their youth team coach before then progressing to work for their Academy. In December 2015 he completed a hat-trick of caretaker-manager roles following stints at the helm at Notts County and Wednesday, by performing the same role for the Spirerites.

In August 2018 he then returned to Bramall Lane again, to take up the role of Loans Manager, and combined that role with being first-team coach at Ossett United in April 2021.

As of 2026 he is a Club Ambassador for Sheffield Wednesday's women's team, remains involved with Ossett United and is a media analyst working on broadcast football matches, particularly on Wednesday games for BBC Radio Sheffield.