Tommy Smith (footballer, born 1992)

Thomas George Smith (born 14 April 1992) is an English professional footballer who plays as a right back for Middlesbrough.

For the New Zealand player, see Tommy Smith (footballer, born 1990).

Tommy Smith
Personal information
Full name Thomas George Smith[1]
Date of birth (1992-04-14) 14 April 1992[2]
Place of birth Warrington, England[3]
Height 6 ft 1 in (1.86 m)[4]
Position(s) Right back
Team information
Current team
 Middlesbrough[5]
Number 2
Youth career
2000–2004 Tranmere Rovers
2004–2012 Manchester City
2012 Helsby
2012–2013 Huddersfield Town
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2013–2019 Huddersfield Town 182 (4)
2019–2022 Stoke City 97 (3)
2022– Middlesbrough 32 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 14 April 2023 (UTC)

Smith began his career with Huddersfield Town after coming through the youth teams at Tranmere Rovers and Manchester City. He established himself as a regular with the Terriers and captained the club to victory over Reading in the 2017 EFL Championship play-off final. Huddersfield's first season in the Premier League saw them escape relegation but they finished bottom the following season. In July 2019 Smith joined Stoke City for an undisclosed fee and then in 2022 joined Middlesbrough.

Early life and career

Smith was born in Warrington,[3] Cheshire and grew up in Helsby where he attended Helsby High School.[6] He joined the Tranmere Rovers academy at the age of seven after being spotted playing in a local summer tournament.[6]

He spent four years at Tranmere before he joined Manchester City's Academy based at Platt Lane at the age of 11.[7] After gaining his YTS and going on to sign his first professional contract, Smith then suffered some serious injuries. He broke his leg playing against Bolton Wanderers in 2010 which ruled him out for 12 months and on his return he was hampered by a persistent ankle ligament damage and he was informed by academy manager Andy Welsh that his contract would not be renewed.[6] He left Manchester City in January 2012 after his contract was terminated by mutual consent.[6]

He had unsuccessful trials with Bradford City and Cheltenham Town and French side Le Havre. Smith then joined his local non-league side Helsby where his father was manager of the under-16 side.[6] He helped Helsby gain promotion from the West Cheshire League Division Three to Division Two.[6] After trial spells with Oxford United and Stevenage, Smith signed for Huddersfield Town's under-21 team after being approached by Steve Eyre, his former coach at Man City.[7][8]

Career

Huddersfield Town

Smith's first involvement with the first team came on 5 January 2013 when he was an unused substitute in Huddersfield's 1–0 away win over Charlton Athletic in the FA Cup.[9] He made his debut on 24 September 2013 when starting the League Cup match away to Hull City, which Huddersfield lost 1–0.[10] He made his league debut on 23 November 2013 as a starter in a 2–1 away win over Sheffield Wednesday.[10] Smith signed a new contract with Huddersfield on 4 February 2014, which would keep him at the club until June 2016.[11] Smith played 27 times in 2013–14 as Huddersfield finished in 17th.[10]

On 31 January 2015, Smith was airlifted to hospital with a head injury after colliding with the Huddersfield goalkeeper, Joe Murphy, during a 2–1 home defeat to Leeds United.[12][13] He was discharged the following day.[12] He made 44 appearances in 2014–15 as Town again finished in mid-table.[14] His first goal for Huddersfield came on 19 January 2016 in their 5–2 away defeat to Reading in the FA Cup.[15] Huddersfield now under the management of David Wagner had an uneventful 2015–16 campaign finishing in a lowly 19th.[16]

In August 2016 Smith signed a new contract with the Terriers keeping him contracted at the Kirklees Stadium until the summer of 2019.[17] The 2016–17 season proved to be a successful one for Huddersfield as they reached the Championship play-off final, Smith scoring four goals in 47 games.[18] Smith captained the team on 29 May in the 2017 EFL Championship play-off final against Reading, which Huddersfield won 4–3 on penalties after a 0–0 extra-time draw.[19][20] This meant Huddersfield were promoted to Premier League for the first time, and would play top-flight football for the first time in 45 years.[21]

In August 2017, he was appointed as Huddersfield's permanent club captain after the retirement of Mark Hudson.[22] Huddersfield were tipped by many pundits as relegation favorites going into the 2017–18 season.[23] They beat Crystal Palace 3–0 on the opening day of the season.[24] After being a regular in the side in the first half of the season he missed most of the second after suffering a torn hamstring in December 2017.[25] He returned towards the end of the campaign as Huddersfield secured their safety in the Premier League finishing in 16th.[26] Smith drifted in and out of the side in 2018–19 due to the competition posed by Florent Hadergjonaj, making 16 appearances under Wagner and Jan Siewert as the team had a miserable campaign winning only three of their 38 matches and were relegated to the Championship.[27]

Stoke City

Smith signed for Championship club Stoke City on 15 July 2019 on a three-year contract for an undisclosed fee.[28] Smith made his debut on the opening day of the 2019–20 season in a 2–1 defeat against Queens Park Rangers.[29] The team made a bad start to the season under Nathan Jones and following an EFL Cup defeat at Crawley Town in September, Smith lost his place to Tom Edwards. Jones was replaced by Michael O'Neill in November and Smith became the regular right-back in the side for the remainder of the season.[30] Smith played 32 times in 2019–20, as Stoke successfully avoided relegation and finished in 15th position.[31][32] Smith made 41 appearances in 2020–21 as Stoke finished in 14th position.[33] He scored twice during the campaign which came against Barnsley in October and on the final day of the season against Bournemouth.[34][35] Smith made 33 appearances in the 2021–22 as Stoke again finished in 14th position and at the end of the season Smith's contract was not renewed.[36][37]

Middlesbrough

After a trial period, Smith signed a one-year contract with Middlesbrough on 27 July 2022. He played five times under manager Chris Wilder as Middlesbrough fell to 21st place in the league. Middlesbrough appointed Michael Carrick who moved them up the league to third with 13 games to go. Smith then signed a 2 year contract extension.[38]

Career statistics
As of match played 17 May 2023
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League FA Cup League Cup Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Huddersfield Town 2012–13[39] Championship 000000—00
2013–14[10] Championship 2402010—270
2014–15[14] Championship 4101020—440
2015–16[16] Championship 3602110—391
2016–17[18] Championship 42420003[lower-alpha 1]0474
2017–18[40] Premier League 2403000—270
2018–19[41] Premier League 1500010—160
Total 182410150302005
Stoke City 2019–20[31] Championship 3000020—320
2020–21[33] Championship 3521050—412
2021–22[42] Championship 3211000—331
Total 9732070—1063
Middlesbrough 2022–23[43] Championship 36010102[lower-alpha 1]0400
Career total 3157131130503468
  1. Appearances in Championship play-offs

Honours

Huddersfield Town

References
  1. "Updated squads for 2017/18 Premier League confirmed". Premier League. 2 February 2018. Retrieved 11 February 2018.
  2. "Tommy Smith". 11v11.com. AFS Enterprises. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
  3. "Warrington-born Smith leads Terriers to Premier League". Warrington Guardian. 2 June 2017. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
  4. "T. Smith: Summary". Soccerway. Perform Group. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
  5. "Retained List - Middlesbrough FC". twitter.com/Boro. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
  6. "THE RISE OF TOMMY SMITH". Augusttomay. Retrieved 27 August 2019.
  7. "Tommy Smith's journey to the top with Huddersfield Town is uplifting tale – Chris Powell". The Yorkshire Post. Leeds. 8 November 2017. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
  8. Thomson, Doug (7 December 2013). "Leaving Manchester City was the right decision says Huddersfield Town defender Tommy Smith". Huddersfield Daily Examiner. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
  9. "Huddersfield: Results/matches: 2012/13". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
  10. "Games played by Tom Smith in 2013/2014". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 27 November 2018.
  11. Threlfall-Sykes, David (4 February 2014). "Smith signs new contract". Huddersfield Town A.F.C. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
  12. "Tommy Smith: Huddersfield defender out of hospital". BBC Sport. 1 February 2015. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
  13. "Huddersfield Town 1-2 Leeds United". BBC Sport. 31 January 2015. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
  14. "Games played by Tom Smith in 2014/2015". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 27 November 2018.
  15. "Reading 5–2 Huddersfield Town". BBC Sport. 19 January 2016. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
  16. "Games played by Tom Smith in 2015/2016". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 27 November 2018.
  17. "Tommy Smith: Huddersfield Town defender signs new contract". BBC Sport. Retrieved 27 August 2019.
  18. "Games played by Tom Smith in 2016/2017". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 27 November 2018.
  19. Welton, Blake (30 May 2017). "Tommy Smith happy to take the short-term pain for the gain of Premier League football". Huddersfield Daily Examiner. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
  20. Booth, Mel (29 May 2017). "Reading FC 0 Huddersfield Town 0: Mel Booth's match report as the Terriers a Premier League spot via a penalty shootout". Huddersfield Daily Examiner. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
  21. Doyle, Paul (29 May 2017). "Huddersfield reach Premier League after penalty shoot-out win over Reading". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
  22. Tomlinson, Adam (9 August 2017). "Tommy Smith named new club captain". Huddersfield Town A.F.C. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
  23. "Tommy Smith: Huddersfield Town 'happy' with underdogs tag". BBC Sport. Retrieved 27 August 2019.
  24. "Crystal Palace 0-3 Huddersfield". BBC Sport. Retrieved 27 August 2019.
  25. "Huddersfield duo Aaron Mooy and Tommy Smith sidelined by injuries". Sky Sports. Retrieved 27 August 2019.
  26. "Chelsea 1–1 Huddersfield". BBC Sport. Retrieved 27 August 2019.
  27. "Crystal Palace 0–2 Huddersfield". BBC Sport. Retrieved 27 August 2019.
  28. Nicholson, Fraser (15 July 2019). "Smith makes it seven". Stoke City F.C. Retrieved 15 July 2019.
  29. "Stoke 2–1 QPR". BBC Sport. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
  30. "Boss explains why young Stoke City defender can't make matchday 18". Stoke Sentinel. 24 February 2020. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
  31. "Games played by Tom Smith in 2019/2020". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 15 July 2019.
  32. "Nottingham Forest 1–4 Stoke City". BBC Sport. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
  33. "Games played by Tommy Smith in 2020/2021". Soccerbase. Centurycomm.
  34. "Stoke City 2–2 Barnsley". BBC Sport. Retrieved 15 May 2021.
  35. "AFC Bournemouth 0–2 Stoke City". BBC Sport. Retrieved 15 May 2021.
  36. "Club confirm quartet to leave". www.stokecityfc.com. 10 May 2022. Retrieved 10 May 2022.
  37. "Tommy Smith confirms Stoke City exit in an emotional message to fans". Stoke Sentinel. 9 May 2022. Retrieved 14 May 2022.
  38. "Tommy Smith Completes Boro Move". Middlesbrough FC. Retrieved 27 July 2022.
  39. "Games played by Tom Smith in 2012/2013". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 27 November 2018.
  40. "Games played by Tom Smith in 2017/2018". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 27 November 2018.
  41. "Games played by Tom Smith in 2018/2019". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 15 July 2019.
  42. "Games played by Tommy Smith in 2021/2022". Soccerbase. Centurycomm.
  43. "Games played by Tommy Smith in 2022/2023". Soccerbase. Centurycomm.
  44. Woodcock, Ian (29 May 2017). "Huddersfield Town 0–0 Reading". BBC Sport. Retrieved 26 May 2018.
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