David Smith-What Went Wrong? (1 Viewer)

[Nonleagueherewecome]

Just watching the youtube of Speedie's goals and Smith really stood out as a creative force. He was one of my favourite players when I was a kid, yet faded and disappeared before becoming a jobbing winger at a number of clubs in the second tier.

I seem to remember that he suddenly stopped taking his man on like he had when he first got into the side and blokes around me in the stands shouting their frustration at him. He always seems to get a bit of flak on here whenever his name comes up, but look at some of the wingplay in the assists for Speedo:

There's no doubting that he had some ability looking at that! That's what I remember him for and was always so puzzled when he "lost it" shortly afterwards.

So what went wrong? Did he have a bad injury that scared him off taking on defenders? Was it a change of manager? (I know Snoz brought him through and Butcher cleared out half of his side). And for those who didn't rate him, was it for the reasons I remember fans getting on his back for?

 

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[Adge]

Burst onto the scene and was then left in the side for too long and wasn't taken out. Confidence then zapped because of that. Please see Ryan Haynes.

 

[ricohroar]

He was great at going at players, very very light weight. To be honest I think he just got clobbered a few times and stopped going at players so much. Was great to watch that season he did dance around defenders.

 

[clint van damme]

he used to drive me mad and I'd give him loads of stick. Many years later I was told that he was under strict instruction from Sillet to curtail his runs and not to leave Downes exposed at left back.
Would make sense and if true was probably Sillets biggest gaff along side signing Drinkell,

 

[Speedies_Chips]

I think he just got found out to be honest, and defenders worked out how to stop him.

 

[Terry Gibson's perm]

he used to drive me mad and I'd give him loads of stick. Many years later I was told that he was under strict instruction from Sillet to curtail his runs and not to leave Downes exposed at left back.
Would make sense and if true was probably Sillets biggest gaff along side signing Drinkell,

That would make sense as Downes was fairly hopeless

 

[M&B Stand]

We swapped him for John Gayle.

 

[Skyblueweeman]

I liked him.

 

[shy_tall_knight]

I think he had hamstring problems which prevented him being as effective, his career nosedived after he left us, was a very good player in his time, scored a great goal against Villa live on TV

 

[Samo]

Just watching the youtube of Speedie's goals and Smith really stood out as a creative force. He was one of my favourite players when I was a kid, yet faded and disappeared before becoming a jobbing winger at a number of clubs in the second tier.

I seem to remember that he suddenly stopped taking his man on like he had when he first got into the side and blokes around me in the stands shouting their frustration at him. He always seems to get a bit of flak on here whenever his name comes up, but look at some of the wingplay in the assists for Speedo:

There's no doubting that he had some ability looking at that! That's what I remember him for and was always so puzzled when he "lost it" shortly afterwards.

So what went wrong? Did he have a bad injury that scared him off taking on defenders? Was it a change of manager? (I know Snoz brought him through and Butcher cleared out half of his side). And for those who didn't rate him, was it for the reasons I remember fans getting on his back for?

Had a bad game... our fans got on his back like they do,,, stuffed his confidence... never the same player?

 

[Colin Steins Smile]

My recollection was that he had a limited number of skills to beat a player & once full backs had been briefed on these, he was ineffective.

 

[speedie87]

Leigh Jenkinson only had one trick, that never stopped him!

 

[oscillatewildly]

A great sight in football - witnessing a winger take on the opposition and create chances.
The OP sums it up in his first paragraph tho - Just as I recall him in his first season, such a talent and then after that first season - little or nothing.
They all get clobbered and/or 'found out'. Only the brave or fast and clever survive in that role!

 

[Grendel]

Shit player. His career after leaving us tells you all you need to know.

I don't really get any of the comments on here. He played around 500 games and most in top flight or the league below I would assume. Certainly a far better career than someone like Carl Baker.

 

[speedie87]

Didn't smith turn crap when he had his hair cut?!

 

[no_loyalty]

He was quality, I remember one particular game at HR when he ripped the Villa apart.

But agree with most that for whatever reason he lost his confidence and became a target for the boo boys

 

[Sky Blue Harry H]

Leigh Jenkinson only had one trick, that never stopped him!

No, it was always the full back once they'd seen the same trick twice.

 

[Sky Blue Harry H]

I don't really get any of the comments on here. He played around 500 games and most in top flight or the league below I would assume. Certainly a far better career than someone like Carl Baker.

It was comparative. He was playing in the top division, did ok - but was a bit lacking in his all round game. Why the comparison with Baker? It's like saying Beavon isn't as good as Speedie was. Different level of football.

 

[JimmyHillsbeard]

1) he's the epitome of the tv goals package (or these days the YouTube clips). It's true that a huge proportion of our goals came from him on the late 80s/early 90s but the highlights never showed you the dozens of times he failed to cross, beat his man or retain possession in the same game.

2) in his 6 or 7th game on the beach that was Highfield Road in 1988 Charlton full back John Humphrey put him unceremoniously into the crowd in the first minute and tackled him about knee height in the tenth. I really don't think he ever really fancied it as much again.

 

[skyblueelephant76]

Smith bulked up after the first season and never looked as agile or as quick again.

 

[Monkeyface]

Remember him taking a clearance ball to the knackers. Went down like he'd been shot (understandably), and didn't get up for what seemed an age.

 

[Joy Division]

I don't really get any of the comments on here. He played around 500 games and most in top flight or the league below I would assume. Certainly a far better career than someone like Carl Baker.

Hate to break it to you but we are not in the top flight any more. Why comparing to players in this league?

 

[Nonleagueherewecome]

Thanks for all the replies guys. I thought he was a player who really divided the fans and the responses illustrate that!

I DO remember some of those later games where he would close on his man, go to beat him, then back off and pass back. It was frustrating as we knew what he was capable of. But equally I used to think the crowd getting on his back hit his confidence a bit, rather than helped, much as it would Salako a few years later? But that's a part of football and having the mental resolve to overcome it is an important aspect of the game at the higher levels.

I think he must have picked up a knock or two as well that stopped him believing in himself so much. I also think it is easy to underplay just how good a motivator Snoz was and perhaps nobody else could get the best out of him?

The point about asking him to cover Downs is an interesting one: certainly that was a role that Pickering excelled at before him. But he was playing with Downs behind him when he produced most of the form in the Speedie clip, so I'm not sure how much that is a factor.

Agreed with what Grendel says about the negative comments too: it is easy to forget that this was the top flight, in big games. And he did have some blinders and play a lot of games in a very good Coventry City side, one that was in one season 3rd in the top division in February, as close as we've got to doing what Leicester did last season in my lifetime! It was in the era before "assists" got measured and heralded quite so much as a stat too. He definitely had ability and I think has had a slightly raw deal in terms of how he is generally remembered, given just how good he was at times. It's a shame he didn't keep it going, for whatever reasons, but his positive contributions deserve to be remembered.

 

[Ring Of Steel]

He had the best debut I’ve ever seen, beating people for fun, we hammered Sheff Weds 3-0 and they couldn’t get anywhere near him. I personally think he was over coached, so the natural inclination to beat people left his game, he’d look to keep possession instead of race past people. But he rarely gave the ball away and I would put him our most underrated player of the whole era in the top division. Take out Hutch and he’s a shoe-in for our best ever left winger.

I always remember when we beat Man Utd away in 1988/89, Bannister scored and he goal was set up by Smith who beat two of their players, one of whom was Bryan Robson, and Brian Moore on commentary couldn’t quite believe it.

He got a massive raw deal from our fans and was probably the least deserving player ever to become a target of the boo boys- just shows how complacent we became that we gave him stick.

That 1988/1989 side wasn’t far away from being a top 4 team for me, but under Sillett after ‘87 we’d do really well up until March (weren’t we 3rd for months?) then just totally sit back and coast, then finish lower. 89/90 was the same, 4th in Feb from memory and then mentally went on holidays. We needed someone to tell us that wasn’t good enough but the mentality was ‘that’s ok’.

Ogrizovic, Borrows, Peake, Sedgely, Phillips, Gynn, Speedie, Regis, Smith et al- that was some team we had. We beat Arsenal 1-0 at HR before they won the league and it was one of the top performances I ever saw, totally deserved. We stopped playing after that, coasted in.

I think 1992/1993 was the most exciting attacking team I saw for a few months- Rosario (who proved to be an excellent provider), Gallacher, Smith, Quinn & Ndlovu all up front- Villa 3-0, Liverpool 5-1, Blackburn 5-2- they could tear teams apart but then finances took over, Gallacher and Rosario both left and we lost momentum badly.

 

[Nonleagueherewecome]

Yeah we were 3rd for AGES. I was only 11-12 and after the FA Cup win and that season, that was it, I thought we were a big club and there to stay! We played some fantastic football that season and as you say, Smith was a key part of that along with half a team of absolute City legends.

Sillett definitely gains by comparison to his successors, though...his side was streets ahead of Butcher's and Neal's and better than Atkinson's on an absolute fraction of the budget.

 

[singers_pore]

Once he got into England U21s the coaches coached him to play safe which nullified his only real strength.

 

[Nonleagueherewecome]

While I'm here, special mention for Micky Gynn-11 goals from midfield in the 90-91 season at that level. He was immense.

 

[Ring Of Steel]

Oh Sillett is a god, that goes without saying. Behind only Jimmy Hill as our greatest ever manager- and not by much.

I just think he should have gone a little sooner and we should never have appointed Butcher, we needed someone with experience who could take what we had and take us to that next level- we had the talent for sure. Butcher came in and immediately started picking fights with people like Peake, Kilcline, Regis and seemed more interested in proving he was the boss & moving people on than building the team up

 

[Nonleagueherewecome]

What a disaster Butcher was....all three you mentioned definitely had another season in them at least, as Cyrille took great delight in proving for Villa!

 

[Ring Of Steel]

While I'm here, special mention for Micky Gynn-11 goals from midfield in the 90-91 season at that level. He was immense.

I agree with you- my favourite ever players:

Brian Borrows
Micky Gynn
Trevor Peake

I always liked the ‘unsung heroes’ and the mid to late 80s was when I kind of got serious about us and started going to all the games

 

[Ring Of Steel]

I agree with you- my favourite ever players:

Brian Borrows
Micky Gynn
Trevor Peake

I always liked the ‘unsung heroes’ and the mid to late 80s was when I kind of got serious about us and started going to all the games

Oh and Dean Emerson, now what a player he was!! Another integral part of the 88/89 team and had he not been wiped out by Gary bloody Megson he could have played for England. I loved watching him, and clearly remember him besting people like Steve McMahon and Bryan Robson, immense player

 

[Nonleagueherewecome]

I agree with you- my favourite ever players:

Brian Borrows
Micky Gynn
Trevor Peake

I always liked the ‘unsung heroes’ and the mid to late 80s was when I kind of got serious about us and started going to all the games

Coincidentally, on a gem of a youtube recommendation I watched this earlier in which all excel:

Love that cross by Smith for Rosario's header, too, lovely curve and shape.

 

[Ring Of Steel]

We lost the game but this was how David Smith was for that season, nobody could stop him. Theee goals, three assists, waltzing past people seemingly at will

 

[Ring Of Steel]

Coincidentally, on a gem of a youtube recommendation I watched this earlier in which all excel:

Love that cross by Smith for Rosario's header, too, lovely curve and shape.

I remember that game well- I got my GCSE results the following day

It surely contains one of the worst defensive displays ever seen at Highfield Road!

 

[Nonleagueherewecome]

I remember that game well- I got my GCSE results the following day

It surely contains one of the worst defensive displays ever seen at Highfield Road!

They were abject weren't they?!? Even Ray Woods looked alright. Love the bit of skill by Borrows to set one up, though. He should have played for England too!