Dean Smith (footballer)

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Dean Smith
Personal information
Date of birth March 19, 1971 (1971-03-19) (age 37)
Place of birth    West Bromwich, England
Height 6 ft 1 in (1.85m)
Playing position Centre Back
Club information
Current club Leyton Orient (assistant manager)
Senior clubs1
Years Club App (Gls)*
1989–1994
1994–1997
1997–2003
2003–2004
2004–2005
Walsall
Hereford United
Leyton Orient
Sheffield Wednesday
Port Vale
142 0(2)
117 (19)
239 (32)
055 0(1)
013 0(0)   

1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only.
* Appearances (Goals)

Dean Smith (born 19 March 1971 in West Bromwich) is a retired English footballer who is currently assistant manager at Leyton Orient. He played as a central defender.

He started his playing career at Walsall and was later sold for £80,000 to Hereford United. This remains the record transfer fee that the Bulls have paid for a player in their entire history. Smith was captain at Edgar Street during the club's rise to the playoffs in 1995–96 where they were beaten by Darlington. The following season Hereford were relegated from the Football League and Smith departed to Leyton Orient, with a tribunal setting the fee at £42,500. The period between 1995 and 1999 was his most prolific in terms of goals, scoring 34 of which 14 were penalties.

He twice captained Orient to the playoff final before joining Division One side Sheffield Wednesday in February 2003, whom he also captained. However they were relegated at the end of the season, and Smith later signed for Port Vale, on a free transfer, in March 2004. His playing days ended in January 2005 when he left Vale to become youth team coach at his old club Orient. He was promoted to the role of assistant manager at the end of the 2004–05 season.