Gordon Smith (footballer born 1954)

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Gordon Duffield Smith (born December 29, 1954 in Kilwinning) is a former football player who played for Rangers and Brighton & Hove Albion F.C., and later worked as a football agent and BBC football pundit.

On 1 June 2007, Smith was confirmed as the new chief executive of the Scottish Football Association.^[1]

[edit] Playing career

Smith started his career with Kilmarnock. He was known as Casper (after the ghost) for the way he 'ghosted ' past defenders in his path. He was sold to Rangers in 1977 for £65,000. In his first season with Rangers, Smith won the domestic treble, scoring 27 goals from midfield. He was sold to Brighton & Hove Albion in 1980 for a record transfer fee of £440,000. But he returned to Rangers on loan in December 1982 for the Scottish League Cup final, a match lost to Celtic. He made three appearances during his loan spell, without scoring.

However he did score for Brighton in the 1983 FA Cup Final as they drew 2-2 with Manchester United, although unfortunately for Smith, Brighton lost the replay 4-0. The commentary for the first match included the phrase "...and Smith must score" (which he didn't, on that occasion), an infamous soundbite that has haunted him since and overshadowed some notable playing achievements.On leaving Brighton in March 1984, Smith went on to Manchester City where he finished top scorer (with 12 League goals) in their 1984-85 promotion campaign to the top Division.

Smith went on to play at the top level in Austria with Admira Wacker, in Switzerland with FC Basel, and back in Scotland for a short stint with Stirling Albion before retiring as a player in 1988.

[edit] After playing

Smith had a spell as Assistant Manager of St Mirren between 1990 and 1993 before taking up his career in the media.

In his career as a football agent, he managed the careers of many footballers including Celtic's Paul Lambert and Scotland striker Kenny Miller. Smith relinquished his pundit and agent roles to take up the job vacated by David Taylor, in June 2007.