Martin Smith (footballer)

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For other persons named Martin Smith, see Martin Smith (disambiguation).

Personal information
Martin Smith
Full name	Martin Smith
Date of birth	November 13, 1974 (1974-11-13) (age 33)
Place of birth	Sunderland, England
Height	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Playing position	Midfielder
Club information
Current club	Unattached
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1992–1999 1999–2000 2000–2003 2003–2006 2006–2008	Sunderland Sheffield United Huddersfield Town Northampton Town Darlington	119 (25) 026 (10) 080 (29) 104 (24) 037 0(5)
National team
1994	England U21	001 0(0)
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 16:06, 26 January 2008 (UTC). * Appearances (Goals)

Martin Smith (born 13 November 1974) is a professional footballer currently without a club afte rbeing released by Darlington. He has previously played for Northampton Town, Huddersfield Town, Sheffield United and Sunderland.

Many Northampton Town supporters^[who?] regard Smith as one of the most technically-gifted players ever to represent the club.

Smith joined Darlington ahead of the 2006-07 season. Sunderland born Smith started his career on Wearside. Dubbed 'The Son of Pele' by Sunderland fans^[1], he scored twenty-eight times in 107 starts for the North East giants in a seven year spell, moving to Sheffield United (scoring fifteen times in 30 starts for the Blades), before joining Huddersfield Town.

Smith went on to score thirty goals in seventy-five starts, including seventeen during the 2002-03 season as the Terriers were relegated. He signed for Northampton Town from Huddersfield Town on 1 July 2003 after being chased for a few months by their then manager Martin Wilkinson. Smith started as a forward; however in recent seasons he has been used as a midfielder, continuing to regularly find the net for Northampton during their promotion from League Two during the 2005-06 season.

At the end of that season the then Northampton Town manager Colin Calderwood left for Nottingham Forest. Smith enjoyed a good relationship with Calderwood and although new Northampton Town manager John Gorman worked hard to try to keep Smith at the Sixfields Stadium, Darlington (managed at the time by David Hodgson) eventually got their man.

On 19 March 2008, Smith's contract with Darlington was cancelled^[2].