| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Alexander Smithies | ||
| Date of birth | 5 March 1990 | ||
| Place of birth | Huddersfield, England | ||
| Height | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) | ||
| Playing position | Goalkeeper | ||
| Club information | |||
| Current club | Huddersfield Town | ||
| Number | 1 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| – | Westend Juniors | ||
| 2000–2007 | Huddersfield Town | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 2007– | Huddersfield Town | 99 | (0) |
| National team‡ | |||
| 2005–2006 | England U16 | 4 | (0) |
| 2005–2007 | England U17 | 9 | (0) |
| 2007 | England U18 | 1 | (0) |
| 2009 | England U19 | 1 | (0) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of March 19, 2011. † Appearances (Goals). |
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Alexander "Alex" Smithies (born 5 March 1990 in Huddersfield, England) is a professional footballer with League One side Huddersfield Town. An academy goalkeeper who first came into prominence during the 2007–08 season, after second choice goalkeeper Simon Eastwood injured his foot.
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Smithies grew up in Golcar, in the Colne Valley area of Huddersfield. He attended Colne Valley High School, Linthwaite, where he attained five As, four Bs and a C at GCSE. Smithies previously played football for Westend Juniors in Huddersfield's local leagues, and he joined the Huddersfield Town academy before leaving school.[1]
Having come through the Academy of the club he grew up supporting, Smithies made his first team début on 5 December 2007. He came on as a 76th minute substitute for the red-carded Matt Glennon during Huddersfield Town's 4–1 defeat by Southend United at Roots Hall. His first full start came in the 4–0 defeat at Leeds United on 8 December, after Glennon lost an appeal against his dismissal and Town were refused permission to loan an emergency goalkeeper on the grounds that Smithies was registered as a professional.
Smithies' first appearance at the Galpharm Stadium for a first-team match was on 6 December 2008. In this game, caretaker manager Gerry Murphy dropped regular keeper Matt Glennon in favour of the young custodian, who went on to help Huddersfield to a 2–1 victory over Walsall.
The first clean sheet he kept for the club came on 13 December 2008. YThe 1–0 win for Huddersfield over Southend United was remarkable thanks to the penalty save made by Smithies from James Walker 10 minutes from time.
Smithies became the first choice keeper for the remainder of the 2008–09 season and, after the arrival of manager Lee Clark, made the number 1 jersey his own.
Throughout the 2009–10 season, Smithies was the only player to play in each and every league and cup game for Huddersfield. He made 48 starts, 17 of which resulted in a clean sheet for the Terriers. His contribution in helping Huddersfield to a final position inside the League One playoffs was reflected by him winning the club's Young Player of the Year Trophy.[2]
In conceding just 56 goals in such a competitive campaign, he won both praise and admiration from many quarters; earning the Football League's 'Young Player of the Month' award in February 2010 along the way. On 17 November 2009 Smithies was linked with Stoke City after a scout from the club was the latest in a long string of Premier League interest to be seen at the Galpharm. This interest was played down by Lee Clark and Tony Coton, and Smithies insisted he was happy to be at Huddersfield.[3]
Smithies' 2010/11 campaign was punctuated by injury, restricting him to just 27 appearances in all competitions throughout the season. His performances, on the occasions he did play, earned him a call up to the England under-21 squad, although he was unable to play - again due to injury.
In January he was linked with a £1.5m move to Aston Villa, after Villa manager Gerard Houllier was said to have been impressed with his performance against Sheffield Wednesday.[4]
Further speculation relating to his future at the club followed Huddersfield's 3-0 defeat against Peterborough United in the League One play-off final, and he was linked with a move to Leicester City, along with teammate Lee Peltier.[5] However, when Leicester had a bid for Kasper Schmeichel accepted by Leeds United in June, speculation that Smithies could be heading for Leeds was rejected by Huddersfield chief executive Nigel Clibbens. [6].
Smithies' absence from the squad during 2010-11 through injury allowed Ian Bennett to become first choice goalkeeper, backed up by fellow veteran Nick Colgan. As of November 2011, Smithies has yet to return to first team action for Huddersfield.
He has four caps for the England U-16's and 10 caps for the England U-17's including five during the 2007 FIFA U-17 World Cup in South Korea. In this competition he helped England U-17's make it to the Quarter-finals, before they were eventually eliminated by Germany after a 4–1 defeat.
On 20 November 2007, Smithies made his debut for the England U-18 team, where he played 45 minutes in their 2–0 win against Ghana U-18's at Gillingham's Priestfield Stadium.
In November 2008, Smithies received his first England U-19 call up for a friendly against Germany U-19. His first game for the U19's came against Spain U-19 at Bournemouth's Dean Court ground on 10 February 2009, in a 3–0 defeat.
On August 24, 2010, Smithies received his first call-up to the England U-21's for their matches against Portugal U-21's and Lithuania U-21's.
| Club performance | League | Cup | League Cup | Continental | Total | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Club | League | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| England | League | FA Cup | League Cup | Europe | Total | |||||||
| 2007-08 | Huddersfield Town | League One | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | 2 | 0 | |
| 2008-09 | 27 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | 28 | 0 | |||
| 2009-10 | 48 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | - | 55 | 0 | |||
| 2010–11 | 22 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | - | 27 | 0 | |||
| 2011–12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | 0 | 0 | |||
| Total | England | 99 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 112 | 0 | |
| Career total | 99 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 112 | 0 | ||
On 2 April 2009, Smithies was one of a select few young British footballing talents assessed by "Sky Sports Scout", a service offered by Sky Sports for finding the best young talent in the country. He was given a rating of 65/80, a current valuation of £5million and labelled as "on his way to the top."[7]
Smithies was named as the Football League’s Young Player of the Month for February 2010 after keeping three clean sheets in seven undefeated Huddersfield Town games.[8]
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