Player Profile – Andy Smith
Andrew William Smith was born in Lisburn on 25 September 1980. Smith started his career in Ireland with Ballyclare Comrades before moving to England in September 1999 with Division One side Sheffield United. He made his debut as a substitute for former PNE assistant manager David Kelly in the 79th minute in a 1-0 defeat at Lincoln on 5 September 2000 although the Blades had won the tie 6-2 over the two legs. He made a further 6 appearances, all from the substitute bench the last a 2-0 defeat at Burnley on 11 November.
In November 2000 he joined Bury on loan and made his full league debut in a 4-1 defeat at Bristol City on 2 December, with his second and final appearance for the Shakers came a fortnight later.
Smith went on loan to Glenavon in 2001 before joining Glentoran in 2002. He was a prolific striker for Glentoran, scoring 57 goals in 97 appearances. Whilst with Glentoran he made his Northern Ireland International debut under former PNE player Sammy McIlroy on 3 June 2003 in a 2-0 defeat in Italy and went on to make a total of 18 appearances.
In July 2004 Smith joined Craig Brown’s Preston for a fee of £150,000 beating MK Dons for his signature. His Lilywhite debut came as a sub for Eric Skora in a 2-1 win against Watford on the opening day of the 2004/05 season. Only 3 of the 14 matches for the 2004/05 season did Smith start, at home to Crewe on 25 September and at Coventry and home to Leeds in November. All three games he was substituted.
In November 2004 he joined Sammy McIlroy again as his capacity as Stockport manager and made his debut in a 3-1 FA Cup victory over Huddersfield and made one league appearance.
He returned to Preston with his last appearance for Preston came in a 2-1 defeat at Millwall on 24 April 2005.
In August 2005 Smith joined Scottish Premier League side Motherwell and made his debut on 6 August 2005 in a 1-0 home win over Dunfermline, when he replaced David Clarkson on the hour. His first full appearance came in a 2-1 League Cup win over Hamilton on 23 August. Four days later was his first start in the Scottish Premier League but this ended in a 2-1 defeat at Hearts. Smith made 7 league appearances for Motherwell including 4 as a substitute, his last match being a 3-1 home defeat to Hibernian on 24 September 2005.
Due to a patella tendonitis knee injury he had to wait until November 2006 for his next appearance when he joined Cheltenham on loan, funded by the Cheltenham supporters. His debut was a 2-1 defeat at Oldham on 4 November and made one further league appearance.
Smith was finally put out of his misery at Preston and was released on a free transfer on 23 February 2007. Smith then joined League One side Bristol City and made his debut the following day in a 2-0 win at Brighton as a substitute for Stephen Brooker for the last half hour. He made a total of 10 appearances of which he started only three. His last game was a 1-0 defeat at Millwall on 28 April 2007 when he replaced Kevin Betsy with 15 minutes to go.
Smith returned to Ireland singing for Portadown in October 2007, and left in December 2007 when his short term contract ended. After failing to get back into full time football with Port Vale, Smith rejoined Portadown on the 19 February 2008, signing a contract which was due to cease at the end of the 2009/10 season. However on 3 December, Portadown boss Ronnie McFall confirmed that Smith had not reported to training for over 2 months, in protest at the club's refusal to release him from his contract. The striker felt that it was in the interests of his career to leave Portadown because of their demotion from the top level of Northern Irish league football. On 7 July Smith joined Grimsby Town on trial but failed to earn a contract. On 3 August he signed a two-year deal with Ballymena United.
The following season saw Smith score 10 goals in 39 appearances for his new club, one of which was an equalising goal in an Irish Cup semi-final defeat to Portadown. The celebration that followed this goal was both bizarre and controversial, with Andy donning a white glove which he pulled out from his shorts and mimicking a loyalist marcher along the touchline. Under prompting from the Andersontown News and Sinn Féin Assemblyman Paul Butler, the IFA agreed to look into the incident but no disciplinary action was ever taken.
In August 2011 Smith signed for Belgian side Union Royale Namur. In August 2012, he joined CSO Amnéville on trial but the deal fell through, and he then joined Carrick Rangers, but left one day later after accepting further trials with clubs in France and Belgium. It was rumoured that he had been playing in Vietnam, but this turned out to be false.
After joining old club Glentoran on trial in July 2013 to keep his fitness up, he signed for Crusaders on 2 January 2014 until the end of the season. He scored one goal in the Irish Cup against Crumlin Star, and was released at the end of the season.