| Wilf S Smith | |
| |
| Full name | Wilfred Samuel Smith |
| Nationality |  England
|
| Rovers apps (goals)a | 54 (2) |
| Position | Defender |
| Date of birth | 3 September 1946 in Neumünster, Germany |
| Height | 5 ft 10 in |
| Joined | |
| March 1975 from Coventry City | |
| Left | |
| November 1976 to join Chesterfield | |
| Senior clubs | |
| Sheffield Wednesday Coventry City Brighton & Hove Albion Millwall Bristol Rovers Chesterfield | |
| a League appearances and goals only Last updated by Gasheadsteve on 12/10/2012 | |
- Not to be confused with the Wilf Smith who played for Rovers either side of the Second World War.
Wilfred Samuel Smith (born Wilfred Schmidt, known as Wilf Smith) was a defender who played for Rovers in the mid-1970s, joining from Coventry City shortly before the end of the 1974–75 season and leaving to join Chesterfield in November 1976. During that spell he made 54 league appearances, scoring twice in those games.
Career[]
Born in Neumünster, Germany the day after the conclusion of the Second World War, his family moved to England when he was still a child, settling in the Sheffield area and Anglicising their surname from Schmidt to Smith.
Wilf started playing football with Sheffield Boys, where he was made team captain, before becoming a trainee with Sheffield Wednesday in 1962, and turning pro with them in 1963. He received international recognition early on, captaining England at youth level, and also making several appearances for the under-23s.
He made 206 league appearances for the Owls, scoring four times, and was signed by Coventry City for a fee of £100,000 in 1970 in a deal that made him the most expensive full back in Britain at the time. He stayed with Coventry for five years, during which time he was loaned out to both Brighton & Hove Albion and Millwall, playing five league games for each of them. He moved to Rovers in 1975 after having played 135 times in the league for the Sky Blues, scoring just once.
He rounded his career off with a nineteen-month stay with Chesterfield, where he made 27 league appearances and scored twice. After retiring from football in 1978 he moved into retail, starting Wilf Smith (Wholesale) Ltd. in Leicester.