George Smith (footballer, born 1915)
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | George Caspar Smith | ||
| Date of birth | 23 April 1915 | ||
| Place of birth | Bromley-by-Bow, England | ||
| Date of death | 31 October 1983 (aged 68) | ||
| Place of death | Bodmin, England | ||
| Height | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) | ||
| Playing position | Centre half | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Bexleyheath & Welling | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1938–1945 | Charlton Athletic | 1 | (0) |
| 1945–1947 | Brentford | 41 | (1) |
| 1947–1949 | Queens Park Rangers | 75 | (1) |
| 1949–1950 | Ipswich Town | 8 | (0) |
| National team | |||
| 1945 | England (Wartime) | 1 | (0) |
| Teams managed | |||
| 1950–1951 | Chelmsford City | ||
| 1951–1952 | Redhill | ||
| 1952–1955 | Eastbourne United | ||
| 1956–1958 | Sutton United | ||
| 1958–1960 | Crystal Palace | ||
| 1961–1970 | Portsmouth | ||
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. |
|||
George Caspar Smith was an English footballer who was born in Bromley-by-Bow, East London on 23 April 1915 and played as a centre half. He died in 1983.
He appeared in one wartime international for England (against Wales in May 1945) for which caps were not awarded although the England teams then were probably stronger than some pre-war sides. He also played in armed services representative sides which were Great Britain elevens in all but name. According to George Allison, Arsenal's manager, wartime football was 'better in quality than pre-war League football'.
After retiring from playing, Smith had a successful career as both an F.A. coach and manager. His league win ratios at Crystal Palace and Portsmouth FC were 43% and 36% respectively.
Smith's career began at Hackney Schools in east London where he had grown up. He joined the army as a young man and was stationed in Syria and Palestine in the mid-nineteen thirties. On returning to England, he was bought out of the army by Jimmy Seed and, in 1936–37, began to feature for Bexleyheath & Welling in the Kent League. After promotion with Charlton from the third to the second division in 1935, Seed had arranged that Bexleyheath & Welling would become the nursery club of Charlton Athletic and the amateur team was also referred to as 'Charlton A'.
Under Seed's management, Charlton surprised the football world prior to World War II by achieving successive promotions and becoming one of the strongest teams in the English 1st Division. They were runners-up in 1936-7 and then finished fourth and third respectively before the war caused league football to be abandoned for six years. Smith signed professional papers on 5 August 1938 with a salary of £5 per week and a £10 signing-on payment. His contract was renewed in 1939 at £6 per week until May 1940 with the provision of '£1 extra per week when playing in the first team'. He made the first XI at the end of the 1938–9 season when his form attracted considerable attention. This was the final game of that season at home on 6 May to Preston North End; a game which Charlton won 3–1. The outbreak of the war meant that he only made 1 full league appearance before regular football fixtures were halted.
...
Wikipedia