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Joe Smith (football forward, born 1889)

Joe Smith
Joe Smith (football manager).jpg
Personal information
Full name Joseph Smith
Date of birth (1889-06-25)25 June 1889
Place of birth Dudley, England
Date of death 11 August 1971(1971-08-11) (aged 82)
Place of death Blackpool, England
Playing position Forward
Youth career
Crewe Alexandra
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1908–1927 Bolton Wanderers 449 (254)
1927–1929 70 (61)
1929–1931 Darwen (player-manager) 51 (42)
Total 570 (357)
National team
1913–1920 England 5 (1)
Teams managed
1929–1931 Darwen (player-manager)
1931–1935 Reading
1935–1958 Blackpool
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.

Joseph Smith (25 June 1889 – 11 August 1971) was an English professional football player and manager. He is tenth in the list of England's top-flight goal scorers with 243 league goals to his name. He was manager of Blackpool for 23 years and guided them to victory in the 1953 FA Cup Final, the only time they have won the competition since their 1887 inception.

A forward, he began his career at Crewe Alexandra, but did not play a first team game for the club. He instead made his name at Bolton Wanderers, where with 277 league and cup goals between 1908 and 1927, he is the club's second highest goalscorer, only eight behind Nat Lofthouse. He won the Second Division title with Bolton 1908–09, and played in FA Cup final victories in 1923 and 1926. He later hit 61 goals in 70 league games for , before being appointed player-manager at Darwen in 1929. Two years later he was appointed manager of Reading, and narrowly missed out on promotion during his four seasons in charge. He became Blackpool manager in August 1935, and remained in this position until April 1958. He led the "Seasiders" to one victory in three FA Cup final appearances (1948, 1951, and 1953), and also led the club to runners-up spot in the Second Division in 1936–37, second place in the First Division in 1955–56, and runners-up in the 1953 FA Charity Shield.


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