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Kevin Smart

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Kevin Smart
Personal information
Full name Kevin Graham Smart[1]
Date of birth (1958-10-17) 17 October 1958 (age 66)
Place of birth Newcastle upon Tyne, England
Position(s) Defender
Youth career
0000–1976 Plymouth Argyle
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1976–1978 Plymouth Argyle 32 (0)
1978–1980 Wigan Athletic 49 (1)
1980–1988 Folkestone Town
1988–1990 Hythe Town
1990–1991 Ashford Town
1991 Margate
1991–1992 Hythe Town
1992 Folkestone Invicta
1992–1994 Canterbury City
1994 Hythe United
1994–1995 Canterbury City
1995 Hythe United
1995–1996 Deal Town
1996–1997 Canterbury City
1997–2000 Deal Town
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Kevin Graham Smart (born 17 October 1958) is an English retired footballer. He played as a defender in the Football League between 1976 and 1980 for Plymouth Argyle and Wigan Athletic, making a total of 81 appearances scoring one goal. Thereafter he played for non-league clubs in Kent.

Career

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Smart, who had come through the youth ranks at Plymouth Argyle played 9 matches, aged 18, for the club in the Second Division in the latter part of the 1976–77 season. Plymouth were relegated that season and Smart was a regular starter during the first part of their 1977–78 campaign in the Third Division. However, in the second half of the season he was unable to command a first choice place with "The Pilgrims" and at its end was made available for a free transfer.[2][3]

During the summer of 1978 he signed with Football League newcomers Wigan Athletic.[4] During their inaugural 1978–79 season he played in 40 of their 46 league matches in the Fourth Division and scored his only league goal on 17 March 1979, the second in a 2–0 win over Stockport County. He appeared in only nine matches for "The Latics" during the following 1979–80 season and was released at the end of the campaign.[5][6]

From 1980 Smart played for a succession of non-league Kent clubs, initially mostly playing in the Southern League. During the summer of 1980 Smart signed with Folkestone Town[7] for whom he played for the following eight seasons, during which he became team captain. Folkestone achieved promotion to the Southern League Premier Division following the 1982–83 season and twice won the Kent Senior Cup, in 1983 and 1985. In July 1988 Smart moved to Kent League club Hythe Town[8] who topped the Division One table in 1988–89 and gained promotion to the Southern League for 1989–90, his second season with the club. During the 1990 close season Smart signed with Ashford Town[9] and in November 1990 he suffered the misfortune of breaking a leg; after he recovered, in February 1991 he joined Margate.[10] He left them shortly after the start of the 1991–92 season to return to Hythe Town (for a role primarily as joint reserve team manager),[11] then after a short spell between March and April 1992 with Kent League Division Two club Folkestone Invicta[12] Smart finished the season with Southern League strugglers Canterbury City.[13] He remained with "City", who had joined the Kent League, until January 1994, after which Smart spent two spells at each of three Kent League clubs: Hythe United (from January 1994[14] and November 1995[15]); Canterbury City (from April 1994[16] – scoring a hat-trick for then on 20 August 1994 in a 5–2 victory at Darenth Heathside[17] – and August 1996[18]); and Deal Town (from December 1995[19] and January 1997[20]). Smart remained with the latter club until 2000 and was the joint manager[21] of their reserves team who were the 1998–99 season Kent League Division One champions.

In 2006, he was living in Dover and working as a bricklayer.[22]

References

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  1. ^ "Kevin Smart". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 26 November 2017.
  2. ^ "Kevin Smart". Greens on Screen. Retrieved 14 January 2011.
  3. ^ Willars, Ian (4 May 1978). "End of an era: PLYMOUTH". Birmingham Daily Post. Birmingham. p. 18.
  4. ^ "(Picture caption: Here they are . . .)". Liverpool Daily Post. Liverpool. 20 July 1978. p. 11.
  5. ^ Kevin Smart at the English National Football Archive (subscription required)
  6. ^ "It's clear out time". Liverpool Daily Post. Liverpool. 25 April 198. p. 18.
  7. ^ Cumming, Brian (8 August 1980). "Soccer Round-up". Kentish Express. Ashford. p. 24.
  8. ^ Cork, Mick (29 July 1988). "Smart Move". Folkestone Herald. Folkestone. p. 80.
  9. ^ "Kevin Smart Profile". The Nuts and Bolts Archive. Retrieved 15 December 2023.
  10. ^ "Defeat shocks Fans". Thanet Times. Margate. 19 February 1991. p. 43.
  11. ^ "Improved Erith rock Hythe hopes". Folkestone Herald. Folkestone. 11 October 1991. p. 64.
  12. ^ "Derby clash in semi-final". Dover Express. Dover. 20 March 1992. p. 64.
  13. ^ "Margate turn in slipshod display". Isle of Thanet Gazette. Sittingbourne. 24 April 1992. p. 41.
  14. ^ "Hythe United 2 University of Kent 1". Folkestone Herald. Folkestone. 27 January 1994. p. 82.
  15. ^ "Up the Town!". Folkestone Herald. Folkestone. 16 November 1995. p. 76.
  16. ^ "Stevens' stunner". Folkestone Herald. Folkestone. 7 April 1994. p. 78.
  17. ^ "Unbeaten records stand as season gets under way". Tunbridge Wells Courier. Tunbridge Wells. 26 August 1994. p. 14.
  18. ^ "Keeper Mac's horror break". Folkestone Herald. Folkestone. 29 August 1996. p. 65.
  19. ^ Lobb, Stuart (28 December 1995). "Town pay price". Dover Express. Dover. p. 36.
  20. ^ "Reserves' reverse". Dover Express. Dover. 16 January 1997. p. 72.
  21. ^ Cork, Mick (18 June 1998). "FA Vase run is target for Tom". Dover Express. Dover. p. 85.
  22. ^ "Caught in Time: Wigan win election to the Football League, 1978". The Sunday Times. 26 February 2006. Retrieved 3 December 2010.[dead link]
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