Place of birth Currie, Scotland Years Team Playing position Name Paul Smith | 1980–1982 Dundee Role Football player 1982 Dundee United Position Midfielder | |
Date of birth (1962-11-02) 2 November 1962 (age 53) | ||
Paul Smith (born 2 November 1962 in Edinburgh) is a Scottish former football player and manager.
After briefly being attached to both Dundee and Dundee United, Smith made his senior breakthrough with Raith Rovers in 1983. A combative midfielder, he enjoyed something of a journeyman career, encompassing spells with Motherwell, Dunfermline Athletic (twice), Falkirk, Heart of Midlothian, Ayr United and Berwick Rangers.
Two months after his arrival at Shielfield Park in 1997, Smith was appointed manager, a post he held until 2004 where he got the club promoted to the Scottish Second Division.. He later performed the role of assistant manager to Des McKeown at Stenhousemuir, until the pair's dismissal in November 2006. He now currently works for Raith Rovers as assistant manager to Grant Murray. He had been assistant manager where along with John McGlynn he got the club promoted to the First Division, a Scottish Cup Semi Final and just missed out on promotion to the SPL. He was also a caretaker manager at Rovers following the departure of McGlynn to Hearts. Murray appointed Smith to continue his role as assistant manager at Raith. Paul first joined Rovers as a player in season 1982/83, and the following year he was joined by Keith Wright with whom he struck up a potent striking partnership, with Smith scoring 34 goals and Wright 25 in season 84/85, and the following season Smith notched up 27 goals to Wright’s 28.
‘Smudger’ as he was affectionately known as a player, was sold to Motherwell in the summer of 1986 and also had spells with Dunfermline, Falkirk, Hearts and Ayr United before moving into management with Berwick Rangers in 1997. Paul left Shielfield in 2004 and joined Stenhousemuir in July 2005 where he filled the role of assistant manager until the end of 2006.