{"id":36243,"date":"2022-12-31T13:00:21","date_gmt":"2022-12-31T13:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thearsenalcollection.org.uk\/?p=36243"},"modified":"2022-12-31T13:01:12","modified_gmt":"2022-12-31T13:01:12","slug":"dave-smith-the-arsenal-obituary-2022","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thearsenalcollection.org.uk\/?p=36243","title":{"rendered":"Dave Smith – The Arsenal Obituary 2022"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dave Smith, 1972-1974<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"Dave Joined Arsenal on 12 July 1971 as reserve coach in what can only be described as a coaching magical merry-go-round. Basically he was to replace Steve Burtenshaw, but it was much more complicated than that!<\/p>\n

During the summer of 1971, Don Howe went to West Bromwich Albion as manager, taking Arsenal’s youth team coach Brian Whitehouse and physiotherapist George Wright with him.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Bertie Mee knew that Howe was going to leave at the end of June, so approached Smith who was a close friend, having both qualified as coaches and also attended several medical courses together. Smith also played at Brighton with Steve Burtenshaw who had been Arsenal’s reserve team coach up to this point. Smith was replaced as assistant-manager at Newcastle by Keith Burkinshaw!<\/p>\n

Steve Burtenshaw moved up from reserve team coach to become first team coach, Dave Smith came in as reserve team coach and Ian Crawford replaced Whitehouse as youth team coach. Fred Street replaced Wright. It was quite an upheaval.<\/p>\n

In his time as Arsenal’s reserve team coach he played a large part in bringing through talented players; such as David O’Leary, Liam Brady, David Price, Frank Stapleton, Sammy Nelson, Richie Powling, John Matthews, Brian Hornsby and Wilf Rostron.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Prior to Highbury he had a playing career as a full back at Burnley, Brighton and Bristol City punctuated by serving two years national service in the RAF, and by breaking his leg five times! He moved into coaching firstly for a short term in Libya then Sheffield Wednesday, and was chief coach at Newcastle when they won the Fairs Cup in 1969, a full year before the Arsenal won the same trophy.<\/p>\n

Born in Dundee, Scotland on 22 September 1933, he spent almost all his football career in England.<\/p>\n

Dave left Arsenal on 1 April 1974 to take on his first managerial role at Mansfield Town. After two years at the Stags he moved to Southend for seven years, before landing a role at Plymouth Argyle in 1984. At all three clubs he had obtained promotions, but at Plymouth he performed at a different level gaining elevation to the Second Division (now Championship) in 1985-86, and finished seventh in the second echelon the following season.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

In January 1987 he brought the Green Army to Highbury for a 4th<\/sup> Round FA Cup tie, but returned home empty handed after a 6-1 win for George Graham\u2019s side. Smith said of the Gunners “Arsenal\u2019s extra pace and class told. Arsenal are the Mean Machine of 1987.”<\/p>\n

On the move again in 1988 he took over at Dundee for a short period, remembered for beating Celtic both home and away, a genuine rarity for Dundee. This was the only time he worked in Scottish football, and he moved back to the West Country with Torquay. Resigning from Plainmoor in April 1991 he retired from management, but remained involved in football with his celebrated Plymouth Soccer Schools.<\/p>\n

\"\"Smith was voted Plymouth\u2019s second greatest manager in the club\u2019s history in 2019. His status amongst Argyle fans was helped by his on-pitch achievements and an engaging off-field personality; which included talking to the fans via a microphone on the pitch, effusive poetry to describe his team\u2019s performance and donning his lucky tartan cap.\u00a0This popularity is also reflected by \u2018The Ciderman\u2019 appearing on one of the many murals within Plymouth Argyle\u2019s Home Park stadium.<\/p>\n

He settled down for retirement in the West Country and died on 8 September 2022, just shy of his 89th<\/sup> birthday.<\/p>\n

Sources<\/strong><\/p>\n

Official Arsenal Programme (various)<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.pafc.co.uk\/news\/dave-smith-1933-2022<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/dundeefc.co.uk\/news\/dave-smith-1933-2022\/<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/sport\/football\/62862481<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

Copies of our books\u00a0Royal Arsenal \u2013 Champions of the South<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Arsenal: The Complete Record 1886-2018<\/a>\u00a0are still available from the publishers.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dave Smith, 1972-1974 Dave Joined Arsenal on 12 July 1971 as reserve coach in what can only be described as…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[700],"class_list":["post-36243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-dave-smith"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p87inb-9qz","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":36228,"url":"https:\/\/thearsenalcollection.org.uk\/?p=36228","url_meta":{"origin":36243,"position":0},"title":"Steve Burtenshaw – The Arsenal Obituary 2022","author":"arsenalcollection","date":"31 December 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Steve Burtenshaw Born in Portslade on 23 November 1935, Burtenshaw came from a footballing family with two of his older brothers \u2013 Bill and Charlie \u2013 also being professional footballers. Steve joined Brighton as a youngster in November 1952 but National Service with the Army halted his progress within the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Steve Burtenshaw\"","block_context":{"text":"Steve Burtenshaw","link":"https:\/\/thearsenalcollection.org.uk\/?tag=steve-burtenshaw"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thearsenalcollection.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/1986-04-29-Chelsea-H-FL-02-Copy-221x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":36239,"url":"https:\/\/thearsenalcollection.org.uk\/?p=36239","url_meta":{"origin":36243,"position":1},"title":"Terry Neill – The Arsenal Obituary 2022","author":"arsenalcollection","date":"31 December 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"485: William John Terence \u2018Terry\u2019 Neill \u2013 1959-1970 and 1976-1983 Ulsterman Neill was something of a cup specialist during his time in charge of the club, guiding the side to four cup finals in seven and a half seasons, winning the 1979 FA Cup. 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