Scott Benjamin Laird (born 15 May 1988) is an English professional footballer who plays as a left back and midfielder for Southern League Premier Division South club Weston-super-Mare.
During his five years with Stevenage, where he played 245 times in all competitions, Laird helped the club earn back-to-back promotions from the Conference Premier to League One.
[5] Laird attracted interest from Rangers in 2003, with the SPL club enquiring about the player after his performances for Scotland in the Victory Shield.
[7] The following season, Laird joined Tiverton Town of the Southern Football League on an initial one-month loan on 8 September 2006.
[11] The loan agreement was extended for a further five months, and Laird scored his first goal for the club in a 4–1 defeat at Hemel Hempstead Town on 5 April 2007.
[13] Laird played 21 games for Tiverton during the loan spell, of which 17 were in the league, as he scored four times from a central midfield role.
[19] A month after returning to his parent club, Laird was loaned out to another Conference Premier team in the form of Stevenage Borough on 31 December 2007.
He missed the final at Wembley Stadium as a result of being sent-off in the defeat to Cambridge United in the Conference Premier play-off semi-final.
[31] He also scored the winning goal with an 85th-minute strike against local rivals Luton Town, securing a 1–0 victory at Kenilworth Road in the first ever league meeting between the two clubs.
[36] At the Football Conference's Annual Presentation Dinner, Laird was also named in the Team of the Year, alongside fellow Stevenage defenders Ronnie Henry and Mark Roberts.
[48] He made his Preston debut in the club's first game of the 2012–13 season, playing the whole match in 2–0 home win over Huddersfield Town in the League Cup on 13 August 2012.
[50] Described as Preston's "standout performer" in the opening months of the season having scored four times and assisted seven goals from left-back,[5][51] Laird suffered a broken leg following a challenge from Jamal Campbell-Ryce in a home game against Notts County on 20 November 2012.
[59] He made 42 appearances during the season, scoring once, as Preston missed out on promotion back to the Championship after losing in the play-off semi-finals to Rotherham United.
[65] He played in all three of the club's play-off matches at the end of the season,[63] including in Preston's 4–0 win over Swindon Town in the final at Wembley Stadium to gain promotion back to the Championship after a four-year absence.
[68] Following his departure from Preston, Laird signed for League One club Scunthorpe United on 11 June 2015, joining on a free transfer and on a three-year deal.
[71] Three days later, on 20 October 2015, he met Scott Wiseman's cross with "a powerful left-footed shot" to give Scunthorpe the lead in an eventual 2–1 defeat to Gillingham.
[72] He made 38 appearances in all competitions that season, scoring twice, as Scunthorpe missed out on the League One play-offs after finishing in seventh position.
[81] After leaving Scunthorpe United, Laird signed for newly promoted League Two club Forest Green Rovers on 20 June 2017, joining on a two-year contract.
[82] He made his Forest Green debut at the start of the 2017–18 season, in the club's first ever Football League fixture, a 2–2 home draw with Barnet on 5 August 2017.
[85] Having made just one appearance for Forest Green during the first half of the 2018–19 season,[86] Laird rejoined League One club Walsall on loan on 17 January 2019.
[89] Following his departure from Forest Green, Laird joined Southern League Premier Division South club Weston-super-Mare in a player-assistant manager role on 15 June 2019.
[90] He made his Weston-super-Mare debut in the club's opening game of the 2019–20 season, playing the whole match in a 2–2 draw against Hendon on 10 August 2019.
[91] Three days later, Laird scored his first goal for the club, an injury-time penalty to secure Weston-super-Mare a point in a 1–1 away draw at Merthyr Town.
[93] Laird scored 13 times in 30 appearances from a central midfield role before the season was curtailed in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
[68] Described as a "marauding, attacking full-back",[51] Laird reached double figures in combined goals and assists in five consecutive seasons from 2008 to 2013.