Septimus Charle Smith (15 March 1912 – 28 July 2006) was an English footballer who played as a creative wing half and originally as an inside forward.
However, he lost seven seasons of his career because of World War II, during which time he made a further 213 appearances and scored 48 goals during regionalised wartime football.
[citation needed] Tom was a regular in the first-team before moving to Manchester United and Joe was a reserve player who later joined Watford.
He made his debut against Huddersfield Town on 31 August 1929 coming in for Arthur Lochhead who had been suffering from illness, but after a disappointing performance in which the local press described him as being "unable to pull his weight"[5] he played no further part in that season.
[11] In his biography of Don Revie: Portrait of a Footballing Enigma author Andrew Mourant states Smith's influence on Revie: "He drummed into the young, receptive Revie four principles: when not in position, get into position; never beat a man by dribbling if you can beat him more easily with a pass; it is not the man on the ball but the one running into position to take the pass who constitutes the danger; and the aim is to have a man spare in a passing move.
He was many fans' choice to replace Revie for the final, but this would mean a tactical shift and the moving of star striker Jack Lee to facilitate Smith's inclusion so never happened.
Smith would end his career on the final fixture of the 1948–49 season, in which Leicester staved off relegation to the Third Division with a dramatic 1–1 draw with Cardiff City (there are still suggestions that the game may have been fixed).
He stayed on as a coach at Leicester, however after Johnny Duncan resigned a few weeks later, Smith's ties with the club were cruelly severed under Duncan's replacement Norman Bullock[5] Despite being called up to the national squad on several occasions, Smith played only once for England against Ireland in Belfast in 1935.