SMITH, Robert Alfred (1955-64)
Position: Centre forward
Height: 5ft 10ins
Weight: 12st 11lbs
Born: Lingdale, North Yorkshire, 22 February, 1933
Signed from Chelsea December 1955
Transferred to Brighton & Hove Albion May 1964
Also played for: Redcar United, Chelsea, Brighton and Hove Albion, Hastings United, Banbury United, England
Spurs Record:
Debut: 24 December, 1955 v Luton Town (FL) (h) won 2-1
Appearances: League 271, FA Cup 32, Europe 14
Goals: League 176, FA Cup 22, Europe 10
There is a commonly used term in English football, ‘a typical old fashioned English centre forward’. For anyone who watched football in the 1950s and 60s it means a big, bustling striker hurtling into defenders and goalkeepers like a human battering ram, bulldozing his way to goal without a care for the pain he was inflicting or suffering.
When the phrase is used in the Spurs’ context one name springs to mind, that of Bobby Smith. The description is apt but does not really do Smith justice. He was a big, bustling striker, he did bulldoze his way through defences, but he was much more than that. He was a skilful centre-forward who relied as much on guile and subtlety as sheer brute strength. He had to be to establish a place in the finest football team the country had produced.
Smith first made his name with Chelsea but was unable to displace a Blues legend, Roy Bentley, and when Jimmy Anderson made an approach from Spurs in December 1955, Smith was languishing in their reserves. At the time we were in dire straits, one place off the bottom of the table and struggling to score but Smith’s goals helped avoid the drop and almost turned the season right round as we reached the FA Cup semi-final.
Smith then embarked on a goal-scoring rampage. In 1957-58 he equalled Ted Harper’s club record of 36 League goals in a season, added 57 more in the next two seasons and at the end of August 1960, celebrated passing George Hunt’s record of 125 League, and 138 total, goals with a superb hat-trick against Blackpool.
He went on to top score in the Double-winning side and his most important of the season probably came in the league match with Sheffield Wednesday, our only challengers for the title, at White Hart Lane in mid-April 1960.
We were expected to clinch the league in style but Wednesday were not prepared to accept the inevitable without a battle. Their tough-tackling upset our rhythm and they deservedly took the lead with a Don Megson goal. Up against the rugged Peter Swan it was just the type of physical battle Smith relished but when he struck it was with a combination of craft and power. Terry Dyson beat Swan to a long clearance and headed the ball to Smith. He flicked the ball over Megson’s head and hit an unstoppable first-time volley into the roof of the net. A minute later Les Allen grabbed our second and the title was won.
With the arrival of Jimmy Greaves much of the goalscoring weight was taken off Smith’s broad shoulders. He was still the aggressive spearhead of the attack, but now he could concentrate his strength and commitment on unsettling defences while Greaves hovered around picking up the pieces. Although not always first choice to partner Greaves, the pair of them formed a devastating partnership, with Greavsie the first to admit that much of his success was down to the unselfish work of Smith.
Smith scored our first goal in the 1962 FA Cup Final and netted four as we marched to European Cup Winners’ Cup success in 1963. He garnered 13 in 15 England games, many of them alongside Greaves, but eventually the physical strain he put on his body began to take its toll.
After hammering his name into our history, Smith departed for Brighton and Hove Albion in May 1964.