Club Historian Ron Parrott has recently received the sad news of the passing away of former United player Roy Smith. Ron remembers him well from 1961/62, his only season at Edgar Street. His complete pen-pic is as follows:-
Born Rawalpindi (India) 19th March 1936 to English parents. Died Sydney, Australia 14th April 2015.
Roy was a gifted inside-forward and was signed by West Ham in the summer of 1955 after being “spotted” playing for Woodford Youth Club as a youngster.
He played six Football League games for the Upton Park side and scored one goal but his contract was not renewed at the end of the 1956/57 season and he emigrated to Australia with his parents. Roy returned to the UK in 1960 and signed for Hereford in the summer of 1961. Roy had a respectable return of 14 goals from 28 games for United before being transferred to Portsmouth for £3,000 in January 1962.
Sadly, his career with Pompey was curtailed when he suffered a badly broken leg and had to retire from the game after only eight games and three goals for them and he returned to join his parents in Australia.