| Jabba's Comments |
Eric Smith joined Celtic from junior football in Glasgow and was
a member of the Cup-winning side of 1956. With two Scottish caps to
his name, he was picked up by Leeds in summer 1960 but broke his
leg early on and missed 4 months. He came back into the side,
keeping his place until early in the 1962/63 season and he returned
to Scotland in summer 1964. He worked as coach for Morton and out
in Cyprus before returning to manage Morton and then Hamilton. In
the late 1970s, he managed a club side out in the Gulf. He died in
1991.
Kim says: He's my cousin
Malcolm Derrick says: I first met Eric whilst we were serving
our National Service together from 1955 to 1957. Initially we were
posted to 6 Training Regiment of the Royal Engineers at Norton
Camp, Worcester. As my family home was only 22miles away in
Northfield, Birmingham, Eric and I would sometimes visit my
parents, at the same time enjoy a home cooked meal by way of a
change from army food. As the proud owner of a 1937 Ford popular
car I used to transport some of the pro footballers based on our
camp to Birmingham Airport in order to fly to Scotland for their
weekend games. Players including Dave McKay(then playing for
Hearts), Bobby Walker(Hamilton), Ralph Brand(Rangers) and of course
Eric(Celtic). Needless to say the poor old car, which by this time
was a good 18yrs old used to struggle, but we still used to make
it. On one occasion Eric who one weekend was due a 48 hour pass,
and was looking forward to seeing his girlfriend when getting home,
and not wishing to subject himself to a military haircut persuaded
me to give him a trim, but having done my best it was decided that
maybe the camp barber may after all have been a better bet. After
demob in 1957 I lost contact with Eric. The nearest I got to seeing
him again was during a visit to Glasgow when Eric was manager of
Hamilton. I was deeply saddened to learn that he had died in 1991,
but I will always have fond memories of the time I new him and
played with him in our squadron team during our army days.
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