| 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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