Dan Smith (footballer born 1986)

Daniel "Dan" Smith (born 5 October, 1986 in Sunderland, Tyne and Wear) is an English footballer who is currently without a club.

Sunderland

Smith made his Sunderland debut in the League Cup second round against Cheltenham Town, in which he was sent off, receiving two bookings. Following that, he made five appearances for the first team during the 2005/06 season. He was given a two month loan to Huddersfield Town in 2006.

On 1 May 2006, whilst playing in a 3-0 defeat against Arsenal at the Stadium of Light, he made a reckless two-footed tackle on Arsenal's midfielder Abou Diaby in the 92nd minute, which resulted in the fracture and dislocation of Diaby's ankle. As a result of the injury, Diaby missed the 2006 UEFA Champions League Final against FC Barcelona, as well as the UEFA Under-21 Championship 2006, in which he was expected to take part, with France. After the match Arsene Wenger announced that he would push for Smith to be reprimanded by the FA. However, because referee Dermot Gallagher failed to send off the player for the offence and instead issued only a yellow card, the FA were unable to take any action against Smith. Such a problem exists because FIFA does not allow yellow cards to be upgraded to red. Some, such as Wenger suggested that Smith should be banned from the game for as long as Diaby remained injured - a ban which would have run until January 2007.

Aberdeen

Smith moved to Aberdeen on 11 August 2006 from Sunderland despite having signed a 4 year deal with the club just 2 months previous. He made his debut appearance in the Dons' 1-1 draw against fellow Premier League side St Mirren. After making just 13 appearances for the Dons, he was released in the summer of 2008. After a trial spell at Darlington, Smith turned out as a trialist for First Division St Johnstone in their match against Morton on 09 August 2008.

Following that match, Saints manager Derek McInnes confirmed Smith would train with the squad for a week but that there was no guarantee of a contract as the club had an offer in for another player, Finnish international fi:Tuomo Könönen.

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