Salford City striker Matt Smith is set to tick off his 500^th professional appearance this weekend when the Ammies welcome MK Dons to the Peninsula Stadium in Sky Bet League Two.

Last Saturday, the 34-year-old netted his 15^th league goal of the campaign away at Gillingham, setting a new personal best for Smith in terms of his tally, who has led the line for Salford this season.

“It’s a fantastic milestone,” he says, speaking on the Official EFL Podcast. “I’m not one to be overly nostalgic about things in football but this is the one milestone where I thought I deserved a pat on the back, more so from how late I started I went into the game at 22 and honestly, I would’ve snatched your hand off for one professional game if you’d have said back then I’d get to here.

“It’s the best job in the world, so how can you not enjoy the process? Being dedicated to a sport that you absolutely love is not a job in the real sense of it. I’m very privileged to have played for as long as I have and hopefully, I’ve got more miles in the tank.”

The Ammies’ leading marksman’s route into professional football wasn’t necessarily the conventional pathway. Smith had no ambition to pursue the sport as a career until he stumbled upon it.

Smith started out playing in the non-league pyramid while balancing football with his education as he embarked upon a degree at university. However, his form didn’t go unnoticed, attracting the attention of EFL Clubs.

“It gave me a solid grounding going into men’s football,” he continues. “I had the mentality of needing to win games rather than going through the conventional Academy route where I don’t think there’s as great an importance placed on actually winning every week.

“At the time, there was no real thought in my own head that professional football was going to be my journey. I did it purely out of enjoyment and a little bit of pocket money when I was at university. It was a humbling experience.”

The Birmingham-born forward opted to sign for Oldham Athletic after completing his studies, after being persuaded by then-Latics boss Paul Dickov to try his hand at the professional game, and the rest is history.

Smith adds: “Particularly my last year of university was difficult juggling Conference North and a final year of uni. That was the toughest part of it, keeping on top of things. I played quite locally in my first two years but then I played for Solihull Moors in my last year which was a bit of a commute between Birmingham and Manchester.

“I was well underway with job applications and interviews in London, six months before I started my professional football journey.  It wasn’t really until a couple of months before the end of the season before I started scoring week in, week out at Solihull. A few Clubs came to my door and said they’d like to speak to me and even at that point, I was a bit sceptical at how serious they were.”

In doing so, he followed in his dad’s footsteps, with both father and son going down a similar avenue.

 

Ian Smith spent a large part of his career north of the border in the Scottish Football League, with a stint in the EFL with Birmingham City sandwiched in between, alongside his medical studies which he combined with his football before qualifying as a doctor.

“My dad, as an ex-footballer, was proud of me for getting that opportunity,” he says. “My mum, who is particularly hot on education, saw it as the gap year I never had. Ultimately, I had something to fall back on; in the back of my mind, I knew I had a safety net.

“Even after 18 months, you probably could’ve looked at it as a bang average 18 months and I could’ve thought, ‘this is going to end pretty soon.’ It wasn’t until the last six months of my time at Oldham that things really escalated.”

After two years in Greater Manchester, Championship side Leeds United came knocking and a move to Elland Road wasn’t something he could pass up. Smith hit double figures in his first season in West Yorkshire, before going on to make the switch to Fulham.

And he went on to play for the likes of Bristol City, Queens Park Rangers and Millwall in the second tier before landing at Salford for a new challenge in League Two.

“Playing for Leeds was the pinnacle of my career,” he recalls. “When I signed for Leeds, it’s such an incredible Club and you don’t quite understand the magnitude of the Club until you’re in the door. Every game is an event, it’s not a game.

“Turning out for Leeds in my first season in the Championship and getting 13 goals was a moment where I felt like there was less imposter syndrome. As I grew more in confidence, I felt more at home.

“I moved to Fulham on transfer deadline day which was nuts. That made me feel a bit more like a footballer doing the whole transfer deadline day thing.”

Even after turning professional, Smith continued to maintain his interests away from football and when the times comes to step away from the sport, he’s looking forward to what comes next.

He explains: “I’ve got a lot of business interests outside of football. I took a Master’s degree about three years ago and I’m due to graduate in a month’s time in December. It was an MBA which is a Master’s of Business Administration. It’s always been an extra-curricular hobby that I’ve enjoyed, keeping my brain ticking over.

“I set up a business about a year ago with four entrepreneur friends in London and it’s an investment platform exclusively for professional athletes and it’s something I’ve thought I’d like to move into full-time.”

But for now, with an important landmark on the horizon, his attention is firmly fixed on fooball in the here and now.