RIP Bobby Smith, Legend.

[Fox92]

Am I the only one who thinks a minutes silence is a recipe for disaster, especially against forest?

I was thinking this but I think this is where the real football fans come into place and take over from the rivalry.

I think that real football fans would not sing or chant abuse (or whatever) to any body within football who has died, whether he played/managed for a local rival team or not.

The respect for legends such as Brian Clough, Georgie Best, Peter Taylor etc is there within any real football fans heart and mind, hopefully Bobby Smith will get the silence/applause he deserves, whether we are playing a side as close as Nottingham Forest or a side from Lancashire, because from what my dad was telling me; he sounded like a good player.

[Ron Combo]

A real fighter and a stalwart for Leicester.

Condolences to his family.

RIP Bobby Smith

[OLD norfox]

Here's hoping for a minutes applause on Saturday.

R.I.P Bobby.

And you were right. Well deserved for the memory of Bobby. 200 matches and 8 years in the same club. How many of todays players have that loyalty ?? My thoughts to the family !

[Guest]

RIP Bobby. The fans and the team did you proud yesterday.

He was one of my favourites, even though I was only allowed to listen to games on the radio at that time, and relied on the few brief TV highlights to see him play. I had the pleasure of meeting him when I was a small girl, and he was great. He signed a football for me!

[Webbo]

Gary Lineker gives Bobby a nice tribute in today's Mail.

Three Leicester players made their debuts on New Year’s Day in 1979 — Bobby Smith, Dave Buchanan and me.

Bobby and Dave both scored in a 2-0 win against Oldham, and I had a stinker. Memories of the day it all started for me came flooding back this week when I heard that Bobby had lost his battle with cancer at the age of 56.

Nissie, as we called him, was small in stature but had real presence in midfield and stayed at Filbert Street for four seasons. He will be warmly remembered by Foxes fans and sadly missed by those who played with him.

[davieG]

From the Merc - http://www.thebluearmy.co.uk/news/Alan-You...il/article.html?

Alan Young: I'll miss Bobby Smith, one of the Four Musketeers

Wednesday, March 03, 2010, 08:00

Comment on this story

Former Leicester City team-mate Alan Young has led the tributes to Bobby Smith, whose funeral is being held today following his death from cancer at the age of 56.

Smith joined City in 1978 in an £85,000 move from Hibernian and made his debut on the same day as Gary Lineker, New Year's Day 1979, at Oldham and, ironically, Young was in the home side that day.

In the same season, Young went on to knock City out of the FA Cup with a hat-trick for Oldham and it was not long before he joined Wallace at Filbert Street and started a lifetime's association with Smith.

"I've got so many good memories of my time with Bobby at Filbert Street," said Young. "Jock nicknamed Martin Henderson, Eddie Kelly, Bobby and myself the 'The Four Musketeers' and we've lost one of our musketeers."

Smith was a chatterbox, said Young, and well-suited to his time as a publican and a taxi-driver following his retirement from the game.

Wallace died in 1996 and Young added: "Bobby will definitely be in Jock's Heaven X1 up there and I shall miss him a lot."

Smith made exactly 200 appearances for City, scoring 21 goals, and was the second top scorer in 1980 when City were promoted as then-Division Two champions. He played a leading role in their return to the top flight in 1983.

His first goal came on his debut at Oldham, with Lineker and Dave Buchanan also making their first City starts at a freezing-cold Boundary Park.

Smith and Buchanan both scored and club historian John Hutchinson recalled: "I remember Bobby's debut very well. It was a bitterly cold day and I was sitting in the away end with lots of empty seats around me and to keep me warm I had a whisky hip flask.

"Jock's team was in the lower reaches of Division Two. Bobby, with his distinctive perm, was one of three players making their debut, the others being 16-year-old Buchanan and a young Lineker.

"Bobby was all action and commitment, strengths he never lost while at Leicester, and both him and Dave scored that day. By contrast, Gary looked hopeless and it was some weeks before he had another chance."

Smith returned to Edinburgh for a further spell at Hibs in 1983, then again in the 1986-87 season, adding another 13 starts and one league goal to his tally in his second and third stint.

Lineker and Smith became good friends and regular golfing partners, and Smith's former Hibs team-mate, Willie Murray, said: "Gary would come up here when Bobby moved back north and they would play golf. They both loved the game. And usually they would play for a wee wager.

"That's the thing about Bobby, if there were two flies climbing up a wall he would have a bet on one of them. Although he will be buried in his suit, his lucky pen and bookie slips will be in there with him."

Smith completed his playing career with spells at Dunfermline in 1987 – winning the First Division title in 1989 – Partick Thistle and Berwick Rangers, eventually retiring from the game in 1991.

"It was impossible to spend any time with him and have a bad word to say about him,"

added Murray.

"We signed around the same time and were pretty close. He was a great bloke to be around, even over the last few weeks when, although he was suffering, he made it very easy for people to be around him. His happy personality was infectious."

Let us know your memories of Bobby Smith's time at Leicester City.

[lou]

Deepest condolences to the family. A great player

[bluebeau]

RIP Bobby, thanks for the memories of a dedicated City player who gave his all.

Condolences to the Smith family, much love coming your way from the Leicester City supporters.

I hope Jock is up there waiting for him!

[Guest]

Bless his cotton socks