Kevan Smith

John Sillett signed Kevan for £60,000 from Rotherham weeks after the tall central defender had performed well in two League Cup ties against City in October 1986. In his first reserve game however Smith broke his leg and was sidelined for the remainder of that memorable season. His only appearances came the following season when Brian Kilcline was injured and in his six league appearances was never on the winning side, although he was part of the team that defeated Torquay in the FA Cup that season. Smith had started his career at Darlington, playing over 250 games before moving to Rotherham in 1985. After leaving City in 1988 he had a season at York before returning to Darlington. The second time he was a true legend, helping the club who had fallen out of the league the previous season to two successive promotions under the managership of Brian Little. After Little left to join Leicester, Darlo struggled and Smith was out of favour with subsequent managers. After a spell in Malta with Sliema Wanderers he ended his playing career at Hereford United in 1994. His old friendship with Little got him a job as Little’s assistant at Hull for a while and for a time he was the Football in the Community officer at Feethams. Last heard of as a vice-president of Darlington’s Supporter’s Trust.