It would be fair to say that whilst Morton defender Marc Smyth crossed the Irish Sea to become a professional footballer just before the end of the last Millennium, he has remained close to that body of water ever since.
The 28-year-old former Northern Irish Under-16 and Under-18 cap originally came over to become an apprentice footballer at Blackpool and after two years there he headed north looking for a club and a SFL stalwart was on hand to help him.
Ever since that journey in 2001 Smyth has been based at Ayr, firstly playing for the Honest Men and then for Partick Thistle and Airdrie United with his playing career returning west last summer when he signed for the Greenock men.
Former Hibs, Hamilton Accies, Dundee, Partick Thistle and Ayr United defender Willie Jamieson was behind Smyth’s move to Scottish football as he explained, “I started off as an apprentice at Blackpool under Nigel Worthington however, I was looking for a new club in 2001. Willie was friendly with my Dad and he arranged for me to play a trial game for Falkirk and it turned out to be against Ayr.”
“Ayr asked me to sign for them and I was delighted to as it was during the days when Bill Barr was the Chairman and there were very ambitious plans.”
That first season saw great success come within the fingertips of the Honest Men as they reached the Final of the CIS Cup before losing 4-0 against Rangers and then lost a Scottish Cup semi-final against Celtic with Smyth playing a small but crucial part as he said, “I just started breaking through that season and played a handful of games including a League Cup success over Kilmarnock. I was in the first team squad for most of the season and whilst I did not get stripped at Hampden it was a very exciting time to be there and to be an Ayr player.”
Smyth went on to don black and white colours more than 100 times however, a change in direction saw the Somerset Park men downsize and he moved onto the Partick Thistle.
“I was given a three year contract at Partick and had one year there but it was a great year,” said Smyth before adding, “Dick Campbell made me captain and we won promotion but as everyone knows I left in the summer in fairly well documented circumstances.”
“I moved onto Airdrie United and I am still grateful to Sandy Stewart for signing me. He did not know me and after the way I left Thistle he took a chance and I am glad he did as I had a great time as a Diamond.”
Stewart, who of course is now Owen Coyle’s assistant at English Premiership Bolton Wanderers, was replaced by Kenny Black and he helped Smyth develop his game with the defender explaining, “Kenny was great with me and I learned a lot under him. He was a manager that was dedicated to the game of football, a real football fanatic and I enjoyed working with him at Airdrie.”
The partnership was broken up in unfortunate circumstances with Black leaving after a defeat from Brechin City in the Play-Offs saw the side relegated and Smyth having to find new employers as it became Airdrie’s turn to downsize.
“I thought I was going to Morton to work with my former Ayr United colleague James Grady and things then became a bit uncertain when James was not appointed as manager and Allan Moore came in,” said Smyth before adding, “It took a couple of weeks longer than I had first hoped but it was not surprising in the circumstances. Allan confirmed he wanted me on board and I was delighted with that.”
The former Stirling Albion manager was coming in with a big broom as Smyth explained, “Last season was certainly one of a turnaround at Morton in terms of players. There were a lot of players leaving and a lot of players coming in with the boss having to work on a reduced budget.”
“Last season we started poorly and got better and this season we started well but results have not been as good recently. I say results as our actual performances have not been as bad as the results would indicate.”
Smyth is just one of a number of Greenock men who have missed chunks of this season through injury and it has taken its toll with the centre back saying, “The boss has put together a squad full of very good players but it is a small squad. The budget at the club has gone down further this season and we are fortunate to have some of the players that we have here, but when we lose some of them we are stretched very thinly.”
“At one stage I was out and Stuart McCaffrey, Ross Forsyth, Michael Tidser, Fred Bachirou and Colin Stewart have all been missing as well and that is a huge part of the side that took us to the top of the table. Sean Fitzharris has been in and out as well and all these absences have been hurting us.”
One of the biggest disappointments came at the end of September when Saturday’s opponents Partick defeated Morton 5-0 in the first Friday Night Football trial and despite the disappointing score-line Smyth was a fan of the event.
Smyth said, “The score was poor but you cannot argue that is was anything other than good for the game. We actually did not play too badly and were the better side in patches but we lost two soft goals and then had a man sent off.”
Smyth added, “The build up to the game brought an excitement back and it is something we should be doing more of to bring fans back. We took a huge support up with us and whilst you cannot make it Friday night for all fixtures, more games deserve should be moved in line with the model that was used for that one.”
There was a benefit for players as well with Smyth explaining, “It was good for us as well as it gave the players a break in their routine. We could end up playing the teams in our league 5 or 6 times due to cup games and anything that makes these games more unique deserves to be looked at.”
Smyth is hoping that Partick disagree with his assessment of the game saying, “Thistle will come here confident because of that last game and hopefully they will think they just need to turn up and we can surprise them.”
The Thistle result started a run of disappointing results that has seen the Cappielow men move from top spot to fifth, however there is no alarm bells ringing with Smyth saying, “We played well at Falkirk last week and if we repeat that level of performance we will win more than we lose. The First Division is an incredible league, as apart from Ross County at the moment, anyone can beat anyone home or away. We have had a poor run but if we win this one we could move into third place and if we get two wins together everyone will be talking about real progress again.”
Manager Moore has a crucial role to play with Smyth saying, “The boss knows that if we have everyone fit and playing well we are a really good side. We were bottom of the league last season and the manager as well as his assistant Mark McNally created the right environment for us to progress. A few times in my career I have been at clubs where the atmosphere goes wrong when a team goes bottom or goes on a bad run however, that does not happen here as Allan has built a closeness amongst everyone. That will help us bounce back, hopefully starting against Thistle at the weekend.”
“The Thistle fans don’t treat me any differently than they treat any former player and whilst we were not on the best of terms when we went our separate ways, I play against them just as I would any club.”
Smyth’s relationship with former club Ayr is slightly different as he explained, “I still live in Ayr and bump into a fair few Ayr United fans that are always keen to know what’s going on. Ayr it is where my daughters are and I class it as home but I do still often hanker to be on the other side of the Irish Sea.”
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