{{short description|English footballer}} {{other people}} {{more footnotes needed|date=January 2020}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2020}} {{Use British English|date=January 2020}} {{Infobox football biography | name = Roger Smart | image = | fullname = Roger Smart | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1943|3|25|df=y}} | birth_place = Swindon, England | death_date = | death_place = | height = | position = Inside Forward | youthyears1 = 1959–60 | youthclubs1 = Swindon Town | years1 = 1960–73 | years2 = 1973–74 | clubs1 = Swindon Town | clubs2 = Charlton Athletic | clubs3 = Bath City | clubs4 = Trowbridge Town | caps1 = 341 | caps2 = 30 | caps3 = | caps4 = | goals1 = 43 | goals2 = 1 | goals3 = | goals4 = }} '''Roger Smart''' (born 25 March 1943]) is an English retired footballer who played as an inside forward.
He made his way from schoolboy teams to work up through the youth ranks at Swindon Town before making his début in the reserves in April 1960.
He signed as a professional for the club in May 1960 but did not play first team football until March 1962. He scored his first goal for Swindon in a match with Queens Park Rangers on 1 September.
Smart was relegated to the reserves for much of the 1962–63 season, before being recalled for the final three games of the season. He scored in each of these games and assured Swindon's promotion to Division 2 for the first time in their history.<ref name="greats">{{cite book | title=Swindon Town Football Club - 100 Greats| last=Mattick| first=Dick| year=2002| pages=103–104| publisher=Tempus Publishing| location=Stroud| isbn=0-7524-2714-8}}</ref>
In 1965 he became the first nominated substitute to be used in a Swindon Town game.<ref name="30yearson1">{{cite web |url=http://www.thisisstfc.co.uk/club_heroes69_Story.asp?NewsID=6 |title=Swindon Town FC player profiles and Heroes of '69 |accessdate=2010-11-19 |archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20060619060428/http://www.thisisstfc.co.uk/club_heroes69_Story.asp?NewsID=6 |archivedate = 2006-06-19}}</ref>
Over the next few seasons, Smart became a first-team regular, moving into a role that allowed fellow striker Don Rogers to excel. Smart's best form came in 1968/69, when he scored fifteen goals. Six of these came in the League Cup campaign, including the opening goal in the 1969 League Cup Final,<ref name="greats"/> when he benefited from a mistake in the Arsenal defence before bundling the ball into the net. He created Swindon's second and third goals, both scored by Rogers.<ref name="30yearson2">{{Cite web|url=http://www.thisisstfc.co.uk/club_heroes69_Story.asp?NewsID=6 |title=Town heroes 30 years on |accessdate=2007-01-11 |publisher=Swindon Advertiser |year=1999 |work=Heroes of 69 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20060619060428/http://www.thisisstfc.co.uk/club_heroes69_Story.asp?NewsID=6 |archivedate=19 June 2006 }}</ref> He was also a part of the 1970 Anglo-Italian Cup and Anglo-Italian League Cup winning sides.
In the twilight of his Town career, Smart moved back into a wing-half or midfield position.<ref name="greats"/> He left Swindon at the end of the 1972/73 season, and joined Charlton Athletic on a free transfer.<ref name="30yearson1"/>
He returned to the Swindon area a year later, with spells at Bath City and Trowbridge Town before retiring. As of 1999 he was landlord of the Plough Inn in Old Town, Swindon.
Roger lives with his partner Lin, on the southern outskirts of Swindon.<ref name="greats"/><ref name="30yearson1"/>
==Hounours== ;Swindon Town * English Football League Cup: 1968-1969 * Anglo-Italian League Cup: 1969 * Anglo-Italian Cup: 1970
==References==
{{Reflist}}
==External links== *{{Soccerbase}} * [http://www.swindon-town-fc.co.uk/Person.asp?PersonID=SMARTROG Player Profile] at Swindon-Town-FC.co.uk
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smart, Roger}} Category:Living people Category:1943 births Category:Men's association football forwards Category:Charlton Athletic F.C. players Category:Swindon Town F.C. players Category:English men's footballers Category:Footballers from Swindon Category:English Football League players Category:20th-century English sportsmen