Jimmy Smith was a hugely talented inside forward who made his name with Aberdeen in the late 1960's.

Celtic were said to be interested in him but he moved South to Newcastle in 1969 for a huge fee of £80,000. He was a big success at Newcastle where he played either on the right wing or at inside right and was nicknamed 'Jinky' by the Geordie supporters.

In 1973 he was capped for Scotland and was unlucky to be left out of the 22 man Scotland squad for the 1974 World Cup finals in West Germany. He played a major part in Newcastle's march to the 1974 FA cup final where they lost to Liverpool at Wembley and became one of the most high profile players in the English game..

Sadly, he was always plagued with ankle injuries and retired in the summer of 1975 at the age of 28. In March 1976 he was persuaded to come on trial at Celtic with a view to signing. In the same week that John Doyle arrived from Ayr United in mid March 1976, Smith played a number of reserve and trial games but, sadly, his ankle would not stand up to the rigours of professional football. The plan was to play Doyle on the right wing and Smith at inside right and caretaker manager Sean Fallon hoped this new right wing combination would propel Celtic to the 1976 league title. Sadly, it was not to be.

This was a huge disappointment to Jimmy, who was said to be a big Celtic fan and also for the Celtic fans who were denied seeing a wonderful talent on display.