Born in Islington to an English mother and an American basketball-playing father, Ryan Smith began his pro football career at Arsenal. Capped at every level from U-16 to U-20, he never made it with the Gunners – a few League Cup appearances apart. That was mainly because in 2004 he suffered a serious knee injury after which he was told by the Arsenal medical team he would play again but his career would not be a long one.

He went to Derby where he struggled to fit in and he confessed much later he suffered from depression while there. He came to Championship Southampton initially on a three-month loan. Although he hardly featured during that period, his signing on a six-month contract was welcomed in the match-day programme, in which his interviewer, Bob Brunskell, dubbed him the “Islington-born flier.”  Reflecting that he had “moved around a fair bit already,” he accepted that “some fans may construe that as a weakness on my part. They may even think I’m a bit of a bad apple because a few managers haven’t liked me, but it’s nothing like that.”

Whatever it was like, he never started more than two League games in succession. He liked running at players and dribbling the ball, but admitted that his confidence had been “badly knocked” at Leicester and Derby and that knee gave him constant problems.

Joining Southampton’s sinking ship was no way to restore his lost confidence.

And when the Saints were relegated, their financial situation was such that this spasmodic “flier” was never likely to be offered an extension. His subsequent travels included two stints in his father’s homeland in the MLS, a period he said he enjoyed most of all. He retired aged 26 with his knee at the time described like that belonging to a 70-year-old. The seven operations three of them serious had left him with bad arthritis and in constant pain. He has since found employment with one of Europe’s biggest digital media agencies.