Home Sport Aston Villa FC Aston Villa FC news
Les Smith of 1957 FA Cup winning side dies aged 80
LES Smith, a key member of Villa's 1957 FA Cup Final triumph, died on Saturday aged 80.
Halesowen-born Smith passed away at the Mary Stevens Hospice in Stourbridge after battling throat and bowel cancer.
Winger Smith joined Villa from Wolves in February 1956 for £25,000 and won an FA Cup winner's medal in his first full season in the 2-0 win over Manchester United.
But after playing a further 130 games and notching 25 goals for Villa, he was forced into early retirement in 1960 after suffering an Achilles injury.
He leaves a wife Lynne, aged 75, son Nigel, aged 47, and grandchildren Faye and Scott.
Smith becomes the second Villa player from that victorious 1957 team to die in as many weeks after centre-half Jimmy Dugdale passed away.
Site Tools
Related Stories
Classifieds
Hot Motors
Copyright and Trade Mark Notice © 2008 owned by or licensed to Midland Newspapers Limited. Birmingham Mail™ is a trade mark of Midland Newspapers Limited. Please read our Terms and Conditions and Privacy Statement before using this site.