Forgotten Preston North End flop from 2000s lands manager job in Finland

If you’ve been supporting Preston North End since the early 2000s, you’ll have seen countless players turn out at Deepdale, with some more memorable than others.

Back in 2004, Craig Brown signed Northern Irish striker Andy Smith for an undisclosed fee, believed to have been £130,000 after hijacking MK Dons attempts to sign him. North End's efforts to sign him didn’t pay off however and he had a far from fruitful spell.

Smith departed the club in 2007, having failed to score a goal. For those with an interest in what former players are up to these days, the 18-time Northern Ireland international has recently landed a manager’s job in Finland.

The 43-year-old has been appointed as the new boss of Finnish side Haka, in what is his second job in management. He was in charge of Slovakian outfit FK Dubnica for a brief spell, and now after 13 months out of the game, he's back in the dugout, and this time in a different country.

Commenting on his appointment, Smith said to Veikkausliiga: “This is for me, like any coach, an opportunity to develop the players and myself both as a coach and as a person. I have managed to coach in different countries. It’s been great, I’ve learned a lot and I want to develop further.”

Smith's playing career lasted 16-years with the highest profile clubs he played for being North End, Sheffield United, Bristol City and Motherwell. His career was mainly spent in his home country, where he had successful spells with Glentoran and Portadown.

Since retiring, Smith was assistant to Bruno Ribeiro at Moura AC, Pinhalnovense and Vitoria Setubal - all in Portugal - before going to Bulgaria where he worked for Ludogorets for six weeks. He managed at Academico de Viseu and then in July 201, he worked under Ribeiro at Port Vale.