Wilf Smith began as an apprentice in 1962 with Sheffield Wednesday signing professional forms in September 1963 after captaining both Sheffield Boys and England youth. In all he made 206 League appearances for The Owls, scoring four times and gained a handful of England U23 caps, before leaving to join Coventry City in 1970 for £100k.
Wilf made 151 Sky Blue appearances in a five-year stay, and went out on loan to both Brighton & Hove Albion (1974, 5 appearances) and Millwall (1975) in his last season with Coventry.
Bristol Rovers took him to Eastville for £25k in March 1975 for a 20-month spell followed by nineteen months at Chesterfield Town from December 1976.
Wilf played a total of 432 Football League games, and scored nine goals during his career before retiring at the relatively young age of 31 in the close season of 1978.