Boreham Wood are excited to announce the signing of former Yeovil Town midfielder Connor Smith.
The former Republic or Ireland Under 21 international arrives with an impressive Football League C.V., having previously enjoyed permanent spells for AFC Wimbledon, Plymouth Argyle and Yeovil Town.
Born in Ireland, Smith’s footballing talents first came to prominence on Sky television show “Football’s Next Star.”
The offensive midfielder was runner up to Ben Greenhalgh in the 2010 addition of the show, which attracted the interest of Watford, who signed him on a youth contract.
Smith signed his first professional deal with Watford in 2012 and would go on to make his Football League debut with the then Championship club three months later, against Crystal Palace.
The now 25-year-old would make a further seven appearances for Watford, while also enjoying loan spells with Wealdstone, Gillingham and Stevenage.
Smith won successive promotions with AFC Wimbledon and Plymouth Argyle following his departure from Watford, in 2015/16 and 2016/17.
On joining the Wood, Smith elated: “I am delighted; I remember playing here during my time at Watford in reserve games and you can see the massive growth of the club, even since then.
“The pitch is unbelievable, the ground is quality and the facilities are unbelievable for this level. I am just delighted to be back at the ground and back in an area that I am used to, and I cannot wait to get going.
“It didn’t take long to sort. When he (Luke Garrard) found out that I was leaving Yeovil, the interest was there immediately.
“We spoke, and I didn’t take much convincing to be honest. Everything seemed positive and I know how well the club did last season and how close they were to getting promoted. I am hoping that we can do the same again this year but go one better.
“I am a ball playing midfielder, but I feel that I can play in any position in central midfield. I can sit as an eight, go box-to-box, or play in a more advanced role. Hopefully I can also add more goals to my game this season.”
On his latest signing, Garrard commented: “I am very pleased, because I think that he will bring an energy and a quality to the side. For his age, he has a lot of experience under his belt and he is only 25, but he has played a lot of games in the Football League.
“I outlined to him where we want to be as a football club, and where we are looking to go. He is aware of the work that we did last year, in terms of getting to the Promotion final and he is aware of what I expect of this side going forward.
“We are ambitious and we want to replicate what we achieved last season. I think that when you mix all of that in with our facilities, which we walked around together earlier – the pitch, the training facilities, the analyst suites, the gym on-sight, etc – it is an impressive club.
“I know that he played here for Watford as well and he was impressed by how much it has improved since then. I think that a combination of a few things convinced him that this was the right place to come.
“He is coming here with a focus and a desire to progress, alongside the already impressive group of players that we have at this club.”
