Player #451 for Aston Villa, Leslie Joseph Smith, known as Les Smith, played as a winger for the club in the outside right position.

Les played for Villa between 1955-56 and 1958-59 making 130 appearances and scoring 25 goals.

Les was born in Halesowen, just 10 miles from Villa Park, on 24 December 1927 and made his debut appearance for Villa on Saturday, 11 February 1956 aged 28.

Villa had signed Les from Wolverhampton Wanderers for a fee of £25,000 earlier in February 1956.

During his time with Villa Les won the 1957 FA Cup and was an ever present in the victorious 1956-57 FA Cup campaign including the 2-1 triumph over Manchester United in the final held at Wembley Stadium in front of a crowd of 99,225 when Peter McParland scored twice to win Villa the Cup for a record seventh time.

Les also helped Villa reach the FA Cup Semi Final in 1958-59 but had the misfortune to experience relegation to the Second Division with Villa that same season despite scoring 6 goals in his 33 appearances.

Although Les joined Villa at a relatively late age, his career was cut short after an achilles injury forced him into retirement in 1960.

Les played his last game for the club on Monday, 20 April 1959 aged 31.

Les had played his Villa career under managers Eric Houghton and Joe Mercer.

Les passed away in Stourbridge on 8 March 2008 aged 80.