 He underwent an operation to remove cartilage in his knee in November 1975 , and his recovery was not entirely successful . He later admitted that after returning to match fitness from the injury he was only ever able to play at " half pace " . His long @-@ term replacement was young defender Alan Dodd . The club also faced a major decline following a gale which severely damaged the Victoria Ground 's Butler Street stand , and a lack of adequate insurance cover left a significant repair bill meaning the club had to sell Alan Hudson , Jimmy Greenhoff , Mike Pejic , Sean <unk> and Ian Moores to fund the repair ; Eric Skeels and John Ritchie also retired . Waddington filled in the gaps left by these players with youngsters , and it also meant that Smith could continue to be a regular for the club despite his reduced mobility . Waddington was sacked in March 1976 , and new manager George Eastham failed to prevent Stoke from being relegated at the end of 1976 – 77 . Following relegation he formed another good partnership , this time with Mike Doyle , which helped Stoke gain promotion in 1978 – 79 under new manager Alan Durban . Smith claimed his two seasons in the Second Division were " boring " , as even with his reduced mobility few attackers in the division posed too much of a threat for him . 
