One of Albion's unsung coaches heroes has died.

Colin Smart worked for the club for 23 years as a part-time coach.

The array of future professionals he helped develop includes current skipper Lewis Dunk.

Smart, 73, had been fighting a courageous battle against cancer.

Some of his former players sent him video messages of support in recent weeks.

Dunk told him: “You have been a massive help in my career from a young age.

“You were a massive influence from when I was a young boy in the years I worked with you.

“It shows in the players the club has brought through who you worked with what a great coach you were.

“The club is very, very proud of all the work you have done and the same comes from me.”

Former Albion defender Adam El-Abd told Smart memories of working with him in the academy “put a smile on my face.”

He added: “I’d like to say a massive thank you for the part you played bringing me up as a footballer and as a person.”

El-Abd described the coaching set-up of Smart, Martin Hinshelwood, Vic Bragg, Les Rogers and Dean Wilkins as the “dream team”.

He said: “I, like many others, owe you a massive thank you. I wouldn’t have had the career I’ve had if it wasn’t for the likes of yourself.”

Smart, who remained a season-ticket holder at the Amex, recently received a letter of support from chief executive Paul Barber.

He worked alongside John Byrne and John Lambert with Albion under-16s and 17s, winning three league tiles.

The list of 41 first-team players he helped develop for Albion and other clubs included Dean Cox, Adam Hinshelwood, John Sullivan, Jake Forster-Caskey, Jake Robinson, Joel Lynch and Dean Hammond.

He combined his part-time role with a day job in an accounts department.

Hinshelwood, Albion’s former director of football, said: “It’s an important group at under-16 because the next step is whether you are going to take them full-time at your football club.

“Some of them had been there since they were nine or ten but this was a very important year.

“They had to be coached in the right way with the right people on and off the pitch.

“Colin was a very calming influence with the boys.

“If I was with the under-16s sometimes I might lose my rag a little bit!

“But he was calm and spoke to the boys in a certain way. I never heard him raise his voice.

“But, if he did raise his voice on the odd occasion, the boys would know he really was upset.

“He worked hard and he was a lovely man.

“The biggest problem I had with Colin was when we had to make those decisions in February over the players we would take on.

“That’s a hard time because you know you are going to tell a boy the bad news and you are going to break his dreams.

“We would have meetings and, if we had 16 boys, Colin would want to take all 16!
“I’m not saying he was soft but he cared about the boys and he wanted them all to be footballers.

“Even the ones he didn’t take, a lot played at a decent level in non-league.

“In that final year they might be nervous about being taken on.

“It’s calming them down a little bit and saying, ‘What will happen, will happen’.

“You’ve got to give 100% and, if you don’t make it, at least you have made that effort.

“But you also want to bring a bit more out of the boys. Put them under pressure because it’s a big year for them.

“Stepping in that door the first day full-time with Charlie Oatway in your face or Paul Rogers or Danny Cullip, it’s a different atmosphere so they have to be built up to cope with that.”

Colin's son Warren has launched a fund-raiser in his dad's name in support of Prostate Cancer UK. It can be found via Facebook HERE.

In the picture above of Albion under-17s in 2001, the complete line-up is as follows.

Back from left: Colin Smart (coach), Grant Vanson, Steve Metcalf, Wayne Joseph, Adam Hinshelwood, Alex Bryant, Nicky Bridle, Dan Beck, Matt Bradford, Dan Harding, John Byrne (coach).

Front: Jamie King, Adam El-Abd, Scott Kirkwood, Matt Geard, Jason Edwards, Darren Budd, Phil Bartholomew, Chris Greatwich, Mark Windsor.