Adam Smith: The Greatest Right-Back Bournemouth Will Ever Have?

So, is he?

Yes he is. That’s the short version. Here is the long one…

When Smith walked out in San Sebastián with the captain's armband around his arm, he wasn't simply making history for Bournemouth. He was completing a journey that had begun 16 years earlier, when a 19-year-old Smith arrived at Dean Court on loan from Tottenham with the Cherries in League One.

Sixteen years later, he was leading Bournemouth into Europe.

In between came promotion, relegation, another promotion, Premier League football, setbacks, rebuilding and 429 senior appearances for the club. He has experienced almost every version of Bournemouth imaginable, from a League One side dreaming of the Championship to a Premier League club playing its first European fixture in Spain.

And the remarkable thing is that Smith has remained part of the story throughout it all.Bournemouth have repeatedly recruited right-backs to succeed him. Jack Stacey, Ryan Fredericks, Ethan Laird, Max Aarons, Julian Araujo and then Alex Jiménez have all, at various points, represented the future. The BBC noted earlier this year that the club had been searching for Smith's successor for several seasons. Yet Smith keeps making that decision difficult. He waits. He works. He keeps himself ready.

Speaking before Bournemouth's European debut, Smith explained that one of his personal goals for the season was to play in Europe. At 35, he still wanted to test himself at the highest level and prove to himself that he could perform there. He also wanted to show his young son what it takes to remain at the top.

That is Smith's mentality in a nutshell. Keep working. Keep dreaming. Keep going.

At 35 years and 141 days, Smith became the oldest English outfield player to make his debut in a major European competition since 1962. He wasn't there to make up the numbers either. He captained Bournemouth into their first European match and helped lead them to a 2-1 victory over Real Sociedad.

Think about that journey. The teenager who arrived at Dean Court when Bournemouth were in League One eventually walked out in Spain as captain of a European team.

It is tempting to say Smith's career mirrors Bournemouth's rise. I think it goes further than that. He is the embodiment of it.

Perhaps that is true off the pitch as much as it is on it. There is a relentlessness to Smith, and a little bit of cunning too. He understands that football is about taking your opportunity when it arrives and making sure you are ready when it does. Every time he has been underestimated, every time someone else has appeared to be the future, Smith has found a way to come back.

He works. He waits. He never gives up. He keeps believing there is another chapter to write. After sixteen years, somehow, there always seems to be one every manager ultimately turns to.

That is why Adam Smith will forever be Bournemouth's greatest ever right-back. He doesn't just represent the club's journey from League One to Europe. He represents the mentality that made the journey possible.

Eventually Bournemouth will find his successor, and whoever takes that shirt will inherit a ridiculous standard to live up to. Smith didn't just occupy the right-back position while Bournemouth climbed the football pyramid; he remained there long enough to walk them into Europe.

The next right-back will have to be some player. Because Adam Smith wont let that spot slip without a fight.