Bob Smith signed for Exeter at the start of the 1939/40 season and in the loacl press the following was said 

"Dick Pym, now the City's assistant trainer was finishing with first class football when there stepped into the Bolton Wanderers dressing-room a young full-back, Bob Smith. And the young man with a name revered among the fraternity that haunt Burnden Park quickly made his mark and attained eminence comparable with that gained by his illustrious predecessors, "Joe" and "J.R" of the Smith clan.
£8 000 was the Bolton evaluation of Bob Smith in the days of not so long ago when ranked as England's top-grade full-back, he was chosen for the Jubliee International, against Scotland. Then came a break-down as puzzling as it was regrettable. Smith developed sciatica, and left Bolton subsequently to play for Rhyl, Huddersfield, Swindon, and Brentford. If he comes back, the City will have made the biggest bargain of recent times, for Bob Smith, according to Dick Pym was a better back than Alec Finney, who starred in Bolton's remarkable trio of Cup victories."

Robert "Bob" Smith was born on the 15th of December 1912, in Atherton, Lancashire.
After early trials with Bolton Wanderers, he played for three seasons at Burnden Park from 1931 to 1936 with Bolton, where he made 99 league appearances, before leaving to join Huddersfield Town. He had also played at full-back for Brentford. 

Bob played in the reserve game on the 19th of August 1939, against Plymouth Argyle, at Home Park, on the road to recovery he played in the next two reserve games at Torquay and Hereford at right-back.

Robert (Bob) Smith managed Ajax, Amsterdam from 1947 to 1948.