THE trials, tribulations and insecurities of a lower league footballer are refreshingly laid bare in a well-written autobiography from former Hereford United midfielder Ben Smith.

Smith, who lived in Worcester during his second spell at United, still owns a property in the city and highlights the nomadic lifestyle during his playing career.

Smith describes how he often used to circulate his CV to clubs as he neared the end of contracts.

The 374-page “Journeyman” is a must-read for Bulls fans keen to learn more about the behind-the-scenes goings on at the now defunct club.

Smith made 475 first-team appearances and scored eighty-two goals during his career, including playing at Manchester United for Crawley in the FA Cup.

But he says an even prouder moment was captaining Hereford United to an FA Cup win against Leeds United at Elland Road in 2007.

Not many Bulls fans will realise Hereford’s players trained in a car park in west London on the eve of their win at Brentford which clinched promotion to League One in 2008.

He recalled: “There was usually a park near our hotel where we conducted a light training session, however, on this occasion, our hotel was right in the middle of west London so there wasn’t any green space available. This led to a surreal experience of preparing for the biggest game of our season by training in a car park.

“The ‘session’ was regularly interrupted by office staff, from the company whose car park we had commandeered, knocking off for the weekend.

"It is quite a funny memory in hindsight, but I remember a few of us not being particularly impressed at the time. The management had emphasised all week the need for us to be professional when preparing for the game and then that happened.”

And, after promotion was secured, the club paid for the whole squad to go to Ayia Napa, Cyprus for a week, together with accommodation and some spending money.

But the players were thrown out of the hotel after then goalkeeper Ryan Esson was sick in reception.

Smith, who now lives near Witham in Essex and works as a youth coach at Brighton & Hove Albion, lifts the lid on the contract negotiations during his 17-year playing career, which often took place in hotels or motorway service stations.

He had success in that area but not always.

After returning from Cyprus, Smith rang up Hereford secretary Joan Fennessy to ask for a meeting with Graham Turner.

“She told him while I was on the phone and I heard him shouting in the background ‘if it’s about a new contract he shouldn’t bother’.”

Smith picked up £450 a week, plus £50 appearance money, when he first arrived at Hereford and, after re-joining the club for a second spell, he secured a significant increase.

“I told him (Graham Turner) if he could raise my wages to £1,200 a week, honour the £20,000 signing-on fee, pay me £5,000 in the event of promotion, raise my wages to £1,400 a week in League One and give me a £100 goal bonus on a two-and-a-half-year contract then I would sign,” recalled Smith.

Smith also revealed he once turned down a £1,000 a week offer from Kidderminster Harriers.

Of course, the book is not just about Smith’s experiences at Hereford.

It contains chapters about his pre-Edgar Street days, including a spell under Colin Addison’s reign at Yeovil Town and, of course, his post-Hereford spell with the colourful Steve Evans at Crawley Town, and a short loan spell at Aldershot when Matt Bishop was the assistant manager.

It includes chapters about Smith's formative football years, including a tragic incident when a young team-mate was crushed to death by a tumbling goalpost.

It is clear from the book that Smith had a lot of respect for Turner, which diminished slightly due to the manner of his exit after John Trewick had taken over first-team affairs.

“John went on to say my £1,400 per week contract was massive – which I took as a compliment to my negotiating skills – and that if I were to stay he would be looking at me taking a pay cut of 50 per cent. I took the opportunity to tell John I was entitled to another year on the same money and I heard the deep gulp he took before saying he would call me back.

“Within ten minutes, Joan Fennessy called to inform me that I was not entitled to another year as, even though I had made thirty-two starts, only twenty-nine of them were in the League.

"What a coincidence… It was a really disappointing way for everything to end and I didn’t want my legacy at Hereford to be that last season. I’d thoroughly enjoyed my two spells at the club on the whole, having built up a great rapport with the supporters and enjoyed working for GT.”

Smith certainly didn’t see eye-to-eye with Gary Peters, who later surfaced at Edgar Street during David Keyte’s troubled reign, during a move to Shrewsbury Town.

As part of Peters’ post- match debriefs at Shrewsbury, all the players were given a copy of the match DVD with a form that had twenty questions for them to fill in – a sort of self-assessment.

At the end of the form was a box, in which players had to write their own personal comments on their performance.

On one occasion, Smith wrote: “I am the scapegoat for this team, whenever anything goes wrong I get the blame or get replaced.”

Smith said: “My spells at Southend and Shrewsbury were unmitigated disasters but helped mould my character as much as my more successful spells.

"The spell at Shrewsbury was especially underwhelming for a variety of reasons, but I knew I should not have gone there before I even put pen to paper. I suppose I got what I deserved for chasing money.

“On reflection, though, four promotions and only one relegation was a decent return on all the hard work I put in during my career, especially when I really knuckled down in the second half of it.”

Journeyman – One Man’s Odyssey Through The Lower Leagues of English Football - is published by Biteback Publishing and is available for £12.99 from Tuesday.