By joining United

He is playing football with a real smile on his face again.

This season’s title triumph with Dundee United means that Liam Smith has won the Championship twice since he last played in the Premiership with Hearts.

He’s now looking forward to another crack at the top flight under his former Jambos coachRobbie Neilson.

Talking to from his home in Dundee, where he’s isolating with his girlfriend Daniella and his dog Arlo, Smith admits he always knew his career would pan out just right.

He said: “I knew how Robbie worked from my time at Tynecastle so I was confident everything would be in place at United to win the league.

“That was the goal from day one and we showed from the first day of the season that was our intention with a 4-1 win over Inverness Caley Thistle.

“We had a good season and went on a run of 13 unbeaten games that stretched our lead away from any challengers.

“We didn’t want the league to end the way it did. But no one can dispute we were the best team during the season.

“I can’t wait to get back playing in the Premiership. It has been three years since I’ve done that and I feel like I’ve earned my chance to go and do it again.

“I’ve been involved with three successful Championship teams – while I was on loan at St Mirren in 2018 we won the league and Ayr made the play-offs in 2018-19.

“So I’ve earned my chance to prove myself in the top flight and hopefully I can do that.”

Looking back, Smith admits he had a thankless task to try to dislodge future Scotland star Callum Patterson when he broke through at Hearts.

He ended up being farmed out to East Fife and Raith to gain experience and had to play second fiddle when he returned.

On his next loan he won the second tier with Saints under another Jambos youth coach Jack Ross. He was a regular starter in Paisley and Smith decided he couldn’t settle for the sidelines on his Gorgie return.

But with Northern Ireland star Michael Smith a fixture at right-back for Jambos,