Smith dropped from England squad after 'bottle-throwing' arrest

Leeds United striker Alan Smith has been dropped from England’s friendly against Denmark on Sunday after he was arrested over allegations he threw a bottle into the crowd at Leeds’s Elland Road ground last month.

Smith, 23, was called up England manager Sven Goran Eriksson as a replacement for Darius Vassell, who suffered a knee injury when playing for Aston Villa in a friendly in Dubai on Wednesday.

He travelled to Manchester yesterday to link up with the England squad ahead of the Old Trafford clash.

It later emerged he had been arrested and questioned by police earlier in the day over the incident during the Carling Cup clash with Manchester United on October 28.

A spokeswoman for West Yorkshire Police said Smith would have to return to a police station at a later date and a file would be passed to the Crown Prosecution Service.

It initially appeared the incident would not result in the Football Association dropping Smith.

But late last night the FA announced Smith had left the squad and travelled back to Leeds.

FA spokesman Adrian Bevington said: “Further to discussions this evening, Alan Smith has left the England squad and returned to Leeds. We will be issuing a full statement on Friday morning.”

Smith has not featured in an England squad since he was sent off in the Euro 2004 qualifier with Macedonia at St Mary’s in October 2002 for two bookable offences.

His only involvement since that red card was as part of the two-day training get-together at Aylesbury United last November.

Smith’s sparkling goalscoring career has been punctuated by disciplinary problems since he joined Leeds as a professional at the age of 17 while he has also been dogged by a recurring ankle injury.

He scored with his first touch on his Leeds debut five years ago but early the next season was sent off for head-butting Spurs’ Mauricio Taricco – after earlier scoring in a 2-1 win.

He scored in his England under-21 debut against Denmark two months later and in 2000 his four goals in Leeds’ first five Premiership games of the season led to Kevin Keegan promoting him to the senior squad for a friendly against France.

But in October that year he was criticised by club boss David O’Leary over his hot-tempered attitude and in the same month sent off for violent conduct in the European Under-21 Championship qualifier with Finland and banned for three matches

Smith was first called up by England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson for a friendly against Mexico that May.

Last September he made the starting line-up against Portugal and scored but a month later when he played against Macedonia he was sent off in the final minute for a second bookable offence. The same month he received the eighth red card of his career in a game at Middlesbrough.

In February this year he signed a new three-and-a-half-year contract with Leeds.