Alan Smith (born 28 December 1946) is an English former football

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

, who has managed

Dulwich Hamlet F.C. Dulwich Hamlet Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in East Dulwich in south-east London, England. They are currently members of and play at Champion Hill. History The club was formed in 1893, by Lorraine 'Pa' Wilson. T ...

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building ...

and

Wycombe Wanderers Wycombe Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play their home ...

Management career

Wimbledon

Smith began his coaching career in non-league football with

Wimbledon F.C. Wimbledon Football Club was an English football club formed in Wimbledon, south-west London, in 1889 and based at Plough Lane from 1912 to 1991. Founded as Wimbledon Old Centrals, the club were a non-League team for most of their history. ...

He was appointed Reserve Team Coach to Allen Batsford in the 1975-76 season before they entered the Football League.

Dulwich Hamlet

In 1977 Smith moved to take the role as Manager of

Dulwich Hamlet Dulwich Hamlet Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in East Dulwich in south-east London, England. They are currently members of and play at Champion Hill. History The club was formed in 1893, by Lorraine 'Pa' Wilson. T ...

, who had just been relegated from the

Isthmian League The Isthmian League () is a regional men's football league covering Greater London, East and South East England, featuring mostly semi-professional clubs. Founded in 1905 by amateur clubs in the London area, the league now consists of 82 tea ...

. In his first season they were promoted back to the Premier Division as Champions finishing 4th in the 1978-79 season and 3rd in the 1979-80 season. At the end of the 1980-1981 season having finished 15th Smith resigned due to business commitments, but during this period had also been appointed Joint Manager of the Isthmian League Representative Team.

Crystal Palace

Smith was then appointed by

Alan Mullery Alan Patrick Mullery (born 23 November 1941) is an English former footballer and manager. After enjoying a successful career with Fulham, Tottenham Hotspur, and the England national team in the 1960s and 1970s, he became a manager working with ...

, the then

Manager, in 1983-84 as Youth/Reserve Team Coach and continued in this role throughout

Steve Coppell Stephen James Coppell (born 9 July 1955) is an English professional football manager and former player. As a player, he was a highly regarded right winger known for his speed and work rate. He won domestic honours with Manchester United and rep ...

’s era from 1984 until he was made Assistant Manager in 1989. When Coppell resigned following relegation from the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

in 1993 Smith was appointed Manager and achieved instant success at

Selhurst Park Selhurst Park is a football stadium in Selhurst in the London Borough of Croydon which is the home ground of Premier League side Crystal Palace. The stadium was designed by Archibald Leitch and opened in 1924. It has hosted international footba ...

as his team won the Division One Championship and he was awarded the League Manager's Association ‘Championship Manager of the Year’. In Smith’s first year in the

Palace reached both Semi Finals of the Domestic Cup competitions losing to

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

and

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

after a replay. Unfortunately for Palace and Smith they were relegated on the final day of the season as the

reduced the size of the Division and four teams were relegated with Palace going down on a record 48 points, the highest number ever recorded by a team being relegated. Smith was sacked a few days later.

Wycombe Wanderers

Smith was not out of work for long. He accepted an offer from

to succeed

Martin O'Neill Martin Hugh Michael O'Neill, (born 1 March 1952) is a Northern Irish professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. Starting his career in Northern Ireland, O'Neill moved to England where he spent most of his playi ...

as manager, but was sacked in September 1996 after a terrible start to the 1996–97 Division Two campaign, alienating himself from the Chairboys' fanbase in the process with what were perceived to be negative long-ball tactics.

Fulham and Crystal Palace (second spell)

One of

Kevin Keegan Joseph Kevin Keegan (born 14 February 1951) is an English former footballer and manager. A forward, he played for several professional clubs from 1968 to 1984. Having begun his career at Scunthorpe United, he moved to Liverpool in 1971 and ...

’s first appointments on joining

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...

was to employ Smith as the club's new Academy Director, a role he held from 1997 to 2000. Smith resigned this position in the summer of 2000 to again replace Steve Coppell as Manager of

under new Chairman

Simon Jordan Simon Jordan (born 24 September 1967) is an English businessman who made his fortune in the mobile phone industry. In 2000, he purchased Crystal Palace Football Club and remained chairman of the club until administration in early 2010. In 2002, ...

. Palace reached the 2000–01

Worthington Worthington may refer to: People * Worthington (surname) * Worthington family, a British noble family Businesses * Worthington Brewery, also known as Worthington's * Worthington Corporation, founded as a pump manufacturer in 1845, later a dive ...

Cup semi-finals, but Smith was sacked in April with relegation looking imminent. Survival was achieved against all odds by caretaker manager

Steve Kember Stephen Dennis Kember (born 8 December 1948) is an English former footballer who played in the centre of midfield during his career, before going into management. He has a long affiliation with Crystal Palace, where he is currently the chief sco ...

. Smith was not employed in football for eight years after his dismissal from Palace in April 2001.

Middlesbrough

Smith joined

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

as a Football Consultant in July 2009. He joined the club to help Middlesbrough manager

Gareth Southgate Gareth Southgate (born 3 September 1970) is an English professional football manager and former player who played as a defender and midfielder. He has been the manager of the England national team since 2016. Southgate won the League Cup ...

, who played under Smith during his time at Crystal Palace, with their bid to return to the

following relegation. Southgate and Chairman Steve Gibson discussed the matter in detail before the appointment, which saw Smith take a behind-the-scenes role, rather than being involved on the training pitch or in the dressing room. On 20 October 2009, Gareth Southgate was sacked by Middlesbrough; it is noted that Smith also left the club, but it is unclear whether he was sacked or just decided to leave.

Qualifications

Smith was in the first batch of coaches in England to be awarded the FA Advanced Coaching Licence (UEFA ‘A’ Award). He also has the unique qualification for a Football Manager of having been appointed a Fellow of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors having qualified in the 1970s.

Other Sporting Activities

Smith continued passing on his coaching and business advice forming a company in 2004 with

Alec Stewart Alec James Stewart (born 8 April 1963) is an English former cricketer, and former captain of the England cricket team, who played Test cricket and One Day Internationals as a right-handed wicket-keeper-batsman. He is the fourth-most-capped Eng ...

, the England and Surrey Cricketer, which dealt with sponsorship and advertising for sporting clients and companies.

Managerial Statistics (excluding Non-League Football)

Honours

;Crystal Palace *

Football League First Division The Football League First Division was a division of the Football League in England from 1888 until 2004. It was the top division in the English football league system from the season 1888–89 until 1991–92, a century in which the First ...

: 1993–94 ;Individual *Football League First Division Manager of the Month: April 1994 *League Manager's Association ‘Championship Manager of the Year’: 1994

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Alan Premier League managers English Football League managers Dulwich Hamlet F.C. managers Crystal Palace F.C. managers Wycombe Wanderers F.C. managers Fulham F.C. non-playing staff Middlesbrough F.C. non-playing staff Living people 1946 births English football managers