James Michael Smith (17 October 1940 – 10 December 2019) was an English
footballer
A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...
and
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 ...
. As a player, he made 249 appearances in the
Fourth Division of the
Football League
The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...
, representing
Aldershot
Aldershot () is a town in Hampshire, England. It lies on heathland in the extreme northeast corner of the county, southwest of London. The area is administered by Rushmoor Borough Council. The town has a population of 37,131, while the Alders ...
,
Halifax Town
FC Halifax Town is a professional association football club based in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. They currently compete in and play at the Shay. They replaced Halifax Town A.F.C., which went into administration in the 2007–08 season. ...
,
Lincoln City and
Colchester United
Colchester United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Colchester, Essex, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system.
Founded in 1937, the club spent its earl ...
, and played for three-and-a-half years for
Boston United
Boston United Football Club is a semi-professional association football club based in Boston, Lincolnshire, England. The club participates in the National League North, at the sixth tier of the English football league system. The club is known ...
of the
Northern Premier League
The Northern Premier League is an English football league that was founded in 1968. It has four divisions: the Premier Division (which stands at level 7 of the English football league system), Division One East, Division One West and Divisio ...
. He began a long managerial career with Boston United, and went on to take charge of top division clubs such as
Birmingham City
Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...
and
Newcastle United. Smith served as a member of the
board of directors
A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...
of Oxford United for three years from 2006 to 2009. He served as the
League Managers' Association
The League Managers Association (LMA) is the trade union for Premier League, EFL and national team managers in English association football. The LMA awards the LMA Manager of the Year award annually.
History
The union was founded in 3045 as th ...
's chief executive and was inducted into their Hall of Fame for managing over 1000 matches. He was nicknamed "The Bald Eagle".
Playing career
Smith was born in
Sheffield
Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...
and grew up a
Sheffield Wednesday
Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot of ...
supporter, but began his playing career in 1957 when he signed for
Sheffield United
Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...
as an
amateur
An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...
, and turned professional with the club two years later. After failing to break into the first team he was transferred to
Aldershot
Aldershot () is a town in Hampshire, England. It lies on heathland in the extreme northeast corner of the county, southwest of London. The area is administered by Rushmoor Borough Council. The town has a population of 37,131, while the Alders ...
for the
1961–62 season.
At the beginning of the
1965–66 season, after scoring one goal in 74 league appearances, Smith left Aldershot to join
Halifax Town
FC Halifax Town is a professional association football club based in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. They currently compete in and play at the Shay. They replaced Halifax Town A.F.C., which went into administration in the 2007–08 season. ...
. He made 113 league starts for Halifax, scoring seven goals, before moving to
Lincoln City in 1968. After just over a year at Lincoln in which he made 54 appearances Smith signed for
non-league
Non-League football describes football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is specifically used to d ...
club
Boston United
Boston United Football Club is a semi-professional association football club based in Boston, Lincolnshire, England. The club participates in the National League North, at the sixth tier of the English football league system. The club is known ...
as
player-manager
A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the s ...
;
[ as player, he went on to make nearly 200 appearances for the club in all competitions.]
Managerial career
A good start to his managerial career at Boston – the club finished in the top four of the Northern Premier League
The Northern Premier League is an English football league that was founded in 1968. It has four divisions: the Premier Division (which stands at level 7 of the English football league system), Division One East, Division One West and Divisio ...
in each of his first three seasons, he led them to the third round proper of the 1972 FA Cup, and in his fourth season, was 40 games into a run of 51 consecutive league games unbeaten, a British record at professional level – led to Colchester United
Colchester United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Colchester, Essex, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system.
Founded in 1937, the club spent its earl ...
offering Smith the position of manager in October 1972. In his autobiography, Smith says that he thought he got the job on the basis that he told the directors that he thought the team were 'bloody awful' when watching a game with them, and they respected his honesty. He retained his playing registration for that season, but in 1973–74, he retired from playing and guided Colchester to promotion
Promotion may refer to:
Marketing
* Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...
from the Football League Fourth Division.
In 1975, he quit the club to join Blackburn Rovers
Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...
, newly promoted to the Second Division
In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...
.
He led Blackburn through one season of survival, one of establishment and was well into a promotion push in his third season when he left for First Division Birmingham City
Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...
in March 1978 after Sir Alf Ramsey's resignation.
Birmingham were relegated
In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open leagues. ...
from the First Division in Smith's first full season in charge, but he rebuilt the team, allowing many of the players who had won promotion in 1972 to leave, most notably making Trevor Francis
Trevor John Francis (born 19 April 1954) is an English former footballer who played as a forward for a number of clubs in England, the United States, Italy, Scotland and Australia. In 1979 he became Britain's first £1 million player foll ...
the first £1 million player, a move which the board had not allowed Ramsey to make,[ and introducing both experienced players and promising youngsters.
Smith guided Birmingham back into the top flight the next season, and maintained them in mid-table in 1981. In early 1982, ]Ron Saunders
Ronald Saunders (6 November 1932 – 7 December 2019) was an English football player and manager. He played for Everton, Tonbridge Angels, Gillingham, Portsmouth, Watford and Charlton Athletic during a 16-year playing career, before moving in ...
walked out on Aston Villa
Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...
, the club he had led to the League title the previous season; Birmingham promptly sacked Smith and appointed Saunders.[ In his book, Smith reckons the decision by Birmingham to sack him was taken on the coach journey home from the final game of the season.]
A few weeks later, Smith joined Oxford United
Oxford United Football Club is a professional football club in the city of Oxford, England. The team plays in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The chairman is Grant Ferguson, the manager is Karl Robinson and t ...
as manager. He led them to the Third Division championship in 1984. The next year they were again promoted, reaching the top flight for the first time in their history, as Oxford won the Second Division championship.[ Despite this spectacular success, chairman ]Robert Maxwell
Ian Robert Maxwell (born Ján Ludvík Hyman Binyamin Hoch; 10 June 1923 – 5 November 1991) was a Czechoslovak-born British media proprietor, member of parliament (MP), suspected spy, and fraudster.
Early in his life, Maxwell escaped from N ...
failed to improve Smith's contract, which led to his resignation from Oxford to take the job of manager at Queens Park Rangers
Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus Ro ...
.
In his first year at QPR, Smith took the club to the League Cup final, where they lost 3–0 to his former club Oxford United. Smith continued to manage QPR until December 1988 when he left to become manager of Newcastle United. Newcastle finished bottom of the First Division in 1989; they came close to making an immediate return, finishing third in the league but losing 2–0 in the playoff semi-final to local rivals Sunderland at St James' Park
St James' Park is a football stadium in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It is the home of Premier League club Newcastle United F.C. With a seating capacity of 52,305 seats, it is the eighth largest football stadium in England.
St James' Park ...
. With no prospect of promotion by March 1991, Smith resigned amid a boardroom power struggle at the club.
He had a spell as coach at 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 ...
under Colin Todd
Colin Todd (born 12 December 1948) is an English football manager and former player. He was most recently the manager of Esbjerg fB. As a player, he made more than 600 appearances in the Football League, playing for Sunderland, Derby County, ...
before accepting the appointment as manager of Portsmouth
Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council.
Portsmouth is the most dens ...
in the summer of 1991.[ He had a fairly successful reign at Fratton Park for four years, including reaching the FA Cup semi-finals in 1992, in which they took ]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 ...
to a replay before losing on penalties after extra time
Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played onl ...
. A year later, a successful season in the league meant that they missed out on automatic promotion to the Premier League only on goal difference and then lost in the playoffs. Key players including Darren Anderton
Darren Robert Anderton (born 3 March 1972) is an English former professional footballer and pundit.
As a player, he was a midfielder who notably played in the Premier League for Tottenham Hotspur and Birmingham City. His twelve-year spell with ...
and Guy Whittingham
Guy Whittingham (born 10 November 1964) is an English football manager and former professional footballer.
As a player, he was a striker from 1988 until 2005, notably in the Premier League for Aston Villa and Sheffield Wednesday. Having start ...
were sold, and there was no money for adequate replacements. Smith was sacked in January 1995 after a decline in form left them struggling at the wrong end of Division One.
Smith became chief executive of the League Managers' Association
The League Managers Association (LMA) is the trade union for Premier League, EFL and national team managers in English association football. The LMA awards the LMA Manager of the Year award annually.
History
The union was founded in 3045 as th ...
in 1995, but returned to club management that summer with Derby County
Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group.
Founded in 188 ...
.
He brought in Steve McClaren
Stephen McClaren (born 3 May 1961) is an English former professional footballer and coach who currently serves as an assistant coach for Premier League club Manchester United, in his second spell at the club.
McClaren began his coaching caree ...
as first-team coach, and in their first full season they guided Derby to runners-up spot in Division One and promotion to the Premier League.[ Derby finished in the top half of the table for their first three seasons in the top flight, but after two seasons where relegation was only narrowly avoided, Smith was offered, and refused, the post of Director of Football. He resigned in October 2001, to be replaced by ]Colin Todd
Colin Todd (born 12 December 1948) is an English football manager and former player. He was most recently the manager of Esbjerg fB. As a player, he made more than 600 appearances in the Football League, playing for Sunderland, Derby County, ...
. Derby had spent 5 consecutive seasons in the top flight under Jim Smith.
In January 2002, Smith was appointed assistant manager at Coventry City
Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. The club is nicknamed t ...
, working alongside Roland Nilsson
Nils Lennart Roland Nilsson (born 27 November 1963) is a Swedish professional football manager and former player. He was most recently the head coach of Allsvenskan club IFK Göteborg. As a player, Nilsson played 116 games for Sweden, mak ...
. Smith and Nilsson were sacked three months later, after presiding over performances described as "totally unacceptable" and failing to achieve a playoff place. Later that year, Harry Redknapp appointed Smith as his assistant at former club Portsmouth
Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council.
Portsmouth is the most dens ...
. Smith helped Redknapp win the Division One title at the first attempt in 2002–03, and played his part as the club established itself in the Premier League. In November 2004, both Smith and Redknapp resigned from Portsmouth after the appointment of a Director of Football. Redknapp became the manager of Southampton
Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...
two weeks later, and after rejecting the position of chief scout, Smith was appointed his assistant. As part of a "cost-cutting exercise" following Southampton's relegation from the Premier League, Smith's initial six-month contract was not extended.
After nearly a year out of football, Smith returned to front-line management in March 2006 as manager of Oxford United
Oxford United Football Club is a professional football club in the city of Oxford, England. The team plays in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The chairman is Grant Ferguson, the manager is Karl Robinson and t ...
for the second time, and was also given a seat on the board of directors.[
He failed to stave off relegation to the ]Conference National
The National League, known as the Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest level of the National League System and fifth-highest of the overall English football league system. It is the highest league that is semi-profes ...
, but they came close to an immediate return to the Football League
The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...
, finishing second and losing on penalties in the 2006–07 play-off semi-final. In November 2007, after a poor start to the season, Smith decided it was time to "put the interests of the club before his own and ... step down as manager and concentrate on his director's role full-time".
Following the sacking of Darren Patterson
Darren James Patterson (born 15 October 1969) is a Northern Irish football manager and former professional association football, footballer.
As a player he was a Defender (association football), defender, notably playing in the Premier League ...
in November 2008, Smith took over as caretaker manager
In association footballing terms, a caretaker manager or interim manager is somebody who takes temporary charge of the management of a football team, usually when the regular Manager (association football), manager is dismissed or leaves for a ...
; the team remained unbeaten for the few weeks until Chris Wilder
Christopher John Wilder (born 23 September 1967) is an English professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player who played as a right-back. He was most recently the manager of club Middlesbrough ...
's appointment. Smith stepped down from the board in 2009.
Death
Smith died on 10 December 2019 at the age of 79.
Managerial statistics
Honours
Manager
Boston United
*Eastern Professional Floodlit Cup: 1971–72
Colchester United
* Football League Fourth Division promotion: 1973–74
Birmingham City
*Football League Second Division
The Football League Second Division was the second level division in the English football league system between 1892 and 1992. Following the foundation of the FA Premier League, the Football League divisions were renumbered and the third ti ...
promotion: 1979–80
Oxford United
*Football League Third Division
The Football League Third Division was the third tier of the English football league system in 1920–21 and again from 1958 until 1992. When the FA Premier League was formed, the division become the fourth tier level. In 2004, following th ...
: 1983–84
*Football League Second Division: 1984–85
Derby County
*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 ...
promotion: 1995–96
Individual
*Premier League Manager of the Month
The Premier League Manager of the Month is an association football award that recognises the best adjudged Premier League manager each month of the season. The winner is chosen by a combination of an online public vote, which contributes to ...
: November 1996
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Jim
1940 births
2019 deaths
Footballers from Sheffield
English footballers
Association football midfielders
Sheffield United F.C. players
Aldershot F.C. players
Halifax Town A.F.C. players
Lincoln City F.C. players
Boston United F.C. players
Colchester United F.C. players
English Football League players
Player-coaches
English football managers
Boston United F.C. managers
Colchester United F.C. managers
Blackburn Rovers F.C. managers
Birmingham City F.C. managers
Oxford United F.C. managers
Queens Park Rangers F.C. managers
Newcastle United F.C. managers
Portsmouth F.C. managers
Derby County F.C. managers
Premier League managers
English Football League managers
Coventry City F.C. non-playing staff