Lee Adrian Smelt (born 13 March 1958) is an English former

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 le ...

and author of a goalkeeping coaching book (Practice Keeping: An elite goalkeeper development plan for under 9 to under 21s). A

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

, he played professionally for

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

Peterborough United Peterborough United Football Club is an English professional football club based in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Peterborough have a long-standing ...

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. ...

Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Dinas Caerdydd) is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1899 as R ...

and

Exeter City Exeter City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Exeter, Devon, England. The team play in , the third tier of the English football league system. Known as "the Grecians", the origin of their nickname is subject to ...

, making a total of 175 appearances in

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 ...

between 1980 and 1986. After Cardiff, Lee then went to non-league

Maidstone United Maidstone United Football Club is a professional football club based in Maidstone, Kent, England. The team compete in the National League, at the fifth tier of the English football league system. The current club filled the void left by the ol ...

and from there played at

Welling United Welling United Football Club is a professional football club, based in Welling in the London Borough of Bexley, England. The club's first team play in the National League South, at the sixth tier of English football. History Welling United Foot ...

, Thanet United and Hythe Town. Lee was player-assistant manager in latter part of his time at Hythe Town and returned to former club

Margate Margate is a seaside resort, seaside town on the north coast of Kent in south-east England. The town is estimated to be 1.5 miles long, north-east of Canterbury and includes Cliftonville, Garlinge, Palm Bay, UK, Palm Bay and Westbrook, Kent, ...

as Manager in 1991. He left football in 1992 to join the police. He was as of 2018, the Academy Goalkeeping Coach (U9-23) at

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in C ...

. His son Jack was a goalkeeper and for a short period in his career followed in his fathers footsteps as a ‘keeper for

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smelt, Lee Living people 1958 births Footballers from Edmonton, London Colchester United F.C. players Ebbsfleet United F.C. players Nottingham Forest F.C. players Peterborough United F.C. players Halifax Town A.F.C. players Cardiff City F.C. players Exeter City F.C. players Maidstone United F.C. (1897) players Welling United F.C. players Margate F.C. players Hythe Town F.C. players Margate F.C. managers Hythe Town F.C. managers Men's association football goalkeepers English men's footballers Charlton Athletic F.C. non-playing staff English football managers