Neil Smillie (born 19 July 1958) is an English former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player and manager. He played for a number of clubs, and appeared in the

1983 FA Cup final The 1983 FA Cup Final was contested by Manchester United and Brighton & Hove Albion at Wembley Stadium. Manchester United were the favourites, as Brighton had been relegated from the First Division that season, and had never reached a cup fin ...

for Brighton & Hove Albion.

Playing career

The son of the former

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...

and Lincoln City player

Ron Smillie Ronald Drummond Smillie (27 September 1933 – 17 August 2005) was an English footballer who scored 32 goals from 205 appearances in the Football League playing for Barnsley (in two spells) and Lincoln City. He played on the right wing. After l ...

, Neil Smillie was born in

. He began his career with Crystal Palace, where he spent seven years, during which he had a spell on loan at

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...

and also spent two summers playing for Memphis Rogues in the

North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League may refer to: *North American Soccer League (1968–1984), a former Division I league *North American Soccer League (2011–2017) The North American Soccer League (NASL) was a professional men's soccer league b ...

. In 1982, he was sold to Brighton & Hove Albion. During his time with that club, he played in the

, in which Brighton held

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 ...

to a 2–2 draw before losing in a replay. In 1985, Smillie moved to Watford for a fee of £100,000 but his spell at Vicarage Road was unsuccessful, with only 16 first-team appearances. In 1986, he moved on to Reading. Two years later, he moved again to

, where he was a first-team regular for five years with over 170 appearances.

Managerial career

In 1993, the new Gillingham manager Mike Flanagan made Smillie his first signing, appointing him as player-coach. Gillingham went into administration in 1995 and the receivers dismissed Flanagan as manager, appointing Smillie as manager for the remainder of the season. When new owners took over Gillingham in summer 1995, Smillie moved to Wycombe Wanderers, where he served as youth team coach. He had a brief spell as caretaker manager in 1996 and, in 1998, gained the job on a permanent basis. He was sacked the following year.

Personal life

As of July 2010, Smillie was working as Sports Marketing Manager for Nike UK and headed the company's talent ID scheme.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smillie, Neil 1958 births Living people English men's footballers English Football League players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players Crystal Palace F.C. players Brentford F.C. players Memphis Rogues players Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. players Watford F.C. players Reading F.C. players Gillingham F.C. players English football managers Gillingham F.C. managers Wycombe Wanderers F.C. managers Footballers from Barnsley English expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Men's association football midfielders English expatriate sportspeople in the United States