Alex Smith MBE (born 25 December 1939) is a Scottish former
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 ...
player 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 activitie ...
. His major achievements over close to five decades as a manager include winning the
Scottish Cup
The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,St Mirren and 1990 with
Aberdeen
Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), a ...
, where he also won the
Scottish League Cup
The Scottish League Cup (also known as the Viaplay Cup for sponsorship reasons) is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League Cup in existe ...
in 1989. He had a role in the development of many prominent players, and the 2005 book on Scottish football, ''The Final Whistle?'' was described as "the nearest thing the Scottish game has to a father figure".
Biography
Smith was born in
Cowie Cowie may refer to:
People
* Cowie (surname)
Places
*Cowie, Aberdeenshire, an historic fishing village located at the north side of Stonehaven, Scotland
**Cowie Castle, a ruined castle in Aberdeenshire, Scotland
** Chapel of St. Mary and St. Nath ...
, a mining village close to
Stirling
Stirling (; sco, Stirlin; gd, Sruighlea ) is a city in central Scotland, northeast of Glasgow and north-west of Edinburgh. The market town, surrounded by rich farmland, grew up connecting the royal citadel, the medieval old town with its me ...
, and played in the same youth team as
Billy Bremner
William John Bremner (9 December 1942 – 7 December 1997) was a Scottish professional footballer and manager. Regarded as one of the game's great midfielders, he combined precision passing skills with tenacious tackling and physical stam ...
. He was best man at Bremner's wedding. His playing career was journeymanlike, and he played for
Kilmarnock
Kilmarnock (, sco, Kilmaurnock; gd, Cill Mheàrnaig (IPA: ʰʲɪʎˈveaːɾnəkʲ, "Marnock's church") is a large town and former burgh in East Ayrshire, Scotland and is the administrative centre of East Ayrshire, East Ayrshire Council. ...
Albion Rovers
Albion Rovers Football Club is a semi-professional football team from Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. They are members of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) and play in Scottish League Two, the fourth tier of the Scott ...
.
His managerial career began in 1968 with Stenhousemuir. In 1974, he became manager of Stirling Albion and would manage the club for 12 years, winning the Second Division championship in
1977
Events January
* January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group.
* January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democrat ...
. Stirling Albion remained in the second tier for four seasons, and were relegated in
1981
Events January
* January 1
** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union.
** Palau becomes a self-governing territory.
* January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...
after failing to score a league goal for three months; Smith nonetheless remained at the club until 1986 when he moved to St Mirren, with whom he won the
Scottish Cup
The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,1987
File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, ...
, overcoming that season's
UEFA Cup
A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...
finalists Dundee United with a young, all-Scottish team in a surprise result which endured as one of the Paisley club's most treasured achievements.
Smith and co-manager
Jocky Scott
John Alexander "Jocky" Scott (born 14 January 1948) is a Scottish football coach and former player.
During his playing career he played for Dundee, Aberdeen, Seattle Sounders and Scotland.
An extensive management career followed with spells ...
succeeded
Ian Porterfield
John Ian Porterfield (11 February 1946 – 11 September 2007) was a Scottish professional footballer, and an experienced football coach who worked at both club and international level for almost 30 years. At the time of his death, he was the coa ...
at
Aberdeen
Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), a ...
in 1988. For the next three seasons the ''Dons'' were the main rivals to Rangers, finishing runners-up in each of those seasons. New players were brought in, several from Dutch football including
Theo Snelders
Theodorus Antonius Gerardus Snelders (born 7 December 1963) is a Dutch former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper.
Club career
Snelders was born in Westervoort, Gelderland. He started his career with FC Twente but is mostly reme ...
double
A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another.
Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to:
Film and television
* Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character
* ...
of the
League Cup
In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...
(beating Rangers after losing to them the previous year) and Scottish Cup (in a penalty shootout against
Celtic
Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to:
Language and ethnicity
*pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia
**Celts (modern)
*Celtic languages
**Proto-Celtic language
*Celtic music
*Celtic nations
Sports Foo ...
), and in
1990–91
Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 '' Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since t ...
went into their final game at Ibrox needing only a draw to win the
Scottish Premier Division
The Scottish Football League Premier Division was, from 1975 until 1998, the top division of the Scottish Football League and the entire Scottish football league system. It lay above the Scottish Football League First, Second and (from 1994) ...
championship on goals scored; a 2–0 defeat courtesy of a Mark Hateley brace sealed a third straight title for Rangers. Aberdeen began the next season well, including a win at Ibrox, but early exits from the League Cup and UEFA Cup followed; Scott left in September 1991 to take over at Dunfermline Athletic, and a further slump in form resulted in Smith's dismissal in February 1992.
Smith would later manage Clyde, Dundee United and Ross County. He later worked as technical director at
Falkirk
Falkirk ( gd, An Eaglais Bhreac, sco, Fawkirk) is a large town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow.
Falkirk had ...
. In June 2009 he was appointed assistant to the then head coach
Eddie May
Edwin Charles May (19 May 1943 – 14 April 2012) was an English football player and manager. May was born in Epping, and played for Dagenham, Southend United, Wrexham and Swansea City.
The burly, affable May loomed large in the modern hist ...
. In March 2013 he was appointed interim manager at the club following the departure of
Steven Pressley
Steven John Pressley (born 11 October 1973) is a Scottish professional football manager and former player who played as a centre back. He was most recently the manager of Carlisle United.
Pressley had a long playing career, playing for Celtic a ...
. He was again placed in interim charge in September 2017, after
Peter Houston
Peter Houston (born 19 July 1958) is a Scottish football player and manager who is currently assistant manager of the Scotland under-21 side.
Houston played as a striker for Airdrieonians, Livingston United, Albion Rovers, Falkirk, Dumbarton ...
left. Smith was 77 years old, which made him the oldest manager of a professional football club in Europe at the time.
Smith was involved with
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...
Gordon Parks
Gordon Roger Alexander Buchanan Parks (November 30, 1912 – March 7, 2006) was an American photographer, composer, author, poet, and film director, who became prominent in U.S. documentary photojournalism in the 1940s through 1970s—particula ...
Member of the Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations,
and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
(MBE) in the
2005 Birthday Honours
The Birthday Honours 2005 for the Commonwealth realms were announced on 11 June 2005 to celebrate the Queen's Birthday of
2005. The recipients of honours are displayed here as they were styled before their new honour, and arranged first by the co ...
for services to sport in Scotland.
Managerial statistics
Honours
Player
Stirling Albion
*
Scottish Division Two
The Scottish Football League (SFL) was a league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4 km sout ...
Stirlingshire Cup
The Stirlingshire Cup is an association football cup competition for clubs in the county of Stirlingshire, Scotland. The competition was founded in 1883 and is contested annually by senior member clubs of the Stirlingshire Football Association. Th ...
: 1970–71
Stirling Albion
*
Scottish Second Division
The Scottish Football League Second Division was the third tier of the Scottish football league system between 1975 and 2013.
History
The Second Division was created in 1975, as part of a wider reconstruction of the Scottish Football League (SFL ...
Stirlingshire Cup
The Stirlingshire Cup is an association football cup competition for clubs in the county of Stirlingshire, Scotland. The competition was founded in 1883 and is contested annually by senior member clubs of the Stirlingshire Football Association. Th ...
: 1976–77, 1977–78, 1983–84
St Mirren
*
Scottish Cup
The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,1986–87
Aberdeen
(co-manager with
Jocky Scott
John Alexander "Jocky" Scott (born 14 January 1948) is a Scottish football coach and former player.
During his playing career he played for Dundee, Aberdeen, Seattle Sounders and Scotland.
An extensive management career followed with spells ...
)
*
Scottish Cup
The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,1989–90
*
Scottish League Cup
The Scottish League Cup (also known as the Viaplay Cup for sponsorship reasons) is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League Cup in existe ...
Aberdeenshire Cup
The Aberdeenshire Cup is a Scottish football tournament for all senior clubs affiliated to the Aberdeenshire and District Football Association (ADFA), being clubs from the historic counties of Aberdeenshire and Banffshire. The Aberdeenshire C ...
: 1989–90,1990–91
Clyde
*
Scottish Second Division
The Scottish Football League Second Division was the third tier of the Scottish football league system between 1975 and 2013.
History
The Second Division was created in 1975, as part of a wider reconstruction of the Scottish Football League (SFL ...
:
1992–93
Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 '' Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since t ...