Roger Guy Smee (born 14 August 1948) 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 lea ...

who played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

Career

In January 1967,

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

signed Smee from Chelsea, where he had played in the youth set-up. On 3 March 1967, Smee scored on his Reading debut in a 2–0 win against

Shrewsbury Town Shrewsbury Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1886, the club were inaugur ...

. Smee scored nine goals in 15 appearances in the 1966–67 season following his transfer. Following suffering a broken leg, Smee was deemed surplus to requirements by manager Jack Mansell and dropped down to

non-League football Non-League football describes association football, 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 ...

, firstly being loaned to Chelmsford City, before signing for Hillingdon Borough and

Hereford United Hereford United Football Club was an association football club based in Hereford, England. They played at Edgar Street for their entire history. They were nicknamed 'The Whites' or 'The Lilywhites', after their predominantly white kit, or 'Th ...

. In 1972, Smee signed for Belgian club VG Oostende, before moving back to Reading, where he made nine further

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

appearances, scoring once.

Post-playing career

Following his playing career, Smee moved into business. In May 1983,

Oxford United Oxford United Football Club () is a professional association football, football club based in Oxford, England. The club compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football league system, English football. Founded as Headingto ...

chairman

Robert Maxwell Ian Robert Maxwell (born Ján Ludvík Hyman Binyamin Hoch; 10 June 1923 – 5 November 1991) was a Czechoslovakia, Czechoslovak-born British media proprietor, politician and fraudster. After escaping the German occupation of Czechoslovakia, ...

announced his intention to acquire a majority shareholding in Reading and merge Reading and Oxford into a club named Thames Valley Royals. Smee and Reading director Roy Tranter opposed such a merger and stopped Maxwell's plans following a boardroom vote at Reading between the Maxwell merger offer and a rival bid headed by Smee. In July 1983, Smee became chairman of Reading. During Smee's time as chairman, Reading reached

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in the London Borou ...

for the first time, winning the 1988 Full Members' Cup Final as well as gaining promotion from the Fourth Division in 1983–84, winning the Third Division in 1985–86 and achieving the club's highest finish in 1987. In 1990, Smee was replaced as Reading chairman by

John Madejski Sir John Robert Madejski, (; born Robert John Hurst; 28 April 1941) is an English businessman, with commercial interests spanning property, broadcast media, hotels, restaurants, publishing and football. Madejski is the founder of the magazine ...

, as a result of the

early 1990s recession The early 1990s recession describes the period of economic downturn affecting much of the Western world in the early 1990s. The impacts of the recession contributed in part to the 1992 U.S. presidential election victory of Bill Clinton over incum ...

. In 2013, Smee was awarded an MBE for his work with young people in

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London ...

References

1948 births Living people Men's association football forwards English men's footballers English businesspeople English football chairmen and investors Chairmen of Reading F.C. Footballers from Reading, Berkshire Members of the Order of the British Empire Chelsea F.C. players Reading F.C. players Chelmsford City F.C. players Hillingdon Borough F.C. players Hereford United F.C. players K.V. Oostende players Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium English expatriate sportspeople in Belgium English Football League players {{England-footy-forward-1940s-stub