He played his league debut for his new club at the St. Jakob Stadium on 12 August 1987 and scored his first goal in the same game, but it did not help the team much, because Basel were defeated 2–1 by Lausanne-Sport.

[9] During his time with Basel, Smith played a total of 26 competitive games (25 in the Nationalliga A, one in the Swiss Cup) and scored three goals, all in the domestic league.

[4] Smith had a spell as assistant manager of St Mirren between 1990 and 1993[citation needed] before beginning careers in the media and as a football agent.

Smith relinquished his career as an agent to take up the position of Scottish Football Association chief executive, which had been vacated by David Taylor moving to UEFA, in June 2007.

[13] After leaving the SFA, Smith wrote a weekly column in the Scottish edition of the Daily Express newspaper and featured on BBC Radio Scotland's Sportsound.

Somalia-born Islam Feruz became eligible for Scotland, Chester-born Andy Dorman represented Wales and Jamaican-born Raheem Sterling went on to play for England.

In June 2011, Smith was appointed Director of football at Rangers by their new owner Craig Whyte, tasked with assisting new manager Ally McCoist.