[2] A good start to his managerial career at Boston – the club finished in the top four of the Northern Premier League in each of his first three seasons, he led them to the third round proper of the 1972 FA Cup,[8] and in his fourth season, was 40 games into a run of 51 consecutive league games unbeaten,[9] a British record at professional level[10] – led to Colchester United offering Smith the position of manager in October 1972.

[6][16] In his book, Smith reckons the decision by Birmingham to sack him was taken on the coach journey home from the final game of the season.

[6] Despite this spectacular success, chairman Robert Maxwell failed to improve Smith's contract, which led to his resignation from Oxford to take the job of manager at Queens Park Rangers.

[6] He had a fairly successful reign at Fratton Park for four years, including reaching the FA Cup semi-finals in 1992, in which they took Liverpool to a replay before losing on penalties after extra time.

[24] He brought in Steve McClaren as first-team coach, and in their first full season they guided Derby to runners-up spot in Division One and promotion to the Premier League.

[27] Smith and Nilsson were sacked three months later, after presiding over performances described as "totally unacceptable" and failing to achieve a playoff place.

[29] Smith helped Redknapp win the Division One title at the first attempt in 2002–03,[30] and played his part as the club established itself in the Premier League.

[17][34] He failed to stave off relegation to the Conference National, but they came close to an immediate return to the Football League, finishing second and losing on penalties in the 2006–07 play-off semi-final.

[35] In November 2007, after a poor start to the season, Smith decided it was time to "put the interests of the club before his own and ... step down as manager and concentrate on his director's role full-time".

[36] Following the sacking of Darren Patterson in November 2008, Smith took over as caretaker manager; the team remained unbeaten for the few weeks until Chris Wilder's appointment.