Neil Smillie

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Neil Smillie
Personal information
Full name	Neil Smillie
Date of birth	July 19, 1958 (1958-07-19) (age 49)
Place of birth	Barnsley, England
Playing position	Midfielder
Youth clubs
1974-1975	Crystal Palace
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1975-1982 1977 1978 1979 1982-1985 1985-1988 1986-1987 1988-1993 1993-1995	Crystal Palace → Brentford (loan) → Memphis Rogues (loan) → Memphis Rogues (loan) Brighton & Hove Albion Watford Reading Brentford Gillingham	083 0(7)[1] 003 0(0)[2] tbc tbc 075 0(2)[3] 016 0(3)[4] 039 0(0)[5] 172 (18)[2] 053 0(3)[6]
Teams managed
1995 1996 1998-1999	Gillingham Wycombe Wanderers Wycombe Wanderers
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. * Appearances (Goals)

Neil Smillie (born Barnsley, 19 July, 1958) is an English former professional football (soccer) player and manager. He played for a number of clubs, with the high point of his career being an appearance in the 1983 FA Cup Final for Brighton & Hove Albion.

[edit] Playing career

The son of former Barnsley and Lincoln City player Ron Smillie, Neil Smillie began his career with Crystal Palace, where he spent seven years, during which he had a spell on loan at Brentford and also spent two summers playing for Memphis Rogues in the North American Soccer League. In 1982 he was sold to Brighton & Hove Albion. During his time with the south coast club he played in the 1983 FA Cup Final, in which Brighton held Manchester United to a 2–2 draw before losing in a replay.^[7]

In 1985 Smillie moved to Watford for a fee of £100,000 but his spell at Vicarage Road was an unsuccessful one, with only 16 first-team appearances in three years, and in 1988 he moved on to Reading. A year later he was on the move again to Brentford, where he was a first-team regular for five years, notching up over 170 appearances.

[edit] Managerial career

In 1993 new Gillingham manager Mike Flanagan made Smillie his first signing, appointing him as player-coach and, after Flanagan was dismissed as manager by the receivers whilst Gillingham were in administration in 1995, Smillie was appointed manager for the remainder of the season.^[7]

When new owners took over Gillingham in the summer of 1995, Smillie moved on to Wycombe Wanderers, where he served as youth team coach. He had a brief spell as caretaker manager in 1996, and later gained the job on a permanent basis in 1998. His stint in charge was a short one, however, as he was sacked the following year.^[7]

[edit] References

v • d • e Gillingham F.C. – Managers Groombridge (1896–1906) • Smith (1906–08) • Groombridge (1908–19) • Collins (1919–20) • McMillan (1920–23) • Curtis (1923–26) • Hoskins (1926–29) • Hendrie (1929–31) • Maven (1932–37) • Ure (1937–38) • Harvey (1938–39) • Clark (1939–58) • Barratt (1958–62) • Cox (1962–65) • Hayward (1965–71) • Nelson (1971–74) • Ashurst (1974–75) • Summers (1975–81) • Peacock (1981–87) • Paul Taylor (1987–88) • Burkinshaw (1988–89) • Richardson (1989–92) • Roeder (1992–93) • Flanagan (1993–95) • Smillie (1995) • Pulis (1995–99) • Peter Taylor (1999–2000) • Hessenthaler (2000–04) • Gorman (2004) • Ternent (2004–05) • Cooper (2005) • Jepson (2005–07) • Docherty (2007) • Onuora (2007) • Stimson (2007–)

v • d • e Wycombe Wanderers F.C. – Managers McCormick (1951–52) • Cann (1952–61) • McDonald (1961) • G. Adams (1961–62) • Welsh (1962–64) • Darvill (1964–68) • Lee (1968–76) • Powell (1976–77) • Reardon (1977–78) • Williams (1978–80) • Keen (1980–84) • Bence (1984–86) • Gane (1986–87) • Suddaby (1987–88) • Kelman (1988–90) • O'Neill (1990–95) • Smith (1995–96) • Gregory (1996–98) • Smillie (1998–99) • Sanchez (1999–2003) • T. Adams (2003–04) • Gorman (2004–06) • Lambert (2006–08) • Taylor (2008–)