Alex Smith MBE (born 25 December 1939) is a Scottish former football player and manager. His major achievements over close to five decades as a manager include winning the Scottish Cup in 1987 with St Mirren and 1990 with Aberdeen, where he also won the Scottish League Cup in 1989. He also won league titles with Stirling Albion and Clyde.
He managed the Scotland under-18, under-21 and under-23 teams.
He had a role in the development of many prominent players, In 1974, he became manager of Stirling Albion and would manage the club for 12 years, winning the Second Division championship in 1977. Smith nonetheless remained at the club until 1986 when he moved to St Mirren, with whom he won the Scottish Cup in 1987, overcoming that season's UEFA Cup 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 would later manage Clyde, Dundee United and Ross County. He later worked as technical director at Falkirk. In June 2009 he was appointed assistant to the then head coach Eddie May. In March 2013 he was appointed interim manager at the club following the departure of Steven Pressley. He was again placed in interim charge in September 2017, after Peter Houston left. Smith was 77 years old, which made him the oldest manager of a professional football club in Europe at the time.
He retired from football at the end of the 2017–18 season to emigrate to Australia with his wife.
Smith was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2005 Birthday Honours for services to sport in Scotland.
Managerial statistics
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|-
!rowspan="2"|Team
!rowspan="2"|From
!rowspan="2"|To
!colspan="5"|Record
|-
!P!!W!!L!!D!!Win %
|-
|align=left|Stenhousemuir
|align=left|1 August 1968
|align=left|1 September 1974
|-
|align=left|Stirling
|align=left|1 September 1974
|align=left|16 December 1986
|-
|align=left|St Mirren
|align=left|17 December 1986
|align=left|31 May 1988
|-
|align=left|Aberdeen
|align=left|1 August 1988
|align=left|10 February 1992
|-
|align=left|Clyde
|align=left|1 August 1992
|align=left|September 1996
|-
|align=left|Scotland U21
|align=left|October 1998
|align=left|14 March 2002
|-
|align=left|Dundee United
|align=left|8 August 2000
|align=left|7 October 2002
|-
|align=left|Ross County
|align=left|27 November 2002
|align=left|11 June 2005
|-
|align=left|Falkirk (interim)
|align=left|8 March 2013
|align=left|3 April 2013
|-
|align=left|Falkirk (interim)
|align=left|24 September 2017
|align=left|7 October 2017
|-
!colspan=3|Total
|}
Honours
Player
Stirling Albion
- Scottish Division Two: 1964–65
Manager
Stenhousemuir
- Stirlingshire Cup: 1970–71
Stirling Albion
- Scottish Second Division: 1976–77
- Stirlingshire Cup: 1976–77, 1977–78, 1983–84
St Mirren
- Scottish Cup: 1986–87
Aberdeen
(co-manager with Jocky Scott)
- Scottish Cup: 1989–90
- Scottish League Cup: 1989–90
- Runners-up: 1988–89
- Aberdeenshire Cup: 1989–90,1990–91
Clyde
- Scottish Second Division: 1992–93
Springfield United
- Australia - FQPL5 Metro Premiership: 2022
- Australia - FQPL5 Metro Grand Final: 2022
- Australia - SUFC Cup: 2021, 2022
Individual
- SPL Manager of the Month: March 2001, May 2001, January 2002
References
- Reid, Harry (2005), The Final Whistle?, Birlinn,
- Grant, Michael and Robertson, Rob (2010), The Management, Birlinn,