Wrexham Evening Leader

Denis's day to remember

11 December 2003

David Lovett

By David Lovett

Denis Smith pictured with his sons Tom and PaulDENIS SMITH stood near a sailing lake yester day and chartered his own voyage through 1,000 games as a football manager.

Wrexham boss Smith was at the Pantyrochain hotel as chief guest at a dinner in his honour en reaching the soccer milestone. He is only one of 10 post-war managers to reach the 1,000 mark in the Football League. The others are Sir Matt Busby, Alec Stock, Brian Clough, Graham Taylor, Dave Bassett, Alan Buckley, Dario Gradi, Lenny Lawrence and Jim Smith.

Smith received a cut glass memento of his achievement from John Barnwell, chief executive at the League Managers' Association. Barnwell said: "Our statistician says very few, post-war, people in the Football League have managed 1,000 matches. We think Denis may possibly be the last modern manager TO reach 1,000 matches, basically because of the nature of the job."

Smith, watched by his sons Paul and Tom, said: "I ain delighted to receive this and it will take pride of place in my new house."

Paul, 34, a purchasing manager for an Oxford-based computer company, said: "Yes, obviously we're very proud of him over the years he has been seen us a football manager by thousands of people, but first and foremost to us, he's our dad and that makes him very special."

Tom, 25, a recruitment manager for an Insurance company, said: "You grew up and, to us, dad's always keen in football. It's been his life and this is obviously a milestone for him lo reach and we're very proud of him for achieving that."

Tom plays for North Leigh In the Hellenic premier league In Oxford. What position? "Centre-half, of course!” he said.