Terry Smith

In Smith's four months in charge of team affairs, Chester had some wins against Brighton & Hove Albion, Shrewsbury Town and others, but lost 5–1 and 4–1 to Leyton Orient and Carlisle United respectively, and required a replay to overcome non-league minnows Whyteleafe in the FA Cup. However, they did find success in the Worthington Cup, beating First Division Port Vale 6–5 on aggregate. During the tie, they won 2–1 at the Deva Stadium in a game which saw both Marcus Bent and Martyn Lancaster sent off, and then drew 4–4 in the return leg at Vale Park. In the second round, they lost to Premiership club Aston Villa in both legs, although they were unlucky in the first leg losing 1–0, after Villa scored a penalty kick with only six minutes left, following a handball in the box. They also had success in the FA Cup, as they made it to the third round, and only lost to Manchester City in the final minutes, after the score was tied at 1–1 with eleven minutes left. He is the first American to ever own a British team, and until the arrival of David Wagner at Huddersfield Town, the only American to ever be a manager of a club in the English League, and the only American to ever coach in the FA Cup. His methods included saying aloud the Lord's Prayer during the pre-match team talk, preparing written strategic game plans for each individual match, and appointing captains for the defence, midfield and attack.

Smith is the only coach in European history to have won both of these European Championships. He won more than 100 games in total as a head coach, while losing only 15. Due to his coaching success, Smith was selected as the National Coach of the Year three straight times, and as the European Coach of the Year twice. In addition, due to his playing and coaching success, Smith was selected to the Great Britain American Football Hall of Fame in 2004, and to the U.S. Minor Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1995.

Chester made a dreadful start to the 2001–02 season, winning only one of their first twelve matches. Smith finally sold his interest in the club to Stephen Vaughan and left at the start of October 2001, with the club completely out of debt other than what it owed him. Smith returned to his homeland, to work as a teacher. He also coached American football coach and baseball at a high school in North Carolina, and then later, as a Pro American football head coach. In 2003, a British court ordered Chester City to repay £300,000 in unpaid loans to Smith and his family. However, Smith still wanted to help the club, and so he accepted a settlement of far less than half of that amount.

In January 2000, with Chester out of debt and all the club debts paid off, and with Chester only one point from safety in the Division, Ian Atkins was appointed in a dual role as director of football and manager, in a bid to avoid relegation. Despite increasing their player wage bill by a very large amount, going into the final game of the season in May, Chester were 23rd, and faced a three-way battle with Shrewsbury Town and Carlisle United to avoid the drop to the Conference. With fifteen minutes left in the seasons, Chester was still above both Shrewsbury and Carlisle, but due to Shrewsbury's 2–1 win at Exeter City, Carlisle's 1–0 loss to Brighton, and Chester's 1–0 home defeat by Peterborough United through a very late goal, Chester were relegated from the league on the final day, by goal difference.

Atkins left, and fan favourite Graham Barrow returned as manager. Barrow completely rebuilt the team, and in the 2000–01 season, his side managed a respectable ninth place, reached the third round of the FA Cup for the second successive season (in a controversial loss to Blackburn Rovers) and won the Conference League Cup, the first silverware for the club in over 70 years. They were also mentioned as possible promotion contenders for the next season. In spite of this success, Smith appointed Gordon Hill, an ex-Manchester United and ex-England player who was a personal friend, to become the new manager.

After starting his playing career as a defensive back for American football franchise New England Patriots, Smith moved abroad to the United Kingdom, where he achieved international success as the player-head coach of the Manchester Spartans and as the head coach of the Great Britain national American football team. He later spent ten years as owner and general manager of professional American football teams, and two years as owner and general manager of English association football club Chester City from 1999 to 2001, including a spell as manager during part of his ownership.

Smith went on to become the owner of several professional sports teams, including the European Champion Spartans. In addition, he became the first American owner, chairman, and chief executive in the history of professional English League and European football. Americans have since gone on to own several of the European professional football teams, including English teams Manchester United and Liverpool, but Smith initiated American ownership by becoming the first American to have a vision of the opportunity and to purchase a team. In July 1999, he bought financially struggling English League club Chester City, a club that was financially insolvent and being run by an administrator. He declared his belief that the club could reach Division One (now the EFL Championship) within three years. The club was in administration when he took over, and close to folding with more than £1 million in debt, and almost all the veteran players already sold to other clubs in order to pay club bills to keep the club from going out of business. He was credited with rescuing Chester from the brink of bankruptcy by supporters at the time, and announced an intention to appoint three supporters to the club board of directors, which he did.

Smith attended Cornell University for two years, where he played football at wide receiver and free safety and baseball at shortstop and second base. He then transferred to Furman University, where he played football, baseball, and ran track, becoming the only Furman athlete for the past 50 years to play and letter in three sports. In football, he started at free safety for two years on two Southern Conference Championship Furman teams, leading all defensive backs with more than 150 tackles in two seasons and being selected to the Academic All-Southern Conference and All-Region teams. In baseball, he started for two seasons in centerfield, hitting .414 in 1982, the 5th highest single season batting average in Furman history, and he was selected first-team All-Southern Conference and MVP. He finished his career with a .363 career batting average, which is still the second-highest career batting average in Furman history, and the highest career Furman average for the past sixty years. He also stole 29 bases out of 31 attempts, giving him the highest career success rate for steals in Furman history for any player who has attempted more than 10 attempts. In track, he ran the 100 meter, 200 meter, and 400 meter, and he also ran the 4x100, 4x200, and 4x400 relays.

Smith started his professional American football career in 1982. He was signed as a free agent by the New England Patriots. However, he injured his knee in a game against the Philadelphia Eagles, an injury that required major reconstructive surgery, and was placed on the injured reserve list. He stayed with the Patriots for two years before eventually having to retire because his injured knee would not pass the team physical. He then went on to sign for the Arizona Wranglers in the USFL, and in professional baseball was invited to spring training with the Cincinnati Reds and signed with the Miami Marlins.

Terry Michael Smith (born May 1959) is an American sportsman, known for his playing and coaching career in American football and baseball, and his ownership of professional sports teams.