An English-born technical director has been linked with the vacant managerial role at Kaizer Chiefs following Molefi Ntseki's sacking, but who is he and what has he done with his long career in football until now? Here is what you should know about Paul Smalley.
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Earlier this week, the struggling giants of the South African game decided to pull the plug on Ntseki's short reign as head coach, immediately begging the question: Who is going to replace him? Well, for now, Cavin Johnson will oversee matters until the club finds a suitable permanent replacement, with sources close to Soccer Laduma suggesting Smalley, the current technical director of the Maldives national team, will offer himself to the Glamour Boys.
Not much is known about the 56-year-old, but he has been involved in the sport for some time, having previously worked for then-Premier League club Portsmouth as their director of youth department between 2008 and 2011, and for England as a scout, youth coach and chief instructor between 1996 and 2002. Smalley, who, according to Transfermarkt, holds a UEFA A licence and has only ever taken charge of a senior club side once in his career after he served as Waitakere United's manager for a just longer than a year between 2014 and 2015. The New Zealand-based club no longer exists.
Smalley was New Zealand's technical director from 2002 to 2006, before returning to England as a development coach in 2007, joining semi-professional side Ballarat FC in 2011 as a technical director and professional club Northern Fury in Australia in 2013 as an advisor initially, before becoming a youth coach and their director of football. Then it was Waitakere United, whom he managed for a short period and then represented as a technical director before he became the Australian national team's chief instructor in 2015, a role he fulfilled until he served as the Bangladesh national side's technical director for three years between 2016 and 2019.
In 2019, meanwhile, Smalley became Brunei's director of youth development, and eventually represented the Asian country as a chief instructor, U23 manager and senior manager. He returned to Bangladesh as their technical director in 2020, before serving as their national team's U20 head coach. Currently, Smalley is technical director of Maldives.
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As a player, the Chiefs-linked football man represented Notts County, Scunthorpe United, Blackpool, Leeds United, Doncaster Rovers, Sutton Town and Hucknall Town.
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