A determined midfielder, who got as far as Spurs Reserves before having to move on for first team football.
Neil was unlucky to be at Spurs at a time when there was a lot of choice in midfield and he went on to play at Gillingham, where he gained a reputation as a tough-tackling ball-winner in the middle of the park. After he left Priestfield, he joined Fulham and then signed for Reading. Smith gained promotion with all three of these clubs.
As his time in the League game was coming to an end, he dropped into non-league with Stevenage Borough and Woking, where he enjoyed a successful time with appearances against a number of league teams in the FA Cup. Neil was also caretaker manager with the Cards for a while.
His first move into management was to take charge of Woking as joint-caretaker manager with Graham Baker until the end of the 2006-07 season. His next step was as manager at Welling United in May 2007 and following his departure from the South London club in January 2008, he joined up with another ex-Spur - Tim O'Shea - at Grays Athletic in the club's new coaching set-up. However, Neil moved on to become player-assistant manager at Croydon Athletic under O'Shea in December 2008 when he left the Essex club, having spent a couple of months playing with Maidstone United. Once more he linked up with O'Shea, as a coach at Lewes, but relegation saw him join Bromley as a coach and then taking over the manager's role on the departure of Mark Goldberg in February 2016, Neil took full time charge in April 2016.