Former Aston Villa manager Dean Smith has been appointed the new head coach of Major League Soccer club Charlotte FC, the team said on Tuesday.
The 52-year-old Englishman, who also managed Norwich and most recently had a short spell with Leicester, replaces Italian Christian Lattanzio who was fired in November after the team lost in the wildcard round of the MLS playoffs.
“I’m honored to be appointed as the next head coach of Charlotte FC and cannot wait to start preparations for the 2024 season,” Smith said in a club release.
“Throughout the interview process, it was clear that this is an ambitious club with the right ingredients for success and I’m delighted to begin a new chapter in Charlotte. This is a unique opportunity to be part of a project with so much potential to take to new heights in Major League Soccer,” he added.
Charlotte have been in MLS for two seasons and have finished ninth in the Eastern Conference in both their regular season campaigns.
While Smith has never coached outside of England, he has been a frequent visitor to the Carolinas.
Smith’s son Jamie, who studied in South Carolina, plays in the third tier USL League One for North Carolina club Ashville City and the family have a vacation home in Myrtle Beach.
“Dean is a well-respected manager with over a decade of professional coaching, including at the highest level of the game in the Premier League, and we’re delighted to welcome him to Charlotte FC,” said the club’s Sporting Director Zoran Krneta.
“He has proven track record of sporting success across multiple levels of professional football and his man management style will be welcomed by our locker room,” he added.
As a player Smith played mostly in the lower divisions with Midlands team Walsall and then London club Leyton Orient.
He made his name as a coach during a successful spell with Brentford before joining his boyhood team Aston Villa where he guided them to promotion from the Championship to the Premier League in 2019.
He was sacked by Villa in November 2021 and moved to Norwich City where he was unable to stop the club’s relegation from the top flight and was sacked in December 2022 after a disappointing start to their Championship campaign.
In April he was handed a short-term contract with Leicester, after Brendan Rodgers departed with the club next to bottom of the Premier League with eight games remaining.
Although the Foxes picked up nine points from those games, they were relegated.
