As own goals go, it may turn out to be one of the most costly in Chelsea’s history. In August last year, a longstanding friendship and business relationship between Peter Kenyon, the chief executive at Stamford Bridge, and Paul Smith, the group business affairs director, broke down. Smith, the man who had filled in for Kenyon when the latter was on “gardening leave” from Manchester United in 2003, was the victim of a bout of “management structuring” and was the only employee to leave the club.

It was a somewhat bitter parting that has already been the subject of an industrial tribunal. The roots of the conflict began four months earlier and had little to do with either man but a £1 million breach-of-contract case could still end up in the High Court next year. However, in the 15 months since Smith left Stamford Bridge, his reputation has blossomed, and not only in football circles.

Smith was back in the spotlight in September when, as the global economy went into meltdown, the Lawn Tennis Association unveiled a £28 million sponsorship deal with AEGON, a financial services company. The 56-year-old was instrumental in putting together the deal that brought a new sponsor for the Queen’s tournament.

If the coup put Smith back in the public eye, his abilities had already been noticed in the Middle East, where Arab consortiums are queuing up to buy their way into the Barclays Premier League. With Liverpool, Everton, Newcastle United and West Ham United on the trading block, a number of vacancies for chief executives could soon become available and Smith is on more than one club’s wish-list.

“He’s very able, well connected and handles business very well,” a senior football figure said yesterday. “He’s brilliant with media and has fantastic contacts in the Far East. Very good chief executive material.”

Smith had a brief stint in that role at Chelsea filling in for Kenyon. Before that, he had spent two decades in sports marketing, playing an important part in opening up the Far Eastern markets to European football during his spell as chief operating officer of Sportal, the internet company that produced the websites for some of the biggest clubs in Spain and Italy.

Despite a tentative approach from the FA to become involved in England’s 2018 World Cup bid, Smith is keen to get back into club football. “There are clubs that have enormous potential, especially in the global market,” he said.

One of his roles at Stamford Bridge was to improve the club’s international profile. It was a bold programme and moved Kenyon to claim that Chelsea’s aim was to be the biggest club in the world by 2014. It was perhaps the high watermark of a number of collaborations between the pair that stretched back more than a decade.

Although keen to get what he believes he was promised – he contends that the hierarchy at Stamford Bridge reneged on promises over pay and bonuses – Smith has little bitterness towards Chelsea. Instead, he looks forward to the day he can welcome Kenyon into a boardroom while at the helm of a rival club. “The tribunal was cathartic,” he said. “You move on.

“It would be great to be involved with a club that could compete with Chelsea on a domestic and international level. Once you have experienced football on the highest stage, you want more.”

The opportunity may come soon. Informed insiders are tipping Smith to be installed at a high-profile club by the end of the season. If this happens, the reunion with Chelsea will be an interesting one.