Patricia Smith was briefly secretary of Exeter City during the 1964/65 season. At the time she was the only female secretary in the Football League.

Following the parting of the ways between City and Keith Honey - later a long-serving secretary of Southampton - the club appointed 28-year-old Patricia Smith as his replacement at the end of October 1964. Originally from Isleworth in Middlesex, she had been living in Exeter for four years and had already been employed in another line of business as a company secretary.

Although not the first woman to take such a role with a Football League club - Margaret Mytton of Crystal Palace had been the first - Patricia Smith was still something of a rarity and her appointment drew the attention and curiosity of the national press with headlines such as "Mrs Smith Lands a Job in Soccer" (Daily Express) and "Woman Moves in at City HQ" (Express and Echo). Although she was suitably qualified for the job, the papers picked up on the fact that she had never been to a football match. When quizzed, City chairman Reg Rose stated that "We are very pleased to have her here...she is very experienced in all aspects of commercial work."

Her time in post was to be short-lived with the press reporting towards the end of January 1965 that she had been dismissed. One of several post-war Exeter City secretaries to be suddenly relieved of their duties, she was replaced in February 1965 by Dick Miller (son of a former player) who was to be killed in a car crash three years later.