NORM Smith won many accolades for his time as player and coach of the Melbourne Football Club.

But Smith's greatest legacy, according to new Melbourne president Jim Stynes, was that for much of his tenure as coach, Smith's Demons were so successful that they were roundly despised by all outside the club.

For the new president, it is that single achievement that spoke most of Smith's success, and is the part of his legacy that Stynes hopes to recapture with his own efforts at rebuilding the club.

"Wouldn't that be great if we could have that today?" Stynes said yesterday at the launch of Smith's biography, The Red Fox.

Involved in 10 premiership teams, Smith was also the Demons' best and fairest in 1938 and topped the VFL's goalkicking in 1941 with 89.

Six years after his death in 1973 aged 57, Smith's name was given to the medal awarded to the player adjudged best afield in the grand final. He was also accorded legend status in the AFL Hall of Fame, and in 1996 was named the AFL's coach of the century.

Melbourne and other league greats gathered at the MCG yesterday to mark the launch of the biography and reminisce about the contribution made by the man known as the Demon Dictator, whose fierce devotion to team play and straight-talking persona guided the Demons through their most successful era, and delivered them their last premiership in 1964.

The book was written by Ben Collins from more than 100 interviews.