Simon Clark (born 12 March 1967) is an English former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

. He is currently the Lead Coach of the Under-18's AFC Wimbldeon Academy team. As a player, he turned out for Lincoln City,

Boston Town Boston Town Football Club is a football club based in Boston, Lincolnshire, England. It is currently a member of the and plays at Tattershall Road. History The club was established as Boston Football Club in 1963 by former officials of Bosto ...

, Holbeach United,

King's Lynn King's Lynn, known until 1537 as Bishop's Lynn and colloquially as Lynn, is a port and market town in the borough of King's Lynn and West Norfolk in the county of Norfolk, England. It is located north of London, north-east of Peterborough, no ...

Hendon Hendon is an urban area in the Borough of Barnet, North-West London northwest of Charing Cross. Hendon was an ancient manor and parish in the county of Middlesex and a former borough, the Municipal Borough of Hendon; it has been part of Great ...

Stevenage Borough Stevenage Football Club (known as Stevenage Borough Football Club until 2010) is a professional association football club based in the town of Stevenage, Hertfordshire, England. The team competes in EFL League Two, League Two, the fourth tier o ...

Peterborough United Peterborough United Football Club is an English professional football club based in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Peterborough have a long-standing ...

Leyton Orient Leyton Orient Football Club is a professional football club based in Leyton, East London, England, who compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They are the second oldest football club in London to play at a professio ...

Colchester United Colchester United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Colchester, Essex, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1937, the club spent its earl ...

and Maldon Town. He has also spent time as manager of

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

an side

Woodlands Wellington Woodlands Wellington Football Club is an inactive professional association football, football club which played in the S.League, the top division of football in Singapore. They are based in Woodlands, Singapore, Woodlands at the 4,300 seater Woo ...

where he was also a player and

Leyton Leyton () is a town in east London, England, within the London Borough of Waltham Forest. It borders Walthamstow to the north, Leytonstone to the east, and Stratford to the south, with Clapton, Hackney Wick and Homerton, across the River L ...

. In 2009, he briefly took over as caretaker manager of

Football League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

side Lincoln City.

Career

Playing career

Clark started his career as a junior with Lincoln City followed by spells in local non league football with

, Holbeach United and

. He left

with

Paul Fairclough Paul Fairclough (born 31 January 1950) is an English football manager and former player who is the manager of the England C team. As a player, he made five appearances for Cheshunt in the 1981–82 season. Managerial career Stevenage In ...

signing him for

, Clark making his debut in the 2-0

Isthmian League The Isthmian League () is a regional men's football league covering Greater London, East and South East England, featuring mostly semi-professional clubs. Founded in 1905 by amateur clubs in the London area, the league now consists of 82 tea ...

victory at

Dulwich Hamlet Dulwich Hamlet Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in East Dulwich in south-east London, England. They are currently members of and play at Champion Hill. History The club was formed in 1893, by Lorraine 'Pa' Wilson. T ...

on 15 January 1994. At the age of 27 Clark returned to professional football with a move to

. After three years and 136 appearances at the club he moved on to Leyton Orient. At Orient he made 118 appearances over a three-year period. One of his most impressive performances was a hat trick against Doncaster Rover during his first season at the Os in 1997. He went on to be a vital part of the Orient defence and along with Dean Smith and Stuart Hicks. Clark spent the next two seasons (64 appearances) at

. He captained the side and coached the club's under 17 team.

Management & coaching career

After leaving Colchester he spent three years in

as player coach and then player manager for Woodlands Wellington. While in Singapore Clark obtained the Asian Federation A licence as a coach, following up by obtaining the English FA, UEFA A qualification on his return to Europe. Simon returned to the UK in 2005 and joined

as a player before taking on a player coach role at Maldon Town. On 1 September 2005 Clark was appointed player-manager at

Isthmian League Premier Division The Isthmian League () is a regional men's football league covering Greater London, East and South East England, featuring mostly semi-professional clubs. Founded in 1905 by amateur clubs in the London area, the league now consists of 82 teams ...

club

. Clark joined the Lincoln City in the Centre of Excellence in April 2007 where he spent a year coaching before being appointed Centre of Excellence 9s-16s co-ordinator at

. Whilst at the club he went on to coach the Youth team and reserve team as well as being the club's chief scout. In January 2008, Clark rejoined Lincoln City again as a youth team coach. He later became chief scout and first team coach for the club. On 2 September 2009, Lincoln City's Board of Directors agreed to part company with Manager

Peter Jackson Sir Peter Robert Jackson (born 31 October 1961) is a New Zealand film director, screenwriter and producer. He is best known as the director, writer and producer of the ''Lord of the Rings'' trilogy (2001–2003) and the ''Hobbit'' trilogy ( ...

and Assistant Manager

Iffy Onuora Ifem "Iffy" Onuora (born 28 July 1967) is a Scottish former professional footballer, manager, and coach for the England U21 national team. He is also the current equalities coach for the Professional Footballers Association. As a player, he wa ...

with immediate effect with Clark being placed in temporary charge of the club. His first game in charge saw a 3–0 home victory over

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town. In the 19th century, Darlington underwen ...

on 5 September 2009 but was followed by three defeats against league leaders Bournemouth, Notts County and Shrewsbury Town.

Chris Sutton Christopher Roy Sutton (born 10 March 1973) is an English former professional football player and manager. He later became a pundit and commentator for BT Sport, regularly working on their coverage of Scottish football. He is now also a pundit ...

replaced him as manager on 28 September 2009. Clark took the 3–0 home defeat to

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nottingham, England. The team participate in the National League (division), National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Founded on the 2 ...

on the following day before leaving the club by mutual consent. Clark went on to working as a scout and match analyst for his former

boss

Darren Ferguson Darren Ferguson (born 9 February 1972) is a Scottish professional football manager and former player, who was most recently the manager of Championship club Peterborough United. In between his stints with Peterborough, he also managed Preston N ...

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional football club in Preston, Lancashire, England, who currently play in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league syste ...

. In May 2010 he was appointed manager of Stamford. Clark was appointed manager of King's Lynn Town in May 2018. Clark was sacked in September 2018 due to 1 win in 6. On 6 March 2019, Clark was appointed as Lead Youth Development Phase coach for

Northampton Town Northampton Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Northampton, England. The team plays in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1897, the club competed in the Midland ...

. In this position, he was going to oversee the development of players in the Northampton Town Academy from the age of 13 to 16.

Honours

Club

;

Football League Division Three The Football League Third Division was the third tier of the English football league system in 1920–21 and again from 1958 until 1992. When the FA Premier League was formed, the division become the fourth tier level. In 2004, following the ...

Playoff Runner-up (1): 1998–99

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Clark, Simon 1967 births Living people People from Boston, Lincolnshire English footballers Association football defenders Lincoln City F.C. players Boston Town F.C. players Holbeach United F.C. players King's Lynn F.C. players Hendon F.C. players Stevenage F.C. players Peterborough United F.C. players Leyton Orient F.C. players Colchester United F.C. players Woodlands Wellington FC players Maldon & Tiptree F.C. players Leyton F.C. players Stamford A.F.C. players English Football League players English football managers Woodlands Wellington FC head coaches Leyton F.C. managers Lincoln City F.C. managers Stamford A.F.C. managers Worksop Town F.C. managers Singapore Premier League head coaches King's Lynn Town F.C. managers Peterborough United F.C. non-playing staff Preston North End F.C. non-playing staff Northampton Town F.C. non-playing staff Watford F.C. non-playing staff Association football coaches