Simon Piers Ireland (born 23 November 1971, in

Barnstaple Barnstaple ( or ) is a river-port town in North Devon, England, at the River Taw's lowest crossing point before the Bristol Channel. From the 14th century, it was licensed to export wool and won great wealth. Later it imported Irish wool, bu ...

) is a 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 ...

and coach. He played as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The team have played home games at the Kirklees Stadium since moving from Leeds Road in 1994. The ...

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. T ...

Doncaster Rovers Doncaster Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The team compete in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club play their home games at ...

and

Boreham Wood Borehamwood (, historically also Boreham Wood) is a town in southern Hertfordshire, England, from Charing Cross. Borehamwood has a population of 31,074, and is within the London commuter belt. The town's film and TV studios are commonly known ...

Coaching career

In January 2008, Ireland was appointed as assistant director, with responsibility for the U9-U12 age groups at

. From 2010 to 2013, he worked as the U18 assistant academy manager.Profile at Footballdatabase
footballdatabase.eu In August 2013, he then became the U21 manager of

Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club (), commonly referred to simply as Brighton, is an English professional football club based in the city of Brighton and Hove. They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league ...

. After 18 months, Ireland left to join

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus Ro ...

as the academy's new head of coaching and coach education on 14 February 2015. After almost three years, he left on 18 January and a few days later, he joined the staff of

Aitor Karanka Aitor Karanka de la Hoz (Basque and ; born 18 September 1973) is a Spanish football manager and former player who was most recently the head coach of Segunda División club Granada. Save for a brief spell in the United States at age 32, Karanka ...

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

as a first team coach. Ireland faced his first game as manager the following day against

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

which he lost 0–2. On 15 January 2019,

Martin O'Neill Martin Hugh Michael O'Neill, (born 1 March 1952) is a Northern Irish professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. Starting his career in Northern Ireland, O'Neill moved to England where he spent most of his playi ...

was appointed as the new manager and Ireland therefore continued as a member of the staff. On 6 August 2021, Ireland joined

Darren Moore Darren Mark Moore (born 22 April 1974) is a professional football manager and former player who played as a centre-back. He is the current manager of Sheffield Wednesday. Born in England, he earned two international caps for Jamaica. Moore is a ...

as a first-team coach at

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot of ...

. He left Sheffield Wednesday on 19 June 2023, with manager Darren Moore and the rest of his backroom staff. On 21 September 2023, he re-united with Moore once again as part of the new coaching staff at Championship side

, re-joining the Terriers after a thirty-year absence, having previously spent three years at the club as a player in the early 1990s. On 7 March 2024, he was appointed the first team coach at

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the team are competing in League One, the third tier of English football. They have played at Home Park, ...

.https://www.pafc.co.uk/news/simon-ireland-joins-first-team-coach, Simon Ireland joins as First Team Coach, Plymouth Argyle FC, 7 March 2024

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ireland, Simon 1971 births Living people Footballers from Barnstaple English men's footballers Premier League players English Football League players Men's association football midfielders Huddersfield Town A.F.C. players Wrexham A.F.C. players Blackburn Rovers F.C. players Mansfield Town F.C. players Doncaster Rovers F.C. players Boreham Wood F.C. players Blackburn Rovers F.C. non-playing staff Queens Park Rangers F.C. non-playing staff Sheffield Wednesday F.C. non-playing staff Huddersfield Town A.F.C. non-playing staff Plymouth Argyle F.C. non-playing staff Nottingham Forest F.C. managers English football managers