Simon Spender (born 15 November 1985) is a Welsh football coach and 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 ...

who is currently an academy coach at

The New Saints The New Saints of Oswestry Town & Llansantffraid Football Club, also known as The New Saints ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed y Seintiau Newydd) or TNS, are a professional football club that currently play in the Cymru Premier. They are the most successfu ...

Career

Born in

Mold, Flintshire Mold ( cy, Yr Wyddgrug) is a town and community in Flintshire, Wales, on the River Alyn. It is the county town and administrative seat of Flintshire County Council, as it was of Clwyd from 1974 to 1996. According to the 2011 UK Census, it had ...

, Spender came up through the

youth system In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team in the future if ...

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 ...

and made his debut in a 0–0 draw with

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, ...

in March 2004. He made six appearances in the 2003–04 season, impressing in a 2–1 win over

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire, England, that competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1885, it is nicknam ...

. He made 19 appearances in the 2004–05 season and was rewarded with his first professional contract in May 2005. Spender made a further 21 appearances in the 2005–06 season and was given a new contract in summer of 2006. He established himself as the first-choice right-back and by the end of the 2007–08 season had made over 100 appearances for Wrexham. Spender missed three months of the 2008–09 season with a broken elbow and in March 2009, joined

Barrow Barrow may refer to: Places England * Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria ** Borough of Barrow-in-Furness, local authority encompassing the wider area ** Barrow and Furness (UK Parliament constituency) * Barrow, Cheshire * Barrow, Gloucestershire * Barro ...

loan In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that d ...

for the remainder of the season, helping them to avoid relegation. He was not offered a contract by Wrexham at the end of the season, and signed a permanent two-year contract with Barrow. Spender spent two seasons with Barrow. In his first year at the club he won the

FA Trophy The Football Association Challenge Trophy, commonly known as the FA Trophy, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after the English Football Association and competed for primarily by semi-professional teams. The compet ...

and made the most appearances for the club of any player that season. The following year Spender remained a regular and helped Barrow avoid relegation yet again. In May 2011 he was offered a new contract by Barrow, but chose to take up the option of professional football at

in the

Welsh Premier League The Cymru Premier, known as the JD Cymru Premier for sponsorship reasons, is the national football league of Wales. It has both professional and semi-professional status clubs and is at the top of the Welsh football league system. Prior to 20 ...

. His competitive debut for the club took place on 30 June 2011 against

Cliftonville Cliftonville is a coastal area of the town of Margate, situated to the east of the main town, in the Thanet district of Kent, South East England, United Kingdom. It also contains the area known as Palm Bay. The original Palm Bay estate was ...

in a

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

first qualifying round match. Spender retired in June 2021 and moved into a coaching role at

Honours

;The New Saints *

: 2011–12,

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

, 2013–14, 2014–15, 2015–16, 2016–17 *

Welsh Cup The FAW Welsh Cup ( cy, Cwpan Cymdeithas Pêl-droed Cymru), currently known as the JD Welsh Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a knock-out football competition contested annually by teams in the Welsh football league system. It is considered the most ...

: 2011–12, 2013–14, 2014–15, 2015–16 *

Welsh League Cup The Cymru Premier League Cup, currently known as the Nathaniel MG Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a cup competition in Welsh football organised by the Cymru Premier. The competition was established in 1992 and is considered to be the second-mos ...

: 2014–15, 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017–18 Barrow * FA Trophy: 2009-10 Individual *

Team of the Year: 2014–15, 2015–16, 2016–17

References

External links

*
Simon Spender Profile
a
BarrowAFC.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spender, Simon 1985 births Living people Sportspeople from Mold, Flintshire Footballers from Wrexham Welsh footballers Wales under-21 international footballers Association football defenders Wrexham A.F.C. players Barrow A.F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players The New Saints F.C. players The New Saints F.C. non-playing staff