Simon Downer (born 19 October 1981) is a former English

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 played as a central defender or right back.

Club career

Downer's previous clubs include

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 ...

Aldershot Town Aldershot Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Aldershot, Hampshire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in the spring ...

(loan), Weymouth,

Grays Athletic Grays Athletic Football Club is a football club based in Grays, Essex, England. They are currently members of the and play at Parkside in nearby Aveley. History The club was established as Grays Juniors in 1890, before merging with former S ...

, Wivenhoe Town,

Rushden & Diamonds Rushden & Diamonds Football Club was an association football club based in Irthlingborough, Northamptonshire, England. Nicknamed "The Diamonds", the club played at Nene Park. The club's main rivals were county neighbours Kettering Town. The cl ...

and

Sutton United Sutton United Football Club is a professional football club in Sutton, South London, England, who play in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They play home games at Gander Green Lane in Sutton about 11 miles so ...

. Having played for the West Ham youth academy, Downer, who at the time was playing for Leyton Orient, went on trial with

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

. However,

Bobby Robson Sir Robert William Robson (18 February 1933 – 31 July 2009) was an English footballer and football manager. His career included periods playing for and later managing the England national team and being a UEFA Cup-winning manager at Ipswich ...

decided against signing the 19-year-old Downer, as he had a recurring problem with his left knee that needed an operation. This has hampered his career and at one point he retired from football. In between his 'retirement', Downer worked as a

bricklayer A bricklayer, which is related to but different from a mason, is a craftsman and tradesman who lays bricks to construct brickwork. The terms also refer to personnel who use blocks to construct blockwork walls and other forms of masonry. ...

. On 26 May 2009, Downer signed a one-year contract to remain at Rushden & Diamonds for the duration of the 2009–10 season. During the close-season after, he decided not to renew his contract offered and signed with

, with whom he won the

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 ...

at the end of the 2010–11 season. He scored his first Sutton league goal in a 4–3 home victory over Wealdstone on 27 November 2010. He won the Players' Player of the Year award for the 2011–12 season. Downer rejoined Sutton in 2015 for a third spell after spending the previous campaign at

Maidenhead Maidenhead is a market town in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in the county of Berkshire, England, on the southwestern bank of the River Thames. It had an estimated population of 70,374 and forms part of the border with southern Bu ...

. He made his 200th career appearance for Sutton in September 2015 and was part of the team which won the

National League South The National League South, formerly Conference South, is one of the second divisions of the National League in England, immediately below the top division National League. Along with National League North, it is in the second level of the N ...

title. On 4 December 2016, Downer appeared in The Non-League Paper's team of the day alongside teammate Roarie Deacon and manager Paul Doswell following an impressive performance in Sutton's 2–1 victory over

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

Cheltenham Town Cheltenham Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. From the 2021–22 season, the club compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league syst ...

in the 2nd round of the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

on 3 December. Downer appeared in every round of Sutton's historic run to the 5th round of the FA Cup for the first time ever, including a 3–1 victory over

League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

team and local rivals

AFC Wimbledon AFC Wimbledon is an English professional Association football, football club, based in London Borough of Merton, Merton, London, that plays in the EFL League Two, after being relegated from the EFL League One following the 2021–22 EFL Leagu ...

on 17 January 2017, a 1–0 victory over

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

team

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road S ...

on 29 January and a 0–2 defeat to

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

on 20 February. Downer appeared again in the NLP team of the day after a 3–2 away victory against

Torquay United Torquay United Football Club is a professional football club based in Torquay, Devon, England. The team currently compete in the , the fifth tier of English football. They have played their home matches at Plainmoor since 1921 and are nicknamed ...

on 25 February, when he was forced to step in as goalkeeper following an injury to

Ross Worner Ross Nicholas Worner (born 3 October 1989) is an English semi-professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper for National League South club Havant & Waterlooville F.C., Havant & Waterlo ...

. He made his 250th appearance for Sutton United in February 2017.

Honours

;Sutton United *

champions:

2010–11 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 ...

champions: 2015–16

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Downer, Simon 1981 births Living people Footballers from Romford English men's footballers Men's association football defenders Leyton Orient F.C. players Aldershot Town F.C. players Weymouth F.C. players Grays Athletic F.C. players Wivenhoe Town F.C. players Rushden & Diamonds F.C. players Sutton United F.C. players Maidenhead United F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players Isthmian League players