Simon Owen Haworth (born 30 March 1977) is a Welsh former

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 ...

who played as a striker. He won five caps for the

Wales national football team ) , Association = Football Association of Wales (FAW) , Confederation = UEFA (Europe) , Coach = Rob Page , Captain = Gareth Bale , Most caps = Gareth Bale (111) , Top scorer = Gareth ...

during his career. He was since moved into football club management.

Club career

Born in

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

, Haworth began his career at Cardiff City on a Youth Training Scheme and broke into the first team due to an injury crisis during the 1995–1996 season. He fully established himself the following year which led to him nearly signing for

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the 20 ...

only for the move to break down at the last minute. But after he earned his first cap for

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

he moved to

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. The club is nicknamed t ...

for £500,000, a record fee received for a player by Cardiff at the time, but struggled to find form for the club, scoring just once against Everton in the

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

, and subsequently moved to

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, ...

for £750,000, a record signing for the club at the time. He managed to show his ability for Wigan and helped them to win the

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Le ...

in the 1998–99 season. He was also the first Wigan player to score at their new

JJB Stadium The DW Stadium is a stadium in Robin Park, in Wigan, within the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The ground is owned and managed by Wigan Football Company Limited, which is 85% owned by Wigan Athletic and 15% owned ...

, doing so in a game against Scunthorpe United. Eventually leaving the club in February 2002 he joined

Tranmere Rovers Tranmere Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they ado ...

, linking up with former strike partner Stuart Barlow again. During the 2003–04 season he suffered a double fracture in his right leg which ruled him out for around eight months. He attempted a comeback in November 2004 but was in considerable pain due to his leg not being fully healed. He decided to call an end to his football career to concentrate on his business ventures.

International career

Haworth made his debut for

on 27 May 1997 coming on as a substitute for goalscorer John Hartson in a 1–0 victory over

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. He went on to earn four more caps for Wales, against

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

, and

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

. He was also called up for a friendly against

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

in February 2002, however he stayed on the bench. Haworth was also called up to the Wales squad in May 2003 to play

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

but withdrew through injury.

Management career

On 12 June 2014,

Shrewsbury Town Shrewsbury Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of English football. The club plays its home games at the New Meadow, having mo ...

confirmed Haworth had joined the club's coaching staff.

Clitheroe

On 29 April 2016, he was appointed as the manager of

Clitheroe Clitheroe () is a town and civil parish in the Borough of Ribble Valley, Lancashire, England; it is located north-west of Manchester. It is near the Forest of Bowland and is often used as a base for tourists visiting the area. In 2018, the Cl ...

Stalybridge Celtic

In May 2018 he moved to Stalybridge Celtic staying at the club until May 2022.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Haworth, Simon 1977 births Living people Association football forwards Footballers from Cardiff Welsh footballers Wales youth international footballers Wales under-21 international footballers Wales B international footballers Wales international footballers Cardiff City F.C. players Coventry City F.C. players Wigan Athletic F.C. players Tranmere Rovers F.C. players Premier League players English Football League players Stalybridge Celtic F.C. managers Clitheroe F.C. managers Welsh football managers Shrewsbury Town F.C. non-playing staff