Simon Paul Ramsden (born 17 December 1981) 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 ...

who played as a defender. He played for Sunderland,

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nottingham, England. The team participate in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Founded on the 25 November 1862, it is the ...

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that in the 2022–23 season will compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system, following the victory in t ...

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough ...

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system and are currently managed by Mark Hughes. ...

, Motherwell, Gateshead and Whitby Town.

Career

Sunderland

Born in Bishop Auckland, Ramsden started his career with

Newton Aycliffe Newton Aycliffe is a town in County Durham, England. Founded in 1947 under the New Towns Act of 1946, the town sits about five miles to the north of Darlington and ten miles to the south of Durham. It is the oldest new town in the north of Eng ...

Youth Centre A.F.C., and was eventually scouted by Sunderland and after graduating from the club's youth academy he was promoted to the first team squad under

Peter Reid Peter Reid (born 20 June 1956) is an English football manager, pundit and former player. A defensive midfielder in his playing days, Reid enjoyed a long and successful career. He built his reputation as one of England's brightest midfield tale ...

during the 2001–02 season. He made his professional debut however for

where he would spend the entire 2002–03 season on loan, with his debut coming on 24 August 2002, in the club's 2–0 league defeat against

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, ...

. In his absence Sunderland had dismissed Reid and his replacement

Howard Wilkinson Howard Wilkinson (born 13 November 1943) is an English former footballer and manager. Despite having a low-profile playing career, Wilkinson embarked on a successful managerial career. He won the First Division championship in 1992 with Leeds ...

and were now under the stewardship of

Mick McCarthy Michael Joseph McCarthy (born 7 February 1959) is a professional football manager, pundit, and former player. He was last in charge of EFL Championship club Cardiff City. McCarthy began his playing career at Barnsley in 1977, and he later had ...

. On 24 January 2004 Ramsden came on as an 89th-minute substitute for

Darren Williams Darren Williams (born 28 April 1977 in Middlesbrough) is an English football player and manager. Williams began his career at York City, but made his name at Sunderland, for whom he signed in 1996. He then moved to Cardiff City in 2004, the ...

in the club's

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 ...

victory over

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn profession ...

, this was his first and only first team appearance for Sunderland. Following the conclusion of the 2003–04 season, Ramsden was released by Sunderland.

Grimsby Town

Ramsden signed with

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

in July 2004. Initially signed as cover for

Tony Crane Anthony Steven Crane (born 8 September 1982) is an English former professional footballer who played as a defender, midfielder and makeshift centre forward from 1999 to 2009. He notably played as a professional for Sheffield Wednesday and ...

and

Justin Whittle Justin Philip Whittle (born 18 March 1971) is an English former professional footballer who played as a defender from 1994 until 2011. As a player, he notably captained Humber derby clubs Hull City and Grimsby Town. He also appeared for Celt ...

, Ramsden soon became a first team regular in

Russell Slade Russell Mark Slade (born 10 October 1960) is an English professional football manager, who was most recently managerial consultant of League Two club Stevenage. Having had an extended career at reserve team level, Slade entered professional ...

's side due to injuries to Crane and regular right back John McDermott. He made his Town debut on the opening day of the 2004–05 season when the club were defeated by Darlington 1–0. Ramsden soon lost his regular centre half place when

Terrell Forbes Terrell Dishan Forbes (born 17 August 1981) is an English former professional footballer who played as a defender. He was active between 1999 and 2018 and was a member of the West Ham United 1999 FA Youth Cup winning team and gained promotio ...

was signed from

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 ...

. At the end of his first season Ramsden played 26 times in both league and cup for Grimsby. During the 2005–06 season several new signings meant Ramsden very rarely featured and he was left the club in January 2006.

Rochdale

Ramsden joined

from Grimsby Town in January 2006. On 1 January 2007, he scored twice for Rochdale on his return to his former club Grimsby in a 4–0 win.

Bradford City

In June 2009, Ramsden became Bradford City's first signing of the summer. He started off well for the Bantams in his first season making 32 appearances and scoring 2 goals. He was named as the club captain at the start of the 2010–11 campaign, but featured in only 2 league games due to injuries. In the 2011–12 season he regained fitness and took part in a behind closed doors friendly in November against

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 ...

, marking his return to action. Ramsden made his full return to the first team on 8 November 2011 in a

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 ...

game against

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 ...

side

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

. The game went to penalties and Ramsden scored his penalty as Bradford went on to win the shootout. He continued to feature for Bradford making 5 league appearances before breaking his toe in a 3–1 win over Shrewsbury. It was announced that he would be sidelined for 3–6 weeks.

Motherwell

Ramsden trained with Scottish Premier League team Motherwell on trial after turning down a contract offer from Bradford. He was then awarded a one-year contract by the club after his trial was successful. On 17 May 2013, after a successful first season in Scotland, Ramsden signed a new two-year contract with the club. On 2 June 2015, Motherwell announced that Ramsden was amongst the players leaving the club, with his contract having expired.

Gateshead

On 10 July 2015, Ramsden signed for Gateshead, agreeing a one-year contract. He made 25 appearances, scoring 1 goal, before picking up an injury in December. He made no further appearances before being released at the end of the season.

Whitby Town

On 19 September he came out of retirement to join Whitby Town.

Personal life

Ramsden attended Robertswood County Combined Primary School in Chalfont St Peter, Buckinghamshire. Ramsden now works as a car salesman in Sunderland. Ramsden grew up supporting Sunderland. Ramsden's father works as a social worker, which he considered as his biggest influence of his career and he's a father.

Career statistics

References

External links

Simon Ramsden profile
at Motherwell FC official website * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ramsden, Simon 1981 births Living people Footballers from Bishop Auckland Footballers from County Durham Men's association football defenders English men's footballers Sunderland A.F.C. players Notts County F.C. players Grimsby Town F.C. players Rochdale A.F.C. players Bradford City A.F.C. players Motherwell F.C. players Gateshead F.C. players English Football League players Scottish Premier League players Scottish Professional Football League players