Christopher Jerry "Kit" Symons (born 8 March 1971) is a professional

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

manager and former

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

international footballer. As a professional player, he had lengthy spells at Portsmouth, Manchester City and Fulham as well as earning 36

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

for the Wales national football team. He was most recently the assistant manager of

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 ...

but left the post on 4 January, 2023 in the wake of the team's elimination at the first round in the

2022 World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup is an international football tournament contested by the men's national teams of FIFA's member associations. The 22nd FIFA World Cup is taking place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022; it is the first Wo ...

Club playing career

Symons was born in

Basingstoke Basingstoke ( ) is the largest town in the county of Hampshire. It is situated in south-central England and lies across a valley at the source of the River Loddon, at the far western edge of The North Downs. It is located north-east of Southa ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

. He made more than 100 League appearances for each of his first three clubs –

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

and

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...

. He played for Fulham until December 2001, when he was signed by

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building ...

for £400,000, the club at which he finished his playing career after 60 senior appearances.

International career

Symons qualified to play for Wales because his father was from

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 ...

. He won 36 caps 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 ...

, scoring twice. His first appearance was against the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...

on 19 February 1992S4C Sgori
On this day in history: 19 February
19 February 2011. Retrieved 4 November 2011. and his last appearance was on 6 October 2001 against

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...

Coaching and management

He became

caretaker manager In association footballing terms, a caretaker manager or interim manager is somebody who takes temporary charge of the management of a football team, usually when the regular Manager (association football), manager is dismissed or leaves for a ...

at Palace, and following the subsequent appointment of

Iain Dowie Iain Dowie (born 9 January 1965) is a football manager, former professional footballer and sports television pundit. He played as a striker from 1983 until 2001, notably in the Premier League for Southampton, Crystal Palace and West Ham Unit ...

he combined the roles of player and assistant manager, as the club gained promotion to the

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 ...

. After

Peter Taylor Peter Taylor may refer to: Arts * Peter Taylor (writer) (1917–1994), American author, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction * Peter Taylor (film editor) (1922–1997), English film editor, winner of an Academy Award for Film Editing Politic ...

was dismissed as Palace manager on 8 October 2007, Symons was confirmed as caretaker manager before the appointment of

Neil Warnock Neil Warnock (born 1 December 1948) is an English former football manager and player. He is also a television and radio pundit. In a managerial career spanning five decades, Warnock has managed sixteen different clubs from the Premier League to ...

three days later. Palace did not play during this time. Following Warnock's appointment, Symons stepped down from his position of assistant manager and left the club on 15 October 2007. Symons joined

Colchester United Colchester United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Colchester, Essex, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1937, the club spent its earl ...

on 16 January 2008 following

Micky Adams Michael Richard Adams (born 8 November 1961) is an English former professional association football, footballer and football manager. As a player, he was a Full-back (football), full back, and made a total of 438 league appearances in a ninete ...

' resignation as assistant manager the previous week. He was appointed as Colchester's caretaker manager on 22 September 2008 after the departure of

Geraint Williams David Geraint Williams (born 5 January 1962) is a Welsh football manager and former professional footballer. As a player, he was a midfielder from 1980 until 2000, notably featuring in the Premier League for Ipswich Town, as well as in the Foo ...

. He led the club to two wins in five games, in the process becoming the bookie's favourite to get the job full-time. However, he left the club after

Paul Lambert Paul Lambert (born 7 August 1969) is a Scottish professional football manager and former player, who was most recently the manager of Ipswich Town. Lambert played as a midfielder and won the Scottish Cup in 1987 with St Mirren as a 17-year-ol ...

took over as manager on 9 October 2008. Symons was subsequently employed by

as Senior Scout and Academy Coach. In January 2012 Symons was appointed to the Wales national team coaching staff under team manager Chris Coleman. On 18 September 2014, Symons was confirmed as caretaker manager of Fulham following the departure of

Felix Magath Wolfgang Felix Magath (; born 26 July 1953) is a German football manager and former player. The most notable spell of his playing career was with Hamburger SV, with whom he won three Bundesliga titles, the 1977 European Cup Winners' Cup Final a ...

. On 29 October 2014, after a string of good results (5 wins in 9 games), Symons was announced as the full-time manager of Fulham. Symons stated that it was "no secret this is a club that is very close to my heart and this is a job I've always really wanted to do." Khan also stated that Symons' "passion for everything that Fulham represents came through loud and clear." In July 2015, Symons resigned his position with the Wales national team to concentrate on his role with Fulham. Symons was dismissed by Fulham on 8 November 2015, the day after a 5–2 defeat by

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

Craven Cottage Craven Cottage is a football ground in Fulham, West London, England, which has been the home of Fulham F.C. since 1896.According to the club'official website The ground's capacity is 22,384; the record attendance is 49,335, for a game against M ...

. Symons rejoined Wales as coach in August 2016. On 17 November 2017, Symons left his coaching role with Wales following the resignation of Chris Coleman. On 19 November 2017, Symons was announced as assistant manager at

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

following Coleman's appointment as manager. Both were released from their contracts after Sunderland's relegation to

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 ...

was confirmed. In June 2018, after Coleman's appointment as manager of

Hebei China Fortune Hebei Football Club () is a professional Chinese football club that participates in the Chinese Super League division under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The team is based in Langfang, Hebei and their home stadium is the La ...

, Symons again joined him as assistant.

Managerial statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Symons, Kit 1971 births Living people Sportspeople from Basingstoke Footballers from Hampshire English footballers Welsh footballers Association football defenders Portsmouth F.C. players Manchester City F.C. players Fulham F.C. players Crystal Palace F.C. players Premier League players English Football League players Wales international footballers English football managers Welsh football managers Crystal Palace F.C. managers Colchester United F.C. managers Fulham F.C. managers English Football League managers Crystal Palace F.C. non-playing staff Colchester United F.C. non-playing staff Fulham F.C. non-playing staff Sunderland A.F.C. non-playing staff Association football coaches Association football scouts