Barry Simmonds
Encyclopedia
Barry Simmonds is the Head of Scouting at Fulham FC and was previously the Director of Football then interim coach of A-League
football
team, New Zealand Knights.
on the 15th of November 2006 due to the teams poor showing in the league. He immediately changed the system and style of play with improved performances creating a resurgence in results and the basis for an excellent end of season run when the club ownership was handed back to the Australian Football Federation.
Simmonds had previously spent time involved with New Zealand
football during the '80s and '90s in various roles, including coaching in the national league.
He has had spells at English Premiership club Bolton Wanderers, Viking FK of the Norwegian
Premier League and English Championship clubs Cardiff City, Crystal Palace and Queens Park Rangers.
His career began in semi-professional football including a spell under Bobby Moore during the England World Cup winning captains tenure at Oxford City before moving into coaching. Simmonds became one of the youngest coaches ever appointed in the Football League joining the staff at Fulham aged 23 years. In addition to coaching he is highly regarded for his work as a scout and talent spotter with a reputation for unearthing relatively unknown players for bargain fees. It was a trend he continued at the Knights when signing Canadian
striker Alen Marcina
from Puerto Rico and Gao Leilei
from China.
In 1999 he joined Crystal Palace and whilst Chief Scout credited with being largely instrumental in bringing amongst others Aki Riihilati, Tony Popovic, Andrew Johnson and Danny Butterfield to the club all of whom became crowd favourites. Whilst at Cardiff he recommended signing Paul Parry from non-league football and within a few weeks the Welshman was lining up in the national team. Striker Cameron Jerome was recruited on a free transfer after being rejected by clubs including Leeds United and Middlesbrough. He was later sold by Cardiff to Birmingham City for a fee believed to be around £4 million.
At the end of the 2006-2007 A-League
season Simmonds returned to the UK joining the board of directors at Darlington FC.In March 2008 he left to re-join one of his former managers Roy Hodgson at Fulham taking Darlington's goalkeeper David Stockdale as his first signing.
By the time Fulham reached the UEFA Europa League final in 2010 the squad was barely recognisable from that which had secured its premiership status on the last day of the 2007-2008 season. A few key players remained but the addition of others including Zoltan Gera, Mark Schwarzer, John Paintsil, Andrew Johnson, Bobby Zamora, Dickson Etuhu and Damien Duff contributed to Fulham establishing its premier league credentials.
A-League
The A-League is the top Australasian professional football league. Run by Australian governing body Football Federation Australia , it was founded in 2004 following the folding of the National Soccer League and staged its inaugural season in 2005–06. It is sponsored by Hyundai Motor Company...
football
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
team, New Zealand Knights.
Biography
Simmonds took the New Zealand job until the club appointed a new manager after the Knights sacked Paul NevinPaul Nevin
Paul Nevin is a football manager. He is the former custodian of the New Zealand Knights, a professional club competing in the A-League. He was dismissed on November 15, 2006 due to poor performance.-Biography:...
on the 15th of November 2006 due to the teams poor showing in the league. He immediately changed the system and style of play with improved performances creating a resurgence in results and the basis for an excellent end of season run when the club ownership was handed back to the Australian Football Federation.
Simmonds had previously spent time involved with New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
football during the '80s and '90s in various roles, including coaching in the national league.
He has had spells at English Premiership club Bolton Wanderers, Viking FK of the Norwegian
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
Premier League and English Championship clubs Cardiff City, Crystal Palace and Queens Park Rangers.
His career began in semi-professional football including a spell under Bobby Moore during the England World Cup winning captains tenure at Oxford City before moving into coaching. Simmonds became one of the youngest coaches ever appointed in the Football League joining the staff at Fulham aged 23 years. In addition to coaching he is highly regarded for his work as a scout and talent spotter with a reputation for unearthing relatively unknown players for bargain fees. It was a trend he continued at the Knights when signing Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
striker Alen Marcina
Alen Marcina
Alen Marcina is a Canadian soccer player who currently plays for Miami FC in the USL First Division.-Club:...
from Puerto Rico and Gao Leilei
Gao Leilei
Gao Leilei is a former Chinese footballer.-China:Gao began his professional career with Wuhan in 1998, before moving to Beijing Guoan in 1999. It was with Beijing Guoan that Gao first gained the public notice of Chinese football community when he scored an equalizer against Liaoning in the last...
from China.
In 1999 he joined Crystal Palace and whilst Chief Scout credited with being largely instrumental in bringing amongst others Aki Riihilati, Tony Popovic, Andrew Johnson and Danny Butterfield to the club all of whom became crowd favourites. Whilst at Cardiff he recommended signing Paul Parry from non-league football and within a few weeks the Welshman was lining up in the national team. Striker Cameron Jerome was recruited on a free transfer after being rejected by clubs including Leeds United and Middlesbrough. He was later sold by Cardiff to Birmingham City for a fee believed to be around £4 million.
At the end of the 2006-2007 A-League
A-League
The A-League is the top Australasian professional football league. Run by Australian governing body Football Federation Australia , it was founded in 2004 following the folding of the National Soccer League and staged its inaugural season in 2005–06. It is sponsored by Hyundai Motor Company...
season Simmonds returned to the UK joining the board of directors at Darlington FC.In March 2008 he left to re-join one of his former managers Roy Hodgson at Fulham taking Darlington's goalkeeper David Stockdale as his first signing.
By the time Fulham reached the UEFA Europa League final in 2010 the squad was barely recognisable from that which had secured its premiership status on the last day of the 2007-2008 season. A few key players remained but the addition of others including Zoltan Gera, Mark Schwarzer, John Paintsil, Andrew Johnson, Bobby Zamora, Dickson Etuhu and Damien Duff contributed to Fulham establishing its premier league credentials.