Kit Symons

Last updated

Kit Symons
Kit Symons 2015.jpg
Symons (front) as manager of Fulham in 2015
Personal information
Full name Christopher Jerry Symons [1]
Date of birth (1971-03-08) 8 March 1971 (age 52) [2]
Place of birth Basingstoke, England
Height 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) [2]
Position(s) Defender
Team information
Current team
Atromitos
(Assistant Manager)
Youth career
Portsmouth
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps(Gls)
1988–1995 Portsmouth 160 (10)
1995–1998 Manchester City 124 (4)
1998–2001 Fulham 102 (13)
2001–2005 Crystal Palace 49 (0)
Total435(27)
International career
1992–2001 Wales 36 (2)
Managerial career
2003–2007 Crystal Palace (assistant)
2003 Crystal Palace (caretaker)
2005–2006 Crystal Palace (U23)
2008 Colchester United (assistant)
2008–2009 Colchester United (caretaker)
2009–2010 Fulham (head of analytics)
2010–2013 Fulham (scout)
2010–2012 Fulham (U18)
2012–2015 Wales (assistant)
2012–2014 Fulham (U21)
2013–2014 Fulham (assistant)
2014–2015 Fulham
2016–2017 Wales (assistant)
2017–2018 Sunderland (assistant)
2018–2019 Hebei FC (assistant)
2021–2023 Wales (assistant)
2022– Atromitos (assistant)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Christopher Jerry "Kit" Symons (born 8 March 1971) is a professional association football coach and former player who is assistant manager of Greek Super League side Atromitos.

Contents

As a player, he was a defender who began his career with Portsmouth before playing in the Premier League with Manchester City, Fulham and Crystal Palace. He earned 36 international caps for Wales, scoring twice.

Following retirement he has largely worked as a coach, although he was briefly manager of Fulham and had caretaker spells in charge of Crystal Palace and Colchester United. He has predominantly worked as an assistant to his former team mate Chris Coleman with Fulham, Wales, Sunderland, Hebei FC and currently Atromitos.

Club career

Symons was born in Basingstoke, Hampshire. [2] He made more than 100 League appearances for each of his first three clubs – Portsmouth, Manchester City and Fulham. He played for Fulham until December 2001, when he was signed by Crystal Palace for £400,000, the club at which he finished his playing career after 60 senior appearances. [3] [4]

International career

Symons qualified to play for Wales because his father was from Cardiff. [5] He won 36 caps for Wales, scoring twice. [6] His first appearance was against the Republic of Ireland on 19 February 1992 [5] and his last appearance was on 6 October 2001 against Belarus. [7]

Coaching and management

He became caretaker manager at Palace, and following the subsequent appointment of Iain Dowie he combined the roles of player and assistant manager, as the club gained promotion to the Premier League. [8]

After Peter Taylor was dismissed as Palace manager on 8 October 2007, [9] Symons was confirmed as caretaker manager before the appointment of Neil Warnock three days later. [10] Palace did not play during this time. [11] Following Warnock's appointment, Symons stepped down from his position of assistant manager and left the club on 15 October 2007. [12]

Symons joined Colchester United on 16 January 2008 following Micky Adams' resignation as assistant manager the previous week. [13] He was appointed as Colchester's caretaker manager on 22 September 2008 after the departure of Geraint Williams. [14] He led the club to two wins in five games, [15] in the process becoming the bookie's favourite to get the job full-time. [16] However, he left the club after Paul Lambert took over as manager on 9 October 2008. [17]

Symons was subsequently employed by Fulham as Senior Scout and Academy Coach. [18]

In January 2012 Symons was appointed to the Wales national team coaching staff under team manager Chris Coleman. [19]

On 18 September 2014, Symons was confirmed as caretaker manager of Fulham following the departure of Felix Magath. [20] 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. [21] 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." [22] Khan also stated that Symons' "passion for everything that Fulham represents came through loud and clear." [22]

In July 2015, Symons resigned his position with the Wales national team to concentrate on his role with Fulham. [23]

Symons was dismissed by Fulham on 8 November 2015, the day after a 5–2 defeat by Birmingham City at Craven Cottage. [24]

Symons rejoined Wales as coach in August 2016. [23] On 17 November 2017, Symons left his coaching role with Wales following the resignation of Chris Coleman. [25] On 19 November 2017, Symons was announced as assistant manager at Sunderland following Coleman's appointment as manager. [26] Both were released from their contracts after Sunderland's relegation to League One was confirmed. [27] In June 2018, after Coleman's appointment as manager of Hebei China Fortune, Symons again joined him as assistant. [28]

Managerial statistics

As of 8 November 2015
Managerial record by team and tenure
TeamFromToRecordRef.
PWDLWin %
Crystal Palace (caretaker)3 November 200322 December 20039333033.3 [29] [30]
Crystal Palace (caretaker)8 October 200711 October 20070000! [9] [10] [11]
Colchester United (caretaker)22 September 200811 October 20085203040.0 [14] [15] [31]
Fulham 18 September 20148 November 201564221725034.4 [30]
Total78272031034.6

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fulham F.C.</span> Association football club in London, England

Fulham Football Club is a professional football club based in Fulham, Greater London, England. The team competes in the Premier League, the top level of the English football league system. They have played home games at Craven Cottage since 1896, other than a two-year period spent at Loftus Road whilst Craven Cottage underwent redevelopments that were completed in 2004. They contest West London derby rivalries with Chelsea, Queens Park Rangers and Brentford. The club adopted a white shirt and black shorts as its kit in 1903, which has been used ever since.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chris Coleman (footballer)</span> Welsh footballer and manager (born 1970)

Christopher Patrick Coleman is a Welsh professional football manager and former player. He was most recently the manager of Greek Super League club Atromitos.

Steven Wigley is an English football coach and former player for Nottingham Forest, Sheffield United, Birmingham City, Portsmouth and Exeter City. He made 340 appearances in the Football League. He is the former manager of Southampton and the former assistant manager of Bristol City. He is the current manager of Fulham U23s.

William James Alexander McKinlay is a Scottish football manager and former professional footballer who is assistant manager of West Ham United.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ray Lewington</span> English footballer and manager

Raymond Lewington is an English football manager and former player who is the current first-team coach of Premier League club Crystal Palace.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Wright (footballer)</span> English footballer and manager

David Wright is an English former professional footballer and manager who was most recently Assistant First-Team Coach of League One club Milton Keynes Dons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Trollope</span> Welsh footballer (born 1972)

Paul Jonathan Trollope is a football coach and former professional footballer, who played as a midfielder. He is currently joint-assistant manager of Luton Town. Born in England, he represents Wales internationally.

Robert Keith Stockdale is a football manager and former professional footballer who is assistant manager of EFL League Two club Gillingham

Steven John Harrison is an English former professional footballer, manager and coach.

Peter Grant is a Scottish football player and coach. During his playing career, Grant played for Celtic, Norwich City, Reading and AFC Bournemouth. He was awarded a testimonial match, played against Bayern Munich, by Celtic in 1997. Grant played in two full international matches for Scotland, both in 1989. Since retiring as a player, Grant has since worked as a football coach. He was manager of Norwich City for a year, and also briefly the caretaker manager of Fulham. Grant has also managed Scottish sides Alloa Athletic and Dunfermline Athletic.

Stuart Gray is an English former professional footballer and manager. He has previously managed Southampton, Northampton Town and Sheffield Wednesday as well as working as caretaker manager for a number of teams. He has been Fulham FC's defensive coach since 2016, in which time they have earned three promotions to the Premier League.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kevin Keen</span> English footballer (born 1967)

Kevin Ian Keen is an English football coach and former player. Keen is currently the coach of West Ham United under-18 team.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alex Dyer (footballer, born 1965)</span> English footballer and manager

Alexander Constantine Dyer is an English football coach and former player who was most recently the assistant at Greece Super League club Aris.

Keith Derek Millen is an English football manager and former player who played as a centre back. He is currently head of academy coaching at League Two side Gillingham.

During the 2004–05 English football season, Crystal Palace competed in the FA Premier League, following promotion from the First Division the previous season.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2013–14 Premier League</span> 22nd season of the Premier League

The 2013–14 Premier League was the 22nd season of the Premier League, the top-flight English professional league for men's football clubs, and the 115th season of top-flight English football overall. The fixtures were announced on 19 June 2013. The season started on Saturday 17 August 2013, and concluded on Sunday 11 May 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Osian Roberts</span> Welsh football coach and former player

Osian Roberts is a Welsh football coach and former player who was most recently assistant manager at Crystal Palace. In 2014 he was described in the media as "the most influential man in Welsh football."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark Hudson (footballer, born 1982)</span> English association football player (born 1982)

Mark Alexander Hudson is an English football manager and former professional footballer who was most recently manager at Cardiff City. A centre-back, he began his professional career with Fulham after progressing through the club's youth academy. He made his senior debut in a League Cup match in 2000 but made just two further first team appearances for Fulham. He spent two spells on loan with Oldham Athletic in 2003 before joining Crystal Palace on loan after Oldham manager Iain Dowie moved between the two clubs. He joined Palace on a permanent basis soon after as they spent one season in the Premier League before establishing himself in the first team following their return to the Championship.

The 2017–18 EFL Championship was the second season of the EFL Championship under its current name, and the twenty-sixth season under its current league structure.

References

  1. "Squad List: FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022: Wales (WAL)" (PDF). FIFA. 15 November 2022. p. 32. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
  2. 1 2 3 Hugman, Barry J., ed. (2004). The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2004/2005. Queen Anne Press. p. 392. ISBN   9781852916602.
  3. "Kit Symons". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
  4. "Kit completes switch". Fulham F.C. 7 December 2001. Retrieved 10 April 2014.
  5. 1 2 S4C Sgorio On this day in history: 19 February, 19 February 2011. Retrieved 4 November 2011.
  6. Kit Symons Holmesdale Online
  7. Wales international line-ups 2000 to 2005 Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation
  8. "Kit Symons: Under-21 Coach". Academy Staff Profiles. Fulham F.C. Archived from the original on 11 January 2014. Retrieved 11 January 2014.
  9. 1 2 "Crystal Palace boss Taylor sacked". BBC Sport. 8 October 2007. Retrieved 26 January 2016.
  10. 1 2 "Warnock aims to fly high with Eagles". The Scotsman. Edinburgh. 11 October 2007. Retrieved 26 January 2016.
  11. 1 2 "Results/matches: 2007/08". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 26 January 2016.
  12. Symons leaves Crystal Palace post BBC Sport, 15 October 2007
  13. "Exclusive: Symons Is U's Number Two". Colchester United FC. 17 January 2008. Archived from the original on 15 April 2012. Retrieved 12 December 2013.
  14. 1 2 "Exclusive: Kit Takes Caretaker Role". Colchester United F.C. 22 September 2008. Archived from the original on 15 April 2012.
  15. 1 2 "Managerial Record". Colchester United Day by Day. Retrieved 6 June 2015.
  16. "Symons is favourite for U's top job". Green Un. Archived from the original on 31 October 2014. Retrieved 31 October 2014.
  17. "Lambert Brings in Number Two". Vital Colchester. 10 October 2008. Retrieved 6 June 2015.
  18. Senior Scout and Academy coach Kit Symons discusses his return to the Club and his targets for the future… Fulham FC.com
  19. "Symons joins Wales staff". BBC Sport. Retrieved 31 October 2014.
  20. "Felix Magath: Struggling Fulham sack manager after poor start". BBC Sport. 18 September 2014. Retrieved 18 September 2014.
  21. "Kit Symons Appointed First Team Manager". Fulham F.C. Retrieved 29 October 2014.
  22. 1 2 "Kit Symons: Fulham appointment a 'fantastic opportunity'". BBC Sport. Retrieved 31 October 2014.
  23. 1 2 "Kit Symons: Former Fulham manager returns to Wales coaching role". BBC Sport. 26 August 2016. Retrieved 17 November 2017.
  24. "Kit Symons: Fulham sack manager after Birmingham defeat". BBC Sport. 8 November 2015. Retrieved 8 November 2015.
  25. "Chris Coleman leaves Wales role for Sunderland job". BBC Sport. 17 November 2015. Retrieved 17 November 2017.
  26. "Chris Coleman: Sunderland name ex-Wales boss as manager". BBC Sport. 19 November 2017. Retrieved 19 November 2017.
  27. "Club Statement: Chris Coleman". Sunderland A.F.C. 29 April 2018. Retrieved 29 April 2018.
  28. Rayner, Stuart (29 April 2018). "Sunderland 'the right club at the wrong time,' says Chris Coleman". ChronicleLive. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  29. "Dowie handed Palace reins". BBC Sport. 22 December 2003. Retrieved 26 January 2016.
  30. 1 2 "Managers: Kit Symons". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 26 January 2016.
  31. "No job for Symons at Colchester". BBC Sport. 10 October 2008. Retrieved 26 January 2016.