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 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

coach and former player who was most recently assistant manager of

Greek Super League The Super League Greece 1 (), or Stoiximan Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Greece and the highest level of the Greek football league system. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and repla ...

side

Atromitos Atromitos (Greek: Ατρόμητος, "fearless") may refer to: * Atromitos F.C., a football team based in Peristeri, Greece * Atromitos Piraeus, a football team based in Piraeus, Greece * Atromitos Yeroskipou Atromitos Yeroskipou () was a Cy ...

. As a player, he was a defender who began his career with

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

before playing in the

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

with

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

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

and

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 buildin ...

. He earned 36 international caps for

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

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

. He has predominantly worked as an assistant to his former teammate Chris Coleman with Fulham, Wales,

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...

, Hebei FC and currently Atromitos.

Club career

Symons was born in

Basingstoke Basingstoke ( ) is a town in Hampshire, situated in south-central England across a valley at the source of the River Loddon on the western edge of the North Downs. It is the largest settlement in Hampshire without city status in the United King ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

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

and

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

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 (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...

. He won 36 caps for

, scoring twice. His first appearance was against the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...

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, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

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 is dismissed or leaves for a different club. However, a caret ...

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

. 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 football manager and former player who is currently football advisor at Torquay United. He is also a television and radio pundit. In a managerial career spanning five decades, Warnock has managed ...

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

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 (association football), manager. As a player, he was a Full-back (football), full back, and made a total of 43 ...

' 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. 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-o ...

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. The team compete in the ...

Craven Cottage Craven Cottage is a football stadium 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 29,589; the record attendance is 49,335, for a game agains ...

. 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

following Coleman's appointment as manager. Both were released from their contracts after Sunderland's relegation to League One was confirmed. In June 2018, after Coleman's appointment as manager of Hebei China Fortune, Symons again joined him as assistant.

Managerial statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Symons, Kit 1971 births Living people Footballers from Basingstoke English men's footballers Welsh men's footballers Men's 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 men's 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