Simon James Bassey (born 5 February 1976) is an English former

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 le ...

. During his playing career he played as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. Bassey was also temporary caretaker manager/coach at

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 ...

from 3 January 2023 until 20 January 2023.

Career

Playing career

Bassey joined

Wimbledon F.C. Wimbledon Football Club was an English football club formed in Wimbledon, south-west London, in 1889 and based at Plough Lane from 1912 to 1991. Founded as Wimbledon Old Centrals, the club were a non-League team for most of their history. ...

at the age of 8 and remained with the club until he was released at the age of 16. He made over 150 appearances for

Carshalton Athletic Carshalton Athletic Football Club is an English football club based in Carshalton in the London Borough of Sutton. They currently play in the and are based at the War Memorial Sports Ground. The club also field a women's team playing in the Lo ...

as well as playing for Aldershot Town and

AFC Wimbledon AFC Wimbledon is an English professional Association football, football club, based in London Borough of Merton, Merton, London, that plays in the EFL League Two, after being relegated from the EFL League One following the 2021–22 EFL Leagu ...

Coaching career

He went on to become first team coach at AFC Wimbledon when he retired due to injury in 2004. He acted as

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 ...

of the club between 19 September 2012 and 10 October 2012, before resuming his post as coach following the appointment of

Neal Ardley Neal Christopher Ardley (born 1 September 1972) is an English professional football manager and former player who played as a right midfielder. He is currently the manager of Solihull Moors. Ardley was capped at Under-21 level by England. Ar ...

. He again took over as

on 12 November 2018 after the departure of Neal Ardley and

Neil Cox Neil James Cox (born 8 October 1971) is an English former professional footballer and manager who was last in charge of EFL League Two side Scunthorpe United. A defender capable of playing at centre or right-back, he made over 500 appearances i ...

. He left the club by mutual consent at the end of the 2018-19 season. On 7 April 2021, Bassey was appointed First Team Coach at

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

side

Barnet Barnet may refer to: People *Barnet (surname) * Barnet (given name) Places United Kingdom *Chipping Barnet or High Barnet, commonly known as Barnet, one of three focal towns of the borough below. *East Barnet, a district of the borough below; an ...

, initially as the most senior coach for the first team and leading the team in training and on matchdays. Bassey left the Bees at the end of the season to pursue an opportunity with an

English Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engl ...

club. Two days later he was announced as first team assistant coach at

. Bassey became interim head coach at Portsmouth on 3 January 2023 after Danny Cowley was dismissed the previous day. Simon Bassey departed on 20 January 2023 when John Mousinho was appointed as Head Coach by Portsmouth F.C..

Managerial statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bassey, Simon 1976 births Living people English men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Carshalton Athletic F.C. players Aldershot Town F.C. players Dulwich Hamlet F.C. players Crawley Town F.C. players Tooting & Mitcham United F.C. players AFC Wimbledon players AFC Wimbledon non-playing staff Portsmouth F.C. non-playing staff English Football League managers National League (English football) managers AFC Wimbledon managers Barnet F.C. managers English football managers Association football coaches Footballers from the London Borough of Lambeth People from Lambeth