Simon Spender (born 15 November 1985) is a Welsh football coach and former professional

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 lea ...

who is an academy coach at

The New Saints The New Saints of Oswestry Town & Llansantffraid Football Club, commonly known as The New Saints () or TNS FC, are an English professional football club that play in the , but are based completely within England, in Oswestry, Shropshire. They a ...

Career

Born in

Mold, Flintshire Mold ( ) is a town and community in Flintshire, Wales, on the River Alyn. It is the historic county town and was the administrative seat of Flintshire County Council from 1996 to 2025, as it was of Clwyd from 1974 to 1996. According to the 2011 ...

, Spender came up through the

youth system In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team if they show en ...

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in the North East Wales, north-east of Wales. It lies between the Cambrian Mountains, Welsh mountains and the lower River Dee, Wales, Dee Valley, near the England–Wales border, borde ...

and made his debut in a 0–0 draw with

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. The team currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. The club has played ...

in March 2004. He made six appearances in the 2003–04 season, impressing in a 2–1 win over

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club is a professional association football, football club from Luton, Bedfordshire, England. The club currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Nicknamed "The Hatters", L ...

. He made 19 appearances in the 2004–05 season and was rewarded with his first professional contract in May 2005. Spender made a further 21 appearances in the 2005–06 season and was given a new contract in summer of 2006. He established himself as the first-choice right-back and by the end of the 2007–08 season had made over 100 appearances for Wrexham. Spender missed three months of the 2008–09 season with a broken elbow and in March 2009, joined Barrow on

loan In finance, a loan is the tender of money by one party to another with an agreement to pay it back. The recipient, or borrower, incurs a debt and is usually required to pay interest for the use of the money. The document evidencing the deb ...

for the remainder of the season, helping them to avoid relegation. He was not offered a contract by Wrexham at the end of the season, and signed a permanent two-year contract with Barrow. Spender spent two seasons with Barrow. In his first year at the club he won the

FA Trophy The Football Association Challenge Trophy, also known as the Isuzu FA Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after The Football Association (the FA) and competed by mainly National League ...

and made the most appearances for the club of any player that season. The following year Spender remained a regular and helped Barrow avoid relegation yet again. In May 2011 he was offered a new contract by Barrow, but chose to take up the option of professional football at

in the

Welsh Premier League The Cymru Premier, known as the JD Cymru Premier for sponsorship reasons, is the national football league of Wales. It has both professional and semi-professional status clubs and is at the top of the Welsh football league system. It was found ...

. His competitive debut for the club took place on 30 June 2011 against

Cliftonville Cliftonville is a coastal area of Margate in the Thanet District, Thanet district of Kent, England. It includes the Palm Bay, UK, Palm Bay estate, built in the 1930s with wide avenues and detached and semi-detached houses with driveways, gar ...

in a

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

first qualifying round match. Spender retired in June 2021 and moved into a coaching role at

Honours

;The New Saints *

: 2011–12,

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

, 2013–14, 2014–15, 2015–16, 2016–17 *

Welsh Cup The FAW Welsh Cup (), currently known as the JD Welsh Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a knock-out football competition contested annually by teams in the Welsh football league system. It is considered the most prestigious of the cup competitions ...

: 2011–12, 2013–14, 2014–15, 2015–16 *

Welsh League Cup The Cymru League Cup, currently known as the Nathaniel MG Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a cup competition in Welsh association football, football organised by the Football Association of Wales. The competition was established in 1992 and is c ...

: 2014–15, 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017–18 Barrow * FA Trophy: 2009-10 Individual *

Team of the Year: 2014–15, 2015–16, 2016–17

References

External links

*
Simon Spender Profile
a
BarrowAFC.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spender, Simon 1985 births Living people Sportspeople from Mold, Flintshire Footballers from Flintshire Footballers from Wrexham Welsh men's footballers Wales men's under-21 international footballers Men's association football defenders Wrexham A.F.C. players Barrow A.F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players The New Saints F.C. players The New Saints F.C. non-playing staff 21st-century Welsh sportsmen