Simon Allan Stainrod (born 1 February 1959) is an English 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 played as a striker for

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history ...

Oldham Athletic Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is a professional association football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England. As of the 2025–26 EFL League Two, 2025–26 season, the team competes in EFL League Two, the fourth level of the Eng ...

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional association football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English f ...

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an off ...

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The team have p ...

and

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, the cl ...

. He also played in France for

RC Strasbourg Racing Club de Strasbourg Alsace, commonly known as RC Strasbourg (, ; RCS) or simply just Racing, is a French professional association football club founded in 1906 and based in the city of Strasbourg, Alsace. It became a professional club in ...

and

FC Rouen Football Club de Rouen 1899 (; commonly referred to as simply FC Rouen) is a French association football club based in Rouen, Normandy Normandy (; or ) is a geographical and cultural region in northwestern Europe, roughly coextensive w ...

and in Scotland for

Falkirk Falkirk ( ; ; ) is a town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had a resident population of 32,422 at the ...

Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...

and

Ayr United Ayr United Football Club are a football club in Ayr, Scotland, who play in the , the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League. Formed in 1910 by the merger of Ayr Parkhouse and Ayr F.C., their nickname is The Honest Men, fro ...

Career

Stainrod was born in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

and began his career with

, making his debut towards the end of the 1975–76 season, scoring twice in seven matches as the Blades suffered relegation to the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

. He spent four seasons at

Bramall Lane Bramall Lane is a association football, football stadium in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which is the home of Sheffield United F.C., Sheffield United. The stadium was originally a cricket ground, built on a road named after the Bramall ...

, making 75 appearances and scoring 14 goals before he moved to

in March 1979. It was at

Boundary Park Boundary Park is a football stadium in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England. Its name originates from the fact that it lies at the northwestern extremity of Oldham, with Royton and Chadderton lying immediately north and west respectively. Bound ...

that Stainrod began to make a name for himself scoring 26 goals in 79 appearances which attracted the attentions of Chelsea and

. He decided to join

Terry Venables Terence Frederick Venables (6 January 1943 – 25 November 2023), often referred to as El Tel, was an English football player and manager who played for clubs including Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and Queens Park Rangers and won two caps for E ...

' QPR in November 1980 for a fee of £270,000.Queens Park Rangers Official Matchday Magazine 2 March 2008 v Stoke City In the 1981–82 season he was a key player of the team that reached the 1982 FA Cup Final, losing 1–0 to

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...

after a replay, Stainrod scored a career best of 24 goals that season. In 1982–83 he helped the team win the Second Division title and then finish fifth in the First Division qualifying for Europe. After Venables left

Loftus Road Loftus Road, currently known as MATRADE Loftus Road Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a football stadium in Shepherd's Bush, West London, Greater London, England, which is home to Queens Park Rangers F.C., Queens Park Rangers Football Club, w ...

in 1984 for

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

, the side quickly fell apart under the unsuccessful reign of

Alan Mullery Alan Patrick Mullery (born 23 November 1941) is an English former footballer and manager. After enjoying a successful career with Fulham, Tottenham Hotspur, and the England national team in the 1960s and 1970s, he became a manager working wit ...

and many players including Stainrod left the club. Stainrod signed for

for a then club-record fee of £250,000 in February 1985, though his spell at the club was unsuccessful and he was sold to

for £350,000 in September 1985 and he enjoyed a spectacular debut when he scored all four goals against

Exeter City Exeter City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Exeter, Devon, England. The team play in , the third level of the English football league system. Known as "the Grecians", the origin of their nickname is subject to ...

in the League Cup. Despite scoring 21 goals for Villa in 1985–86 he struggled to get in the team in 1986–87 and the team were relegated to the Second Division. In January 1988 he joined

Mick Mills Michael Dennis Mills MBE (born 4 January 1949) is an English former footballer who played for Ipswich Town, Southampton and Stoke City. He managed Stoke City, Colchester United and Birmingham City. During his career he achieved Ipswich Town's ...

where he scored twice in 16 appearances in 1987–88. In 1988–89 Stainrod score five goals in 18 appearances before moving to France. He spent the 1988–89 season in France with

(eight appearances, two goals). He then spent a further spell with

(22 appearances, 1 goal) before moving to Scotland to play for

and

and then managing

in Scotland. During Stainrod's spell at Falkirk he famously scored from the halfway line against

St Johnstone St Johnstone Football Club is a professional association football club in Perth, Scotland. The team competes in the , the second division of Scottish football. The club's name is derived from St John's Toun (or Saint Johnstoun)—an old name o ...

direct from a kick off.

Post playing career

He is also a FIFA-licensed football agent and is now based in

Cannes Cannes (, ; , ; ) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a communes of France, commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions Internatio ...

, France. In 2003, he set up his own company with a couple of his friends called Matchday Media. Stainrod was working with

Hatem Ben Arfa Hatem Ben Arfa (, ; born 7 March 1987) is a French former professional association football, footballer who played as a Midfielder#Winger, winger and attacking midfielder. Known for his flair and Dribbling#Association football, dribbling ability, ...

following his move to

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Since th ...

as his adviser.

Career statistics

Honours

Queens Park Rangers *

Football League Second Division The Football League Second Division was the second level division in the English football league system between 1892 and 1992. Following the foundation of the FA Premier League, the Football League divisions were renumbered and the third tier ...

: 1982–83 *

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

runner-up:

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C. ...

Aston Villa * Football League Second Division runner-up: 1987–88 Falkirk *

Scottish Football League First Division The Scottish Football League First Division was the second tier in the Scottish football league system between 1975 and 2013. It was replaced by the Scottish Championship. History The First Division was introduced in 1975–76 in Scottish footb ...

: 1990–91

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Stainrod, Simon 1959 births Footballers from Sheffield Living people Men's association football forwards English men's footballers English expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in France Sheffield United F.C. players Oldham Athletic A.F.C. players Queens Park Rangers F.C. players Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players Aston Villa F.C. players Stoke City F.C. players RC Strasbourg Alsace players Falkirk F.C. players Dundee F.C. players Ayr United F.C. players English Football League players Ligue 1 players Scottish Football League players English football managers Dundee F.C. managers Ayr United F.C. managers Scottish Football League managers Men's association football player-managers