Simon Downer

Simon Downer (born 19 October 1981) is a former English footballer who played as a central defender or right back.

Simon Downer
Personal information
Full name Simon Downer[1]
Date of birth (1981-10-19) 19 October 1981[1]
Place of birth Romford, England
Height 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)[1]
Position(s) Defender
Youth career
0000–1998 Leyton Orient
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1998–2004 Leyton Orient 79 (0)
2004 → Aldershot Town (loan) 8 (0)
2005–2006 Weymouth 17 (2)
2006–2008 Grays Athletic 38 (1)
2008 Wivenhoe Town 1 (0)
2008 Sutton United 7 (0)
2009–2010 Rushden & Diamonds 48 (1)
2010–2014 Sutton United 97 (4)
2014–2015 Maidenhead United 27 (0)
2015–2018 Sutton United 53 (0)
2018–2019 Hampton & Richmond 19 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 21:10, 4 January 2018 (UTC)

Club career

Downer's previous clubs include Leyton Orient, Aldershot Town (loan), Weymouth, Grays Athletic, Wivenhoe Town, Rushden & Diamonds and Sutton United.

Having played for the West Ham youth academy, Downer, who at the time was playing for Leyton Orient, went on trial with Newcastle United. However, Bobby Robson decided against signing the 19-year-old Downer, as he had a recurring problem with his left knee that needed an operation. This has hampered his career and at one point he retired from football. In between his 'retirement', Downer worked as a bricklayer.[2]

On 26 May 2009, Downer signed a one-year contract to remain at Rushden & Diamonds for the duration of the 2009–10 season. During the close-season after, he decided not to renew his contract offered and signed with Sutton United,[3] with whom he won the Isthmian League Premier Division at the end of the 2010–11 season.[4] He scored his first Sutton league goal in a 4–3 home victory over Wealdstone on 27 November 2010.[5] He won the Players' Player of the Year award for the 2011–12 season.

Downer rejoined Sutton in 2015 for a third spell after spending the previous campaign at Maidenhead. He made his 200th career appearance for Sutton in September 2015 and was part of the team which won the National League South title.[6]

On 4 December 2016, Downer appeared in The Non-League Paper's team of the day alongside teammate Roarie Deacon and manager Paul Doswell following an impressive performance in Sutton's 2–1 victory over League Two side Cheltenham Town in the 2nd round of the FA Cup on 3 December.[7] Downer appeared in every round of Sutton's historic run to the 5th round of the FA Cup for the first time ever, including a 3–1 victory over League One team and local rivals AFC Wimbledon on 17 January 2017,[8] a 1–0 victory over Championship team Leeds United on 29 January[9] and a 0–2 defeat to Premier League Arsenal on 20 February.[10] Downer appeared again in the NLP team of the day after a 3–2 away victory against Torquay United on 25 February, when he was forced to step in as goalkeeper following an injury to Ross Worner.[11][12] He made his 250th appearance for Sutton United in February 2017.[13]

Honours
Sutton United

References
  1. Hugman, Barry J., ed. (2003). The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2003/2004. Queen Anne Press. p. 121. ISBN 1-85291-651-6.
  2. "BBC - Chris Bevan: How Simon Downer found his feet on football's fringes".
  3. Amos, Stuart (13 July 2010). "Fulham friendly fiasco creates £30,000 shortfall in Sutton budget". Surrey Comet. Retrieved 14 July 2010.
  4. "Sutton United 2-0 Carshalton Athletic: Match report". Sutton United F.C. 26 April 2011. Archived from the original on 28 September 2011. Retrieved 28 May 2011.
  5. "SuttonUnited.net - The official website of Sutton United Football Club". www.suttonunited.net. Archived from the original on 30 November 2010.
  6. "SuttonUnited.net - the official website of Sutton United Football Club". www.suttonunited.net. Archived from the original on 8 March 2016.
  7. "The NLP's National League and FA Cup Team of the Day December 4". The Non-League Paper. 5 December 2016. Retrieved 6 December 2016.
  8. "AFC Wimbledon 1-3 Sutton United". BBC. 17 January 2017. Retrieved 7 March 2017.
  9. "Sutton United 1-0 Leeds United". BBC. 29 January 2017. Retrieved 7 March 2017.
  10. "Sutton United 0-2 Arsenal". BBC. 20 February 2017. Retrieved 7 March 2017.
  11. "Torquay United 2 Sutton United 3". BBC. 25 February 2017. Retrieved 7 March 2017.
  12. "The NLP's National League and FA Trophy Team of the Day February 26". The Non-League Paper. 27 February 2017. Retrieved 5 April 2017.
  13. "Simon Downer". Sutton United F.C. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
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