Kit Symons
Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox football biography Christopher Jerry "Kit" Symons (born 8 March 1971) is a professional association football coach and former player who was most recently assistant manager of Greek Super League side Atromitos.
As a player, he was a defender who began his career with Portsmouth before playing in the Premier League with Manchester City, Fulham and Crystal Palace. He earned 36 international caps for Wales, 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. He has predominantly worked as an assistant to his former teammate Chris Coleman with Fulham, Wales, Sunderland, Hebei FC and currently Atromitos.
Club careerEdit
Symons was born in Basingstoke, Hampshire.<ref name="Hugman2004-05"/> He made more than 100 league appearances for each of his first three clubs – Portsmouth, Manchester City and Fulham. He played for Fulham until December 2001, when he was signed by Crystal Palace for £400,000, the club at which he finished his playing career after 60 senior appearances.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
International careerEdit
Symons qualified to play for Wales because his father was from Cardiff.<ref name="Sgorio" /> He won 36 caps for Wales, scoring twice.<ref>Kit Symons Holmesdale Online</ref> His first appearance was against the Republic of Ireland on 19 February 1992<ref name="Sgorio">S4C Sgorio On this day in history: 19 February, 19 February 2011. Retrieved 4 November 2011.</ref> and his last appearance was on 6 October 2001 against Belarus.<ref>Wales international line-ups 2000 to 2005 Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation</ref>
Coaching and managementEdit
He became caretaker manager at Palace, and following the subsequent appointment of Iain Dowie he combined the roles of player and assistant manager, as the club gained promotion to the Premier League.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
After Peter Taylor was dismissed as Palace manager on 8 October 2007,<ref name="Crystal Palace boss Taylor sacked">Template:Cite news</ref> Symons was confirmed as caretaker manager before the appointment of Neil Warnock three days later.<ref name="Warnock aims to fly high with Eagles">Template:Cite news</ref> Palace did not play during this time.<ref name="Results/matches: 2007/08">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Following Warnock's appointment, Symons stepped down from his position of assistant manager and left the club on 15 October 2007.<ref>Symons leaves Crystal Palace post BBC Sport, 15 October 2007</ref>
Symons joined Colchester United on 16 January 2008 following Micky Adams' resignation as assistant manager the previous week.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He was appointed as Colchester's caretaker manager on 22 September 2008 after the departure of Geraint Williams.<ref name="Exclusive: Kit Takes Caretaker Role">Template:Cite news</ref> He led the club to two wins in five games,<ref name="Managerial Record"/> in the process becoming the bookie's favourite to get the job full-time.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> However, he left the club after Paul Lambert took over as manager on 9 October 2008.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Symons was subsequently employed by Fulham as Senior Scout and Academy Coach.<ref>Senior Scout and Academy coach Kit Symons discusses his return to the Club and his targets for the future… Fulham FC.com</ref>
In January 2012 Symons was appointed to the Wales national team coaching staff under team manager Chris Coleman.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
On 18 September 2014, Symons was confirmed as caretaker manager of Fulham following the departure of Felix Magath.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> 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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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."<ref name="fulham">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Khan also stated that Symons' "passion for everything that Fulham represents came through loud and clear."<ref name="fulham"/>
In July 2015, Symons resigned his position with the Wales national team to concentrate on his role with Fulham.<ref name=wales2>Template:Cite news</ref>
Symons was dismissed by Fulham on 8 November 2015, the day after a 5–2 defeat by Birmingham City at Craven Cottage.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Symons rejoined Wales as coach in August 2016.<ref name=wales2/> On 17 November 2017, Symons left his coaching role with Wales following the resignation of Chris Coleman.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> On 19 November 2017, Symons was announced as assistant manager at Sunderland following Coleman's appointment as manager.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Both were released from their contracts after Sunderland's relegation to League One was confirmed.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In June 2018, after Coleman's appointment as manager of Hebei China Fortune, Symons again joined him as assistant.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Managerial statisticsEdit
| Team | From | To | Record | Template:Abbr | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Template:Abbr | Template:Abbr | Template:Abbr | Template:Abbr | Template:Abbr | ||||
| Crystal Palace (caretaker) | 3 November 2003 | 22 December 2003 | <ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Managers: Kit Symons">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation | CitationClass=web
}}</ref> | ||||
| Crystal Palace (caretaker) | 8 October 2007 | 11 October 2007 | <ref name="Crystal Palace boss Taylor sacked"/><ref name="Warnock aims to fly high with Eagles"/><ref name="Results/matches: 2007/08"/> | |||||
| Colchester United (caretaker) | 22 September 2008 | 11 October 2008 | citation | CitationClass=web
}}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> | ||||
| Fulham | 18 September 2014 | 8 November 2015 | <ref name="Managers: Kit Symons"/> | |||||
| Total | ||||||||
ReferencesEdit
External linksEdit
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