Simon Royce

Simon Ernest Royce (born 9 September 1971) is an English football coach and former professional footballer who is goalkeeping coach at Leyton Orient.

Simon Royce
Personal information
Full name Simon Ernest Royce[1]
Date of birth (1971-09-09) 9 September 1971
Place of birth Forest Gate, England
Position(s) Goalkeeper
Team information
Current team
 Leyton Orient (goalkeeping coach)
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1989–1991 Heybridge Swifts 70 (0)
1991–1998 Southend United 149 (0)
1998–2000 Charlton Athletic 8 (0)
2000–2003 Leicester City 19 (0)
2001–2002 → Brighton & Hove Albion (loan) 6 (0)
2002 → Manchester City (loan) 0 (0)
2002 → Queens Park Rangers (loan) 8 (0)
2002–2003 → Queens Park Rangers (loan) 8 (0)
2003–2005 Charlton Athletic 1 (0)
2004–2005 → Luton Town (loan) 2 (0)
2005 → Queens Park Rangers (loan) 13 (0)
2005–2007 Queens Park Rangers 50 (0)
2007 → Gillingham (loan) 3 (0)
2007–2010 Gillingham 92 (0)
2010–2011 Brentford 2 (0)
2019–2020 Gillingham 0 (0)
Total 431 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

As a player he was a goalkeeper who played in the Premier League for Charlton Athletic and Leicester City, although he spent the rest of his career in the Football League with notable spells at Southend United, Queens Park Rangers and Gillingham. He also played for Brighton & Hove Albion, Manchester City and Luton Town. Since taking up coaching he has been registered as a back-up player for both Brentford and back with Gillingham.

Playing career

Royce began his career with non-League Heybridge Swifts and after claiming the number one jersey off long standing Albie Bridge while still a teenager soon attracted the interest of many Football League sides. He joined Southend United for a £35,000 fee in October 1991 and became the first Heybridge player to be sold to a professional club.[2] He spent a few seasons as understudy to Paul Sansome before finally establishing himself as the Shrimpers' first choice and a fans' favourite – he played in the successful Southend side in the mid 1990s under Barry Fry and later Peter Taylor before Charlton Athletic manager Alan Curbishley snapped him up on a free transfer.[2][3] Despite some strong performances in the Premier League, including many clean sheets resulting in setting a post-war club record, injury prevented Royce from establishing himself as regularly as he would have liked and, after the arrival of Dean Kiely, he rejoined former boss Peter Taylor at Leicester City.[4] Some good early form resulted with speculation about an England call-up for new manager Sven-Goran Eriksson's initial squad,[5] however this never materialised and further injuries prevented Royce from making as many first team appearances as he possibly could.

A second spell at Charlton followed before he moved into the lower tiers of the Football League with Queens Park Rangers, Manchester City (on loan), Luton Town (on loan) and Brighton & Hove Albion (on loan) again teaming up with Peter Taylor.[1] During a Stoke City vs QPR game, he was attacked by a Stoke fan.[6]

Royce joined Gillingham in April 2007 as an emergency loan signing after the Kent team were left with no fit goalkeepers for their final three matches of the season,[7] making his debut for Gillingham in the 3–2 home win over Port Vale on 21 April 2007.[8] In August 2007 he joined Gillingham on a free transfer,[9] saying that he intended to see out the rest of his career at Gillingham and his performances in goal won him the Supporters' Player of the Year award for the 2007–08 season.[10][11] He was first choice goalkeeper at Gillingham again in the promotion season of 2008–09 and at the beginning of the following season.[12][13] He was forced out of the team by injuries sustained in a car accident in December 2009 and never regained his place from Alan Julian.[12][14]

Coaching career

His Gillingham contract expired at the end of that season and although he had been offered a goalkeeper/coach role at Gillingham,[12] he opted in June 2010 to take up the role at Brentford,[15] where he remained until the end of the 2017–18 season.[16]

He returned to Gillingham as a goalkeeping coach in June 2019[17] and was listed on the bench against Oxford United due to an injury to second-choice keeper Joe Walsh.[18][19] He is also one of the oldest players to appear in a football video game as an active footballer when he appeared in FIFA 20, making his first appearance in the series since FIFA 11.[20] The Kent side announced in June 2020 that Royce would be released when his contract expired the following month.[21] In 2021 Royce joined Leyton Orient as goalkeeping coach under Kenny Jackett.

Career statistics
As of match played 28 September 2019
Club Season League FA Cup League Cup Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Southend United 1996–97[22] First Division 43 0 1 0 1 0 — 45 0
1997–98[23] Second Division 37 0 2 0 4 0 1[lower-alpha 1] 0 44 0
Total 149 0 5 0 9 0 6 0 169 0
Charlton Athletic 1998–99[24] Premier League 8 0 0 0 0 0 — 8 0
1999–2000[25] First Division 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 0
Total 8 0 0 0 0 0 — 8 0
Leicester City 2000–01[26] Premier League 19 0 4 0 1 0 — 24 0
2001–02[26] 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 0
2002–03[27] 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 0
Total 19 0 4 0 1 0 — 24 0
Brighton & Hove Albion (loan) 2001–02[26] Second Division 6 0 0 0 — — 6 0
Manchester City (loan) 2001–02[26] First Division 0 0 — — — 0 0
Queens Park Rangers (loan) 2002–03[27] Second Division 16 0 0 0 0 0 1[28] 0 17 0
Charlton Athletic 2003–04[29] Premier League 1 0 0 0 0 0 — 1 0
2004–05[30] 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 0
Charlton Athletic total 9 0 0 0 0 0 — 9 0
Luton Town (loan) 2004–05[30] League One 2 0 0 0 — — 2 0
Queens Park Rangers (loan) 2004–05[30] Championship 13 0 — — — 13 0
Queens Park Rangers 2005–06[31] Championship 30 0 1 0 1 0 — 32 0
2006–07[8] 20 0 2 0 0 0 — 22 0
Queens Park Rangers total 79 0 3 0 1 0 — 83 0
Gillingham (loan) 2006–07[8] League One 3 0 — — — 3 0
Gillingham 2007–08[32] League One 33 0 1 0 1 0 1[28] 0 36 0
2008–09[13] League Two 42 0 3 0 0 0 4[lower-alpha 2] 0 49 0
2009–10[28] League One 17 0 2 0 2 0 0 0 21 0
Total 92 0 6 0 3 0 5 0 106 0
Brentford 2010–11[33] League One 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0
2011–12[34] 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Brentford total 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0
Gillingham 2019–20[35] League One 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Gillingham total 95 0 6 0 3 0 5 0 109 0
Career Total 363 0 18 0 14 0 9 0 404 0
  1. Appearance in Football League Trophy
  2. 3 appearances in Football League Two play-offs, 1 appearance in Football League Trophy

Honours

Gillingham

Individual

References
  1. "Simon Royce". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
  2. "Keeper looks a good catch". The Argus. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
  3. "Royce ready for main role at Charlton". Gazette. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
  4. "BBC SPORT | LEICESTER CITY | Taylor's new start". news.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
  5. Lacey, David (15 January 2001). "Ipswich find the pressure points". the Guardian. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
  6. "Fans arrested after fight at goal". BBC News. 12 April 2005. Retrieved 20 June 2007.
  7. "Royce plugs Gills goalkeeping gap". BBC Sport. 19 April 2007. Retrieved 20 April 2007.
  8. "Games played by Simon Royce in 2006/2007". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
  9. "Royce signs on the dotted line". www.gillinghamfootballclub.co.uk. Retrieved 1 August 2007.
  10. "ROYCE PUTS PEN TO PAPER | Gillingham | News | Latest News | Latest News". Archived from the original on 23 July 2008. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
  11. "Gillingham | News | Latest News | Latest News | Royce Wins Player Of The Year". www.gillinghamfootballclub.com. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
  12. "Gillingham | News | Latest News | Latest News | ROYCE BECOMES BEES COACH". www.gillinghamfootballclub.com. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
  13. "Games played by Simon Royce in 2008/2009". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
  14. "Gills' Royce injured in car crash". 14 December 2009. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
  15. "Brentford | News | Latest News | Latest News | BEES SIGN GOALKEEPING COACH". brentfordfc.co.uk. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
  16. "Goalkeeper Coaching staff changes". Retrieved 12 June 2018.
  17. "Gillingham appoint Simon Royce as their new goalkeeper coach". 27 June 2019.
  18. "Oxford United v Gillingham – BBC Sport". 28 September 2019.
  19. "Yeovil Town ball boys sent off, Garry Monk enjoys Riverside return & old boys rule". BBC Sport. 28 September 2019.
  20. "Who is the worst player on FIFA 20? | Goal.com".
  21. "Club Statement | Released and Retained List". www.gillinghamfootballclub.com. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
  22. "Games played by Simon Royce in 1996/1997". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
  23. "Games played by Simon Royce in 1997/1998". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
  24. "Games played by Simon Royce in 1998/1999". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
  25. "Games played by Simon Royce in 1999/2000". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
  26. "Games played by Simon Royce in 2000/2001". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
  27. "Games played by Simon Royce in 2002/2003". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
  28. "Games played by Simon Royce in 2009/2010". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
  29. "Games played by Simon Royce in 2003/2004". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
  30. "Games played by Simon Royce in 2004/2005". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
  31. "Games played by Simon Royce in 2005/2006". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
  32. "Games played by Simon Royce in 2007/2008". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
  33. "Games played by Simon Royce in 2010/2011". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
  34. "Games played by Simon Royce in 2011/2012". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
  35. "Games played by Simon Royce in 2019/2020". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 29 September 2019.
  36. "Royce crowned player of the year". Kent Online. 26 April 2008. Retrieved 13 March 2022.
  37. Miles, Peter (2015). 101 Interesting Facts on Southend United: Learn About the Boys From Roots Hall. Apex Publishing Limited. ISBN 9781909143050.
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