Central Coast captain Matt Simon is retiring due to injury, though he won’t be lost to the club in the future writes Tom Smithies.
Somehow it’s perfectly fitting that a few days after the gloss of the A-Leagues season launch comes news of a poignant Matt finish.
The Mariners’ announcement of the retirement of Matt Simon ends more than just a playing career or even an era on the Central Coast – at various times he has been the local boy made good, pantomime villain (for opposition fans), captain, club totem and attack-leading battering ram.
Dubbed the Wizard of Woy Woy, he’s still Central Coast’s record scorer, with 61 goals over his two spells with the club, and can add two Socceroos appearance, the 2008 Olympics and an A-League Men title winners’ medal from his three-year relocation to Sydney FC to a personal honours roll.
More than anything, though, Simon personified the way a football club’s fans can be represented by one of their own being part of the team. Two weeks after he was born in Penrith Hospital, Simon and his family moved to the Central Coast. To all intents and purposes, he has never left.
That’s partly why he has grappled with this decision, realising after months of rehab and surgery on a ruptured disc that he couldn’t continue playing in the manner to which we’d become accustomed: all 100% effort, passion, determination and commitment to the cause. And playing on but not being Simon simply wasn’t worth it.
The injuries that have forced him to call time on his playing career are harshly timed because Simon was enjoying the responsibilities of his seniority in the Mariners dressing room surrounded by so many young players.
He could have played until 100 and never been a shrinking violet, but Simon – a Premiership winner with the Mariners and their Player of the Year in 2008-09 – spoke eloquently last year about his growing interest in emotional intelligence, even studying it at university to enhance his leadership abilities.
Now those learnings will enhance his role off the field that the Mariners have created, working around the team to assist head coach Nick Montgomery particularly in the dressing room. That was where Simon told his team-mates last week, taking by his own estimation 10 minutes to get the words out.
However emotional Saturday’s F3 derby will be, with Mariners supporters getting the chance to say farewell, there are silver linings that Simon is holding on to.
“I couldn’t have got to this point, with a career of nearly 20 years, without the support of my family – so now I get to spend a lot more time with them,” Simon, 36, told KEEPUP.
“That’s one of the good things, to repay their sacrifices. But in many ways the boys in that dressing room have been like family to me, so it’s been a hard few days making this decision and coming to terms with it.
“In the end, though, I’d be worried about letting them down if I wasn’t able to give 100% – that’s why this is the right decision. I’ve got nothing but good memories, I wouldn’t change a thing in my career, so it’s a good time to leave it there.”
Simon has learned from all of his coaches; Lawrie McKinna gave him the opportunity in professional football, Graham Arnold finessed his game, and current head coach Montgomery encouraged his leadership skills.
“I’ve been lucky to work with some brilliant coaches, and to have had some amazing experiences under them – I’ve played for two fantastic clubs in Australia, and like I said, I wouldn’t change a thing,” he said.
“Scoring goals for your local club, in front of your family and friends, has been the most special feeling.”
