 Ireland with Port Vale (2025) | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Simon Piers Ireland[1] | ||
| Date of birth | (1971-11-23)23 November 1971 (age 54)[2] | ||
| Place of birth | Barnstaple, England[2] | ||
| Height | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)[2] | ||
| Position | Midfielder | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Huddersfield Town | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1990–1993 | Huddersfield Town | 19 | (0) |
| 1992 | →Wrexham (loan) | 5 | (0) |
| 1993 | Blackburn Rovers | 1 | (0) |
| 1994 | →Mansfield Town (loan) | 9 | (1) |
| 1994–1997 | Mansfield Town | 85 | (11) |
| 1996 | →Doncaster Rovers (loan) | 8 | (1) |
| 1997–1998 | Doncaster Rovers | 51 | (1) |
| 1998–2005 | Boreham Wood | ||
| Total | 178 | (14) | |
| Managerial career | |||
| 2019 | Nottingham Forest (caretaker) | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Simon Piers Ireland (born 23 November 1971) is an Englishfootball coach and former professional player who is a coach atEFL League One clubPort Vale.
Ireland played as amidfielder in thePremier League andEnglish Football League forHuddersfield Town,Wrexham (on loan),Blackburn Rovers,Mansfield Town andDoncaster Rovers. He scored 17 goals in 207 league and cup appearances in an eight-year professional career. He later playednon-League football forBoreham Wood. He entered coaching with Blackburn Rovers, working at the Academy from 2008 to 2015. He then spent 18 months atBrighton & Hove Albion and three years in the academy atQueens Park Rangers before he became a first-team coach withNottingham Forest in January 2018. He served as caretaker manager in January 2019. He switched toSheffield Wednesday in August 2021 before he left the club in June 2023. He returned to Huddersfield Town as a coach in September 2023 and moved on to coach atPlymouth Argyle in March 2024 and then toPort Vale in February 2025.
Ireland came through the youth ranks atHuddersfield Town to make three starts and three substitute appearances in theThird Division during the1990–91 season under the stewardship ofEoin Hand. He played 12 games in all competitions in the1991–92 campaign. He spent the latter part of the season onloan atBrian Flynn'sWrexham, where he played fiveFourth Division games.[2] He departedLeeds Road early in the1992–93 season after having scored one goal in five matches forIan Ross's "Terriers". Ireland was sold toBlackburn Rovers for a £200,000 fee on 3 November 1992.[2] He had impressed managerKenny Dalglish in aLeague Cup game against Blackburn the previous month.[3] He played onePremier League game for Rovers, coming on as a substitute in a 3–2 defeat atManchester City on 30 January 1993.[2]
On 18 March 1994, he returned to the Third Division on loan atMansfield Town.[2] He played nine games atField Mill in what remained of the1993–94 season. On 12 August 1994, he was sold to Mansfield Town for a £60,000 fee.[2] He scored the winning goal againstLeeds United in the League Cup the following month.[4] ManagerAndy King gave Ireland 50 starts and two substitute appearances in the1994–95 campaign, with Ireland scoring seven goals. Ireland made 43 starts and two substitute appearances in the1995–96 campaign, scoring six goals. Ireland featured nine times under new managerSteve Parkin in the early part of the1996–97 season.[2] Ireland joinedDoncaster Rovers on loan from 18 October to 3 December 1996.[2] On 28 January 1997, he joined Doncaster Rovers permanently for £10,000.[2] He ended the 1996–97 season having made 25 appearances forKerry Dixon's Rovers, scoring two goals.[2] He played 38 games in the1997–98 campaign as Rovers finished bottom of the Football League and then leftBelle Vue.[2] He later played forIsthmian League clubBoreham Wood.[2]
In January 2008, Ireland was appointed assistant director, responsible for the U9-U12 age groups at Blackburn Rovers.[3] In August 2013, he then became the U21 manager ofBrighton & Hove Albion. He left Brighton in December 2014.[5] Ireland joinedQueens Park Rangers as the academy's new head of coaching and coach education in February 2015.[6] He left on 18 January 2018 and joined the staff ofAitor Karanka atNottingham Forest as a first-team coach a few days later.[7] Karanka departed the club on 11 January 2019 and Ireland served as caretaker manager the following day againstReading, which ended in a 2–0 defeat.[8] On 15 January,Martin O'Neill was appointed as the new manager and Ireland returned to work as part of the backroom staff.[9]
In August 2021, Ireland joinedDarren Moore as a first-team coach atSheffield Wednesday.[10] He was credited with greatly improving the Owls at set pieces.[11] He left Sheffield Wednesday on 19 June 2023, with manager Darren Moore and the rest of his backroom staff.[12] In September 2023, he re-united with Moore once again as part of the new coaching staff atChampionship sideHuddersfield Town, re-joining the Terriers after a thirty-year absence.[13] In March 2024, he was appointed as a first-team coach atPlymouth Argyle by managerIan Foster.[14][15] He left the club when managerWayne Rooney departed on 31 December 2024.[16] He began coaching alongside Darren Moore atPort Vale in February 2025 after assistant managerWayne Jacobs was forced to take a leave of absence due to ill health.[17]
His son, Ben, played non-League football forShelley.[18]
| Club | Season | League | FA Cup | League Cup | Other | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Huddersfield Town | 1990–91 | Third Division | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| 1991–92 | Third Division | 9 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2[a] | 0 | 12 | 0 | |
| 1992–93 | Second Division | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | |
| Total | 19 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 23 | 1 | ||
| Wrexham (loan) | 1991–92 | Fourth Division | 5 | 0 | — | — | — | 5 | 0 | |||
| Blackburn Rovers | 1992–93 | Premier League | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 1 | 0 | |
| 1993–94 | Premier League | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | ||
| Total | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||
| Mansfield Town (loan) | 1993–94 | Third Division | 9 | 1 | — | — | — | 9 | 1 | |||
| Mansfield Town | 1994–95 | Third Division | 40 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 3[b] | 0 | 52 | 7 |
| 1995–96 | Third Division | 39 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2[a] | 0 | 45 | 6 | |
| 1996–97 | Third Division | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 0 | |
| Total | 94 | 12 | 7 | 1 | 9 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 115 | 14 | ||
| Doncaster Rovers | 1996–97 | Third Division | 25 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 25 | 2 |
| 1997–98 | Third Division | 34 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1[a] | 0 | 38 | 0 | |
| Total | 59 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 63 | 2 | ||
| Career total | 178 | 14 | 9 | 1 | 12 | 2 | 8 | 0 | 207 | 17 | ||
| Team | From | To | Record | Ref. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P | W | D | L | Win % | ||||
| Nottingham Forest (caretaker) | 11 January 2019 | 15 January 2019 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 000.00 | [20] |
| Total | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 000.00 | |||
