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He’s no John Farnham but I know Mariners fans will pray Simon follows in Farnsy’s footsteps and returns to play in front of a Central Coast crowd for more than just one last time.
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| Brighter horizons for Simon. Credit: Nick Guoth |
Matt Simon is a Central Coast Junior who played his grass roots football with the humble East Gosford Rams. Simon progressively worked through to the Rams First Grade team in the local competition but thought his dreams of becoming a professional footballer were over when it was not paying the bills and it became second fiddle to his full time job as a plasterer.
His efforts and dreams however were never left behind completely and Simon continued to work hard on his football on top of his full time job to be finally be rewarded with a professional football contract from then Mariners coach Lawrie McKinna who he is extremely grateful to.
“I will be forever in debt to Lawrie because he gave me my first chance, it’s not easy to break into professional football from a local team but he gave me a chance when I needed it,” said Simon.
Matt Simon is a tribute to the Central Coast Mariners and will be sorely missed on a personal level by not only the players but also the fans.
It's one thing to take the club's top goal scorer out of the equation but with the way the A-League is at the moment it's something even greater to take arguably the clubs greatest personality or even the league's greatest heart.
Current coach Graham Arnold is now faced with the bittersweet taste of breeding the youngster through not only the Mariners but also the Olyroos and he knows Matt has made the right decision.
“When Matt asked me earlier in the week if he could leave I couldn’t have been happier for the kid.
“It’s my job to make these boys millionaires and hopefully one day when they bump into me they will remember who I am and buy me a beer.
“So to answer Matty’s question I was more than satisfied and I told him I would gladly drive him to the airport tomorrow,” said Graham Arnold
Today Matt Simon will move on, and on his way there will be no bridges burnt as he gives full praise to everyone that has ever coached, supported and played with him.
When asked whether or not he would play for another A-League club once his overseas duties are fulfilled he replied with a smirk and said “this is my home town so it would be extremely difficult to do so.”
The only group of people who'll be happy to see him gone are the other nine Hyundai A-League teams. When Grant Brebner of Melbourne Victory was asked about Simon's move you could almost see the sigh of relief as he joked.
"Well I will definitely be glad to see the back of him, but good luck to him, I am sure he will do great".
The A-League is becoming one of the best breeding grounds for young talent and the Mariners are front-runners for grooming the nations best up and coming athletes.
With the likes of Bernie Ibini, Mustafa Amini (bound for Germany), Michael McGlinchey and current Olyroos captain Oli Bozanic all playing out of the Central Coast it's hard to tell whether the club will be able hold onto such raw talent.
Simon ended his career at the Mariners in fairytale fashion with a goal in the 17th second and one in the last 10 minutes leaving with a two nil win on his home patch to put his club six points clear at the top of the table. If he had caught any sleep in the last week his dreams would have consisted of nothing more and he deserves nothing less.
As the league continues to grow it is sad to say goodbye to such competitors on and off the field in characters such as Matt Simon but for now all we can do is wish him good luck and hope he returns.
Best wishes to Matty.