Simon Ferry

Simon Ferry (born 11 January 1988) is a Scottish professional footballer who is contracted to Portsmouth after joining on a two-year deal following his release from Swindon Town.^[2]

Ferry started his career with Scottish Premier League club Celtic but never played for the club. He spent the 2009–10 season on loan at Swindon who then signed him permanently at the end of the deal for £300,000.

Ferry has played for the Scotland national under-19 football team and featured for them at the 2006 European Under-19 Championship.

Club career

Celtic

Having played for the Celtic youth teams, Ferry signed a four-and-a-half-year professional contract with the club in January 2006.^[3] He was part of the team that won the Under-19 League and Cup double in 2006 and was among a number of players named, by coach Willie McStay, as likely to progress to the first team.^[4]

A few months later Ferry made his first-team debut on a pre-season tour of Poland,^[5] playing against Wisła Kraków and Legia Warsaw.^[6][7]

His professional development was curtailed by injury problems sustained in the 2006–07 season, which resulted in him missing almost three years of club football. He returned to the Celtic first team squad in February 2009,^[5][8] and featured in a 2–0 win in a Wembley Cup match against Tottenham Hotspur on 26 July 2009. Ferry would tells BBC Wiltshire that his professional development would ended his career^[9]

Swindon Town

On 27 August 2009, Ferry joined Swindon Town on loan until January 2010 along with Celtic teammate Ben Hutchinson.^[10] He made his debut for Swindon on 29 August, receiving the Clubs Man of the Match award in a 2–1 victory against Southend United. Two months later, after his debut, he scored his first goal for the club, on 31 October 2009, in a 4-1 win over Tranmere Rovers.^[11]

A week after scoring his first goal, on 26 November 2009, it was announced that a deal had been agreed with parent club Celtic to extend the loan until the end of the season.^[12] Ferry stated he would like to stay at the club and revealed he has adapted easily to life on and off the pitch at Swindon Town.^[13] Soon on 23 February 2010, Ferry scored his second goal for the club, in a 4-1 win over Stockport County. After the match, Ferry says he blacked out when he scored and doesn't remember how he scored during the match.^[14]

Ferry scored an own goal in Swindon's play-off semi-final win over Charlton Athletic in May 2010.^[15] However, Swindon would only lose to Millwall in play-off final, missing out to be promotion to the Championship and Ferry making a start for the final.^[16] Despite the loss, Ferry stated playing in Wembley is his stage in my career, describing as "need to jump one way or the other"^[17] At the end of the season, Ferry was recalled by parent club, Celtic, according to the club's chairman Andrew Fitton^[18]

On 2 August 2010, Ferry signed a permanent deal with Swindon, along with Celtic team-mate, defender Paul Caddis.^[19] Ferry previously stated his wanted his move to Swindon Town turned to a permanent deal.^[20] Shortly after the permanent move, Ferry says his moving to Swindon permanently is a relief after the move was described as "dead in the water".^[21]

Ferry's first game after signing for the club on a permanent basis came in the opening game of the season, coming on as a substitute for David Prutton, in a 2-1 loss against Brighton & Hove Albion. A month later, Ferry went on the sidelines, having suffered an ankle injury in training, which left him out for two weeks.^[22] He returned from injury on 28 September 2010, coming on as a substitute for Thomas Dossevi, in a 3-2 loss against Plymouth Argyle. Since then, Ferry has featured on the bench, being un-used, as he made twenty-one appearances.^[23] The club was then relegated after losing 3-1 against Sheffield Wednesday. Two years on, Ferry recalled then-manager Paul Hart kept the players in the dressing room for a long time and wasn't happy over the relegation.^[24] This incident led to Ferry and Hart falling out and revealed that Ferry considered quitting the club.

The next season, with the appointment of Paolo Di Canio as Swindon Town manager, Ferry believed he could look forward to life at the club.^[25] Soon after, Di Canio revealed that Ferry almost left the club about three weeks after finding himself behind Oliver Risser, Jonathan Smith and Alan McCormack in the pecking order for a place in the centre of midfield. He also says on Ferry that "I was not happy with the way he behaved, not that he was lazy because he always trained well but he did not show me the real desire to do something more and try to put the opponent under pressure. But he has shown to me in the last 10 days though that he has improved and I told him that he deserves to play."^[26] Eventually, Di Canio insists Ferry will stay at the club, having featured him in the first team this season.^[27]

Having featured for eight out of nine games for Swindon Town, Ferry praised Di Canio's squad selection and was then dropped of his first team plan.^[28] Di Canio praised Ferry on his home form, describing him as the main player that pressed everywhere and challenged every ball.^[29] Ferry scored his first goal, in his return and first since moving to Swindon permanently, in a 3-3 draw against Hereford United on 8 October 2011. A month later, Ferry scored his first FA Cup goal, during a 4–1 defeat of Huddersfield Town of League One.^[30] In a 2-1 win over Wigan in the third round of the FA Cup, Ferry was among awarded Ronnie Radford Award, with the aquad^[31]

In mid-April, with Swindon Town in the brink of promotion, Ferry was among players on a night out after a match against Plymouth Argyle and was later forced to apologise by releasing a statement on the club website saying they had "let their standards slip".^[32] Despite the incident, Di Canio has since forgiven the players, including Ferry and make a warning to never let him down.^[33] After the club's promotion return to League One, Ferry was, once again, praised by Di Canio over winning his mind on him.^[34] During the season, Ferry made the most appearance with the club, making fifty three appearance.

The next season, with the club's promotion return to League One, Ferry continued to maintain his first team place at Swindon Town. For the first time, Ferry was named in League One Team of the Week on 1 October 2012 when he scored his first goal for the club, which was the only, as Swindon Town would win 1-0 against Shrewsbury Town.^[35] Following his first goal for the club, Ferry stated he is expected to score at least four-five goals this season on a more regular basis.^[36] In November, Ferry was handed in as captain, ahead of a match against Macclesfield Town in the first round of a FA Cup, but lost 2-0.^[37] Shortly this, Ferry scored his second goal of the season, in a 2-0 win over Walsall and the following week, he also provided double assist for Andy Williams and Darren Ward, in a 4-1 win over Yeovil Town. In the last two games in early March, Ferry started playing in right side of midfield, under newly manager Kevin MacDonald, mainly due to lack of midfields, who plays in right midfield. This was denied by MacDonald.^[38] Ferry then scored two goals in two consecutive games, against Walsall and Brentford. In a match against Brentford, Ferry was, once again, named in League One Team of the Week for the second time on 12 March 2013.^[39]

In June, Ferry was released by Swindon, as the club's playing budget was halved.^[40]

Portsmouth

On 25 July 2013, Ferry signed a two-year contract with Portsmouth, on a free transfer.^[41] He made his debut in a 4–1 home defeat to Oxford United on 3 August 2013. On 14 September, Ferry scored his first Pompey goal, in a 2–1 away victory over Burton Albion.^[42]

Honours

Swindon Town

• League Two: Champions 2011–12

International career

In July 2006, Ferry played for Scotland at the 2006 European Under-19 Championship. The Scottish team reached the final, in which Ferry played, but they lost to Spain.^[43]

Due to injury he missed the 2007 U-20 World Cup.

Career statistics

As of 18 January 2014.

Personal life

Ferry is Married to Steph McCormick. Together, they do vintage clothing business and now, the couple are developing their passion by selling items via an online store. Ferry is also a father.^[24][44] Ferry revealed he's a fan of Eminem, having sent lots of fan mail to him, but has yet to receive a response.^[24]

References

External links

• Simon Ferry career stats at Soccerbase