Simon Church
Personal information
Full name	Simon Richard Church
Date of birth	10 December 1988 (1988-12-10) (age 20)
Place of birth	High Wycombe, England
Height	5 ft 11 in (1.81 m)
Playing position	Striker
Club information
Current club	Reading
Number	18
Youth career
2003–2007	Reading
Senior career1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
2007– 2007–2008 2008 2008 2009	Reading → Crewe Alexandra (loan) → Yeovil Town (loan) → Wycombe Wanderers (loan) → Leyton Orient (loan)	12 (3) 12 (1) 06 (0) 09 (0) 13 (4)
National team2
2007– 2009–	Wales U21 Wales	13 (8) 05 (0)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 22:31, 11 November 2009 (UTC). 2 National team caps and goals correct as of 21:00, 14 October 2009 (UTC). * Appearances (Goals)

Simon Richard Church (born 10 December, 1988 in High Wycombe, England) is a Wales international footballer currently playing for Football League Championship club Reading.

Contents 1 Football career 1.1 Club 1.2 International 2 References 3 External links

[edit] Football career

[edit] Club

Church started his career at the Wycombe Wanderers Centre of Excellence and joined Reading's Youth Academy at the age of 14. He was a regular in Reading's reserve side whilst still in the academy.^[1] On 6 July 2007, he signed a one year professional contract with Reading,^[1] but did not make a first team appearance that season due to stiff competition from the likes of Dave Kitson and Irish internationals Kevin Doyle and Shane Long.

Church joined Crewe Alexandra on loan for one month on 19 October 2007,^[2] which was subsequently extended to 19 January 2008 following rave reviews.^[3] He was put into the starting XI for Crewe on 20 October 2007 against Luton Town, where he wore the number 31 shirt and assisted Ryan Lowe for Crewe Alexandra's second goal.^[4]

Church joined Yeovil Town on loan for the remainder of the 2007–08 season on 29 January 2008.^[5] He followed this with a loan move to his hometown club Wycombe Wanderers at the start of the 2008–09 season.^[6] His original month at the club was cut short due to a sending off and subsequent three match ban, but he later rejoined the club for a further two months on 20 October 2008.

On 17 February 2009 Church joined Leyton Orient, initially on a month's loan, but later extended to the end of the season.^[7]

Church made his full first team debut for Reading in the play-off semi-final second leg defeat to Burnley on 12th May 2009. In June 2009, Church told a London newspaper that he would love to play for Leyton Orient F.C. if things doesn't work out at his current club Reading F.C..^[8]. He became more of a part of the Reading first team during the 2009-10 season, and managed to score first goal for them during their 3-2 loss away at Peterborough on the 19th September 2009.

[edit] International

Despite being born in England, Church qualifies to play for Wales as his grandparents are from Newport.^[9] He made his début for the Wales U21 team^[10] as a substitute in their 4-3 win over Sweden U21 on 21 August 2007.^[11] He scored two goals for Wales under 21s against England under 21s as they lost 3-2 on 10 October 2008.

Church also scored Wales's second goal in the first half of the second leg of the playoff against England, neatly lifting the ball over the on rushing Joe Hart.

On 29 May 2009 Church made his debut for the senior Wales international team in the friendly against Estonia. He received call-ups for the match against Italy U21 and a 2010 World Cup qualifier against Russia on 9 September but may not participate due to the death of his father.^[12][13]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Simon Church profile at readingfc.co.uk
• Simon Church career stats at Soccerbase

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Persondata
NAME	Church, Simon Richard
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Footballer
DATE OF BIRTH	10 December 1988
PLACE OF BIRTH	High Wycombe, England
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH