Morecambe FC’s long-serving Head Physio, Simon Farnworth, leaves the club this weekend, after 13 years in the Shrimps’ treatment room.
Farny has overseen the fitness of hundreds of members of playing staff at both Christie Park and the Mazuma Stadium, as well enjoying a promotion to League One, and is now leaving to spend more time with his family, and to concentrate on his private work.
‘Farny’ joined the club back in 2009, with the Shrimps recently promoted into the Football League. In his first season with the club, Morecambe made the League Two play-offs, losing to Dagenham & Redbridge in the semi-finals.
Farny said: ‘’Football takes up a lot of your time, and I’m getting a bit older, I’m 59 this year, and I’ve been involved in football since I was 16 years old. It’s time to have the weekends back.
‘’My daughter also lives in Australia, so it will be good to be able to go and see her, as she’s having a baby in February.
‘’It’s great credit to the club that we’ve only had four managers during my time, our club has stuck with people and that continuity is great at a club like Morecambe.
‘’I loved going to Wembley (in 2021), and the Tottenham game in the FA Cup last season was great.
‘’I’ve really enjoyed my time at Morecambe, it’s been a wonderful 13 years, but it’s time to have more time for myself and family, which will be nice.
‘’I’ve stayed this long because of the people at the club behind the scenes. The managers - Jim Bentley, Derek Adams, Sammy McIlroy - you stay for these kind of people.''
Farny was a goalkeeper in his playing days, racking up more than 500 career appearances in a 15-year career for Bolton Wanderers, Bury, Preston North End and Wigan Athletic.
He retired from playing in 1996 and joined the backroom staff at Wigan as a physiotherapist, before becoming Head Physio of Liverpool’s Academy for 11 years. In 2009, he joined Morecambe and was appointed as the first-team physio.
It’s also believed that Farny holds one the quirkier records in the English game, when in 1986 it's thought he became the last goalkeeper in English League football to play a match without wearing gloves, in Bolton Wanderers' 0–3 loss to Bristol City in The Freight Rover Trophy Final at Wembley Stadium.
Morecambe manager Derek Adams has paid tribute to the outgoing physio.
He said: ‘’He has been a very good servant to the football club, but he wants to concentrate on his private practice away from the game and wants to spend more time with his family as well.
“It is a full-on job nowadays. I work in a way where we are in more days than other managers were in.
“They are big shoes to fill. He has been here for many years, he has been an ex-player and then a physio – and we wish him well.”
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