702 Simon Dakin

Biography

Defender Simon Mark Dakin was born in Nottingham but came through the junior ranks down the A52 at Derby County, where he was coached by former Hull City player Gerry Summers. Simon signed a professional contract with the Rams in May 1993 but did not make to the first team at Derby County, instead joining Midland Combination side Shepshed Albion on loan between December 1993 and March 1994. Dakin was therefore an unknown quantity when he signed for Hull City on a free transfer in March 1994 to add pace to Terry Dolan’s defensive line.

Dakin enjoyed a run of starts at right back the end of the 1993/94 season and opened the following season as first choice in the number two shirt. However a heavy opening day defeat to Oxford United prompted Dolan to shuffle his defensive assets and Dakin spent two months on the first team fringes. He returned in mid-September in a midfield role and scored the only senior goal of his career in a victory at Wycombe Wanderers. Dakin played a supporting role for the rest of the season, accumulating appearances at both right back and centre back.

While holidaying in Tenerife during May 1995 Dakin had an unfortunate accident that led him to fall sixty feet down a lift shaft and receive significant injuries. This kept him out of the first team for five months and when he returned in November 1995 Dolan’s plucky triers had been transformed into doomed losers hurtling towards relegation. Simon made a handful of appearances during the remainder of the season but was unable to continue as a professional and left the Tigers in the 1996 close season.

In August 1996 Simon joined Northern Counties East League side Arnold Town, having failed to secure a professional contract in the Football League, however in September 1996 he moved to Southern League side Grantham Town – by the end of the 1996/97 season Simon was the Gingerbreads’ captain and a regular goalscorer. He led Grantham to the Southern League Midland Division title in the 1997/98 season and stayed around for a further season in the Southern Premier League before joining Southern League rivals King’s Lynn in June 1999. Over the next eight years Dakin continued to play for lower league clubs in the East Midlands and East Anglia before retiring in 2007.

As early as 1995, just after to his Tenerife lift shaft accident, Dakin had successfully passed an A level in Law after studying part-time at Hull College and he pursued a second career in Law while playing in the lower leagues, completing his training and qualifying as a solicitor in 2003. He took a job in corporate and commercial law at Actons Solicitors in Nottingham and over the next sixteen years he climbed through the ranks to become the firm’s Chairman in 2019.

Details

Nationality: England
Date/Place of Birth: 30 November 1974, Nottingham
Hull City First Game: 26 March 1994, Bradford City A (League Division 2), 19 years, 116 days old
Hull City Final Game: 30 March 1996, Shrewsbury Town A (League Division 2), 21 years, 121 days old

Clubs

Derby County (1992-1994), Shepshed Albion (1993-1994, loan), Hull City (1994-1996), Arnold Town (1996), Grantham Town (1996-1999), Kings Lynn (1999-2002), Hinckley United (2002-2003), Grantham Town (2003-2006), Gedling Town (2006), Sutton Town (2006-2007)

Hull City Record

Career: 42 apps, 1 goals