Simon Millington is a football coach educator and coach developer for The FA who is passionate about utilising sport as a vehicle for social change.

Simon was born in Birmingham but moved to Portsmouth after his parents separated and his father then took his own life.

Simon has used these challenges in his formative years to drive himself to be the best that he can be. However, it wasn’t all was like this, and Simon was in trouble with the police for petty crime during his late adolescents.

It was these experiences that drove Simon to change his lifestyle and peer group and get into football as a part-time coach.

Simon worked within social inclusion projects within Portsmouth where he grew up because he wanted to try and support young people to not stray into criminality and to take more positive steps to gain employment.

Simon gained all the necessary football coaching qualifications and moved to the borough of Lambeth in London where he followed his passion for supporting young people and coaches from disadvantaged backgrounds. He also completed an Open University Foundation degree.