Franklin Michael "Frank" Simek is an American soccer player.
Background
Born in Saint Louis, Missouri, Simek played soccer as a child in the United States but did not think of the game as a career until his family moved to London after his father was assigned to a position at the English office of Anheuser-Busch when Frank was 12.
Career
He was signed by Arsenal to a development contract, but decided to move back to Saint Louis, where he played at Saint Louis University High School, as well as Metro F.C. with teammates (Chris Loftus, Nathan Sabich, Eric Joseph and Adam Lanter), Then under the direction of Dave Fernandez and Dale Schilly. However, during this time Arsenal called him back to play on the youth team While at Arsenal he rose to assume the captaincy of the reserve side, but had difficulty breaking into the first team
He found himself behind Lauren, Kolo Touré, Emmanuel Eboué and Justin Hoyte in the pecking order.
He played a single match for Arsenal, in the League Cup against Wolverhampton Wanderers on December 2, 2003. Sheffield Wednesday Simek joined the Owls on a free transfer from Arsenal in the summer of 2005 and made his Sheffield Wednesday debut on the opening day of the 2005-2006 season away at Stoke City.
Simek scored his first goal in his first season at Wednesday away at Millwall. Simek then managed to get his first home goal against Colchester in the 2006–2007.
Simek had managed to gain a regular first team place at Hillsborough became a crowd favourite for his tough tackling and powerful running.
Simek signed a new contract with Sheffield Wednesday on 26 July 2007. The contract will see him remain at Hillsborough until 2010. Simek suffered a serious ankle injury playing against Crystal Palace in December 2007.
The injury kept him out of the Wednesday first team for over ten months.
He made a slow return with a number of reserve team appearances followed by an appearance on the substitutes bench against Birmingham City on 25 October 2008, and then finally a return to first team football three days later when he came on as a substitute against Plymouth. Carlisle United United States.