François SIMIAN

François Simian started his footballing journey in his hometown, taking his first steps with his local team, Sporting Club de Toulon. Simian was an attacker, primarily used as a right-winger, and he turned professional in 1961, during the heyday of the club, playing there for four seasons. Toulon were well-established in the Second Division at the time, and they qualified for the promotion play-offs at the end of the 1963/1964 season, which meant that Simian would get his first taste of top-flight football the following year. Alas, Toulon would end up being relegated straight back the Division Two at the end of the 1964/1965 campaign. At this point, he was scouted by AS Monaco, and left Toulon to join the First Division club in the Principality. He would also spend four seasons there, but would also experience relegation to the second tier once again in his last season with Monaco. Wanting to stay in the First Division, he signed for Stade Rennais in 1969, where he would find himself as a regular in the first-team starting line-up on the right side of the Red and Blacks frontline. In his first season in Brittany, he would make twenty-odd appearances, scoring three goals. The next season would prove to be much less productive, with competition for his place coming from Lenoir and Mosa, and he would make just a handful of starts in the First Team, making just 9 appearances in total, two of which came during Rennes' glorious French Cup run. In 1971, he would ultimately move on to sign for FC Rouen in the Second Division. Having spent a season in Normandy, he returned to Sporting Club de Toulon where he would play out his last two seasons as a professional between 1972 and 1974.