Born in St. 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.

[3][4] 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.

[5] Simek joined the Owls on a free transfer from Arsenal in the summer of 2005[6] and made his Sheffield Wednesday debut on the opening day of the 2005–06 season away at Stoke City.

Simek had managed to gain a regular first team place at Hillsborough became a crowd favorite for his tough tackling and powerful running.

Replacements such as James Tavernier and Christian Ribeiro filled the right-back position in Simek's absence but upon his recovery he instantly earned his place in the Carlisle team yet again.