Simon Richard Cox (born 28 April 1987) is a retired professional football player and Republic of Ireland international, who played as a striker.

[12] He made five appearances there, including four in League One, before the loan was cut short due to a broken leg suffered against Millwall on 26 September 2006.

This time he joined fellow Reading loanee Alex Pearce at Northampton Town for a month,[15] which was later extended until the end of the season.

[17] On 16 July 2007 Cox scored the only goal of a Peace Cup game against five-time French Champions Olympique Lyonnais.

[18] On his return from loan he played in the FA Cup fourth round replay against Tottenham Hotspur on 15 January 2008 at the Madejski Stadium, with the new England manager Fabio Capello in the stands.

[29] He made his debut for West Brom exactly a month later, in the opening game of the 2009–10 season, a 1–1 draw at home to Newcastle United (replacing Chris Wood in the 81st minute).

[30] He scored his first goal for Albion on 26 August; it was the winner in a 4–3 victory over Rotherham United in the League Cup, coming four minutes from the end of extra time.

[33] He was rewarded with his first Premier League start in Albion's next game, on 1 November 2010, against Blackpool, but he was substituted in the 12th minute after West Brom had a player sent off.

[34] He scored his first Premier League goal against Tottenham Hotspur on 23 April 2011 – an 81st-minute equaliser, just four minutes after replacing Paul Scharner.

On Saturday 15 September, Cox came off the bench to show wonderful technique with an outstanding first touch and lobbed finish past Birmingham City keeper Jack Butland.

Cox started the first game of the 2013–14 season against Huddersfield Town, however picked up an injury in the second: a Football League Cup first round win over Hartlepool United.

[47] On 16 July 2016, Southend United announced the signing of Cox on a two-year deal after he committed his future to the Shrimpers until at least the summer of 2018.

[50] In early 2020 he made global headlines for a terrible miss during a game against Melbourne City FC, after a Curtis Good defensive error Cox pounced on the failed backpass, knocked the ball past goalkeeper Tom Glover but having got past the keeper with an open net 6 yards from goal he failed to complete the play, his laziness allowing Good to come back and make a sliding tackle a yard out to block the ball from scoring.

Cox made his international debut on 24 May 2011 in the 2011 Nations Cup game against Northern Ireland, when he scored the fifth goal in a 5–0 victory.

[54][55] On 11 October 2011, he played and received the "Man of the Match" award in the game against Armenia, helping secure his team a place in the play-offs for UEFA Euro 2012.