To my way of thinking Simpson was slightly unlucky however as events unfolded he was the architect of his own downfall. Arrived from Carlisle and I for one was delighted with the appointment. Was dealt a cruel blow when on the 2nd day of pre season training all Billy's backroom staff did the dirty and left. Made some good pre season signings Ledge, Chilvers, Carter and Nicholls An early League Cup defeat at Port Vale gave Simmo an opportunity to blast the players(a sign of things to come) however results started to pick up Sunderland where despatched with ease and Leeds were absolutely hammered one fine Tuesday night 4-1. Then glory be we where top of the division, then the wheels started to come off. a 2-0 defeat at Luton and the first appearence of cracks in the dressing room, Alexander blasted certain elements of the dressing room and was swiftly sold to Burnley. Come Christmas time Sunderland were defeated at the Stadium of Light by a wonder goal from the Nuge and we ended the year 2nd?! A win at Hillsborough and things were looking OK. Then the end of season run in, a hapless display at Cardiff in a televised Friday night match and another televised match with Leeds led me to fear to worst, as the teams ran out noticed that we had no left back and Pavel Pergl was playing, He was the left back. Leeds won 2-1 Healy scored both goals in the area the left back should have been. Rankine also missed the chance to equalize from an inch but hit the top of the bar. Lost 8 out the last 10 games and missed out narrowly on the play offs. This is my view looking back at Simmo's reign that was the season when we should have absolutely p***ed the division but as we now know the manager had lost the dressing room. Simmo blamed bad apples. The season after the expectation from most fans were absolute zero, losing to league new boys Morecambe summed the club up. Results didn't come and by the time we were walloped at Hull time for Simpson was up.
Not a lot that I can add about Agent Simmo.. Made a good start and made some good signings, seemed to be making strong headway then disaster. A manager who had no man management skills or so it would seem and enjoyed the luxury of blaming all and sundry when things turned t*ts up. His final act of stupidity was to blame ELVIS of all people (or one of his songs) for not whipping the fans and players into a frenzy when the team took to the pitch. When all his shortcomings become obvious I wanted him out quick-sticks, before the players and fans held a lynching party. Has been on a downward slope since his demise at Deepdale. :
Agree with you both totally. His comments about "Can't help falling in love with you" were a desperate attempt to cover up his own failings as a manager. There was no other way for him apart from out the door and up the road after that. We signed him after he'd taken Carlisle up with back to back promotions and i was convinced that he'd do well for us. How wrong I was.
