1966 was a great year for English football, Paul Simpson was born. The youngster from Carlisle started his career at Manchester City, making an impressive 121 appearances in the top flight before moving to Oxford United. 144 appearances later, accompanied with 43 goals were enough to earn him a transfer to Derby County.

Although he was sent out to Sheffield United on loan in 1996, Simpson's five seasons at the Baseball Ground were highly successful, making a further 186 appearances in his career and with 48. He helped the club reach the Premiership before joining Wolves. He was far from a regular at Molineux though, making just 52 appearances in three seasons and he was also loaned out to Walsall.

A move up to Lancashire with Blackpool brought to an end his high career high up in the League. He had a two year spell at Bloomfield Road before joining Rochdale in 2002. Steve Parkin left for Barnsley and Simpson took over as player/manager. He was abused by large sections of the Spotland crowd and he left the club in 2003 and it appeared his had used up his last chance.

However, he was quickly appointed as player/manager at Carlisle five games into the 2003/4. He took the club on a twelve game losing streak before a win over Torquay just before Christmas sparked the club into life. They almost credited the ultimate great escape. They went into a game against Cheltenham knowing a win could see them move out of the relegation zone for the first time since the second game of the season. A late Cheltenham equaliser, mixed with results elsewhere meant the Cumbrians were relegated.

However, two seasons later and Carlisle were playing in League One. A Playoff Final win over Stevenage Borough promotion them back up until the League before Michael Bridges inspired the club to win League Two. He left Carlisle in 2006 and took over at Preston North End. His spell started well before selling Dave Nugent and the club failed to make the Playoffs, almost suffering relegation in the following season.

Simpson left Deepdale in 2007 and had to wait until the near-end of the 2007/8 season until he got another job. Although he didn't get off to a great start, he did enough to make sure that the Shrews got dragged into a relegation battle.

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