- Peter Simpson (English footballer)
Infobox Football biography
playername = Peter Simpson
fullname = Peter Frederick Simpson
dateofbirth =January 13 ,1945
cityofbirth =Gorleston ,Norfolk
countryofbirth =England
height =
position =Centre half ,left half
youthyears = 1960-1964
youthclubs = Arsenal
years = 1964-1978 1978-1979 1979-"?"
clubs = ArsenalNew England Tea Men Hendon
caps(goals) = 370 (10)Peter Frederick Simpson (born
January 13 ,1945 ) is an English former football player.Born in
Gorleston ,Norfolk , Simpson initially joined Arsenal as a member of the club's groundstaff in 1960, before signing as an apprentice a year later in October 1961. He turned professional seven months later, in May 1962. He played for Arsenal's youth and reserve teams at first, before making his first team debut against Chelsea, in a First Division match onMarch 14 1964 ; Arsenal lost 4-2.He was not immediately a regular in the Arsenal side, making just 22 appearances over the course of three seasons. However, with the appointment of
Bertie Mee before the start of the 1966-67 season, Simpson was promoted to a first-team place, and became a mainstay of the Arsenal side for the best part of a decade. He started out as a utility man playing in every outfield position, but by the time he was a regular he had settled into thecentre half position, usually alongsideFrank McLintock .Simpson was a leading figure in Arsenal's brief period of success in the early 1970s. After losing both the 1968 and 1969 League Cup finals, Simpson was a key part of the side that won the
Inter-Cities Fairs Cup in 1969-70, and he made a total of 57 appearances in all competitions that season. Simpson went on to be part of side that won the League Championship andFA Cup Double in 1970-71; though he missed the first three months of that season with acartilage problem, he returned in time for the FA Cup run, and appeared in the final, a 2-1 victory over Liverpool afterextra time .Despite his long career at the top, he was never capped for England, although he was called into a few squads by Sir Alf Ramsey during 1969-70. He continued to play for the club in the trophyless years following the Double, playing more than 35 games a season for four seasons. However by 1975 age was starting to get the better of him, and he only played nine times in 1975-76. Despite a recall in 1976-77, earning 25 appearances, he was dropped again the following season. He left Arsenal in 1978, having played 468 times for the club, with 15 goals to his name; as of 2006 he is tenth in the Arsenal all-time appearances list.
He had brief stints with the
New England Tea Men of the NASL in theUnited States , and then returned to England to play for non-league Hendon, before retiring.References
*cite book
author=Harris, Jeff & Hogg, Tony (ed.)
title=Arsenal Who's Who
publisher=Independent UK Sports
year=1995
id=ISBN 1-899429-03-4
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