Burning ambition

Robbie Simpson

ROBBIE Simpson’s dream of making the slow, triumphant ascent to the royal box at Wembley twisted into something approaching a nightmare earlier this year.

The likeable 26-year-old, then playing for Brentford, was not only denied a chance to make real his long-standing hope of playing at the game’s spiritual home by an ankle problem he nursed on the sidelines.

To add insult to injury, his team-mates’ collective gloom outgrew his own in the aftermath of a 1-0 loss to Carlisle in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy final — a competition in which the former Coventry prospect had notched a quarter of his season’s eight-goal tally en route.

Time is an effective healer of such mental wounds.

Simpson, who has this term swapped a loan spell at Griffin Park for a similar temporary role at Boundary Park, is able to look back on his part in the surge to the showpiece occasion with some pride.

So much so, that he was this month granted his request for a commemorative medal, which was specially created.

The determination nonetheless burns to make up for one of the major disappointments in a 10-year senior career, starting with tonight’s northern section quarter-final against Crewe (7pm kick-off).

“It was a massive occasion,” says Simpson, now as then a player registered with big-spending Huddersfield Town, where he has long since fallen out of favour.

“The Brentford fans came out of the woodwork because everyone realised what a huge occasion it was with the club playing at Wembley.

“I recall around 30,000 supporters making the trip, when the average gate was below 5,000 last season at Griffin Park.

“It is a major occasion for a club of that size.

“Every player when they are young dreams of playing at Wembley, but few get to experience it.

“I was devastated I wasn’t able to be on the pitch last season and I am desperate to make it happen at some point.

“This is the most realistic chance of me playing at Wembley — this season, certainly.”

Highly impressive of late, not least in the losing cause against Bury on Saturday in a withdrawn playmaking role — all smart movement, cleverly angled passes and top-quality set-piece deliveries — in-form Simpson sees no reason why Athletic have anything to fear from the remaining teams in the competition.

“Looking at our half of the draw, we believe we can beat anyone in our division,” he added.

“Of the teams left in the southern half, there are only two League One sides left and they are playing each other.

“So it is a massive opportunity to win a trophy.”

Dario Gradi is hoping for a particularly rapid change in fortune.

The only manager who can rightfully brand Sir Alex Ferguson a novice in the football management world, the wily Crewe supremo is currently experiencing a rare period of coolness from his club’s own supporters, 28 years and a mere 1,403 games into his unbroken association with the club.

There is little room for sentiment in football’s cold, results driven world, even for such legends of the game.

And 70-year-old Gradi, who was booed by a section of fans in the 3-0 home defeat to Torquay at the weekend, knows that recent form which has seen Alex drop to 18th in npower League Two is not good enough.

While six-goal top scorer Shaun Miller’s barren run has mirrored Crewe’s — he has not hit the net since September 10, while Alex have lost five of their last eight games — the big consolation ahead of tonight’s test is a good record of four away wins from nine in League Two this term.