Pulling together

ROBBIE Simpson celebrates scoring at Anfield.

AS THE dust settles on the season, Athletic supporters remain hopeful that Robbie Simpson stays on to experience sustained highs in 2011-12.

Scorer of the opening goal in the club’s superb first-half performance at Liverpool, the forward has also had to deal with crushing disappointment at exiting the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy at the cruellest stage to Chesterfield, and average form in the league.

Out of contract this summer, Simpson is philosophical about his stay so far at Boundary Park. Contract discussions are taking place and a prospective deal to remain at the club will be put to the 27 year old.

The hint is that Athletic will have to improve the way it conducts business to satisfy Simpson’s ambitions.

“For the smaller clubs, it is always difficult. You only have to look at Sheffield Wednesday, who got a crowd of 38,000 for their last game and who have a massive budget.

“I know people at Huddersfield, Wednesday and Charlton and their budgets are huge.

“It is not impossible to compete, though.

“I think what they have in common is that there is a lot of togetherness within the clubs as a whole.

“To achieve what they have, everyone has to be pulling in the same direction.”




Simpson was initially picked up by Athletic on loan from Huddersfield’s scrapheap in September — a victim of then-manager Lee Clark’s fevered activity in the transfer market.



A likeable character, his analysis of the campaign from that point on tells of the personal setback of loan rules keeping him in limbo until the turn of the New Year, the release of frustration that the Anfield goal brought and the lasting effects of the Chesterfield defeat after making his deal permanent.

“I really enjoyed the first three months at the club. I started off on the wing, which isn’t my best position, but it was much better than training with the kids or in a small group of five or six at Huddersfield.

“I made my debut against Stevenage and with every game after that, felt I was getting better and better.

A rollercoaster of elation and frustration followed — laeding to the cup match against Liverpool..

“All the emotions from that difficult period came out in that one moment in which I scored at Anfield and it made everything I went through worthwhile.

“I honestly thought, after the way we performed in that first half that we could push on in the league. But then Chesterfield happened. In the first leg of the semi-final, we missed a penalty and then they scored from a dodgy one.

“I still don’t know to this day how we didn’t score in that second leg. We gave it everything and the defeat (3-1 on aggregate) really knocked the wind out of our sails.”




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