Takeover could maximise potential
Danny Simpson: SPORT
PLAYING “every minute with a point to prove”, Danny Simpson knows he was not one of the magicians at Newcastle United.
While others demonstrated the showmanship that earns adoration from fans, the defender earned his stripes the other way, the gritty way. He was a battler, more blood and thunder than one with the ability to produce a bolt from the blue.
Simpson, the right-back signed in the promotion season who was a constant as the club progressed year on year, reckons fans were “probably 50/50 on me the whole time I was there”.
“I wasn’t the most exciting fullback and they had Jose Enrique on the other side, bombing on with those runs,” he said.
“But I knew my game and I wasn’t going to try and be what I wasn’t. It was something I learned from Gary Neville at a young age. The good teams need a mix of players and I had my part to play.
“You need the lads who give you magical moments and win the games – which is something Newcastle have always had – but you also need other players in your squad who are reliable, dependable and good people in your dressing room.
“Maybe I was that and I had Hatem Ben Arfa in front of me most of the time. He never really tracked back but he was a match winner so it didn’t matter.”
Simpson lived around the corner from Ben Arfa in Northumberland. They regularly socialised. “We clicked from the beginning, really,” he said. “He was a genius.”
In 2012 with Newcastle soaring in the Premier League, there was vivid proof of his brilliance as United were attempting to unlock a stubborn Bolton at St James’ Park.
“When he scored that goal, if you look closely you can see me right on the edge of the picture – I’m running as fast as I can to try and get up in support of him. I couldn’t get anywhere near! I had the best view in the house for it, I was right behind him as he dinked the ball over the ‘keeper and I’m the first one to him afterwards,” he said.
“It was such a shame it didn’t progress. He loved Newcastle.”
A year ago on Simpson’s birthday, he met Ben Arfa for dinner. They swapped stories of their time at Newcastle. Both felt their time at St James’ Park was up too soon.
“I love Hatem. I went to Paris on my birthday a year ago. I messaged him, we went for a dinner for a couple of hours and we have always stayed in touch. He only lived round the corner from me when I was in Newcastle.
“We got on on the pitch and off it. I understood him. I’d never shout at him on the pitch because he was the type of person – similar to Riyad
Hatem Ben Arfa scores a wonder-goal against Bolton. The Magpies, including Simpson, celebrate (Mahrez) when we were at Leicester – where you don’t shout at them. There’s a better way of getting your message across and communicating with that sort of character.
“I always felt we had respect for each other. He needed an arm around him, Hatem, and I was happy to do that because even if he wasn’t always tracking back, he’d be the player who would put one in the top corner in the 89th minute.
“We still speak now, years on. He still loves Newcastle United and the fans. I think it’s such a shame (he didn’t stay), you know – he got injured but in that one season in the Premier League we saw how special he was. That one year for us he was unplayable.”
A full-back who defended, Simpson was from the old school. But as the team progressed, successive managers came to rely on him.
“I was making my way, really. It was my first big move. I joined on loan and then I knew they were going to up, so I made it permanent,” he said.
“For me personally I have a lot of great memories over that four-year period of being in a team that built year on year. That was a really good team – a good period for Newcastle generally as well I think.
“We had a lot of great players, great team mates: [Fabricio] Coloccini, Ben Arfa, [Yohan] Cabaye, [Cheick] Tiote – bless him, Demba Ba, Papiss Cisse. I learned a lot in those four years, my daughter was born in those four years and I’ll always look back at that period with great memories.”
The end came because of a contract row. Simpson chuckles as he recalls how “stubborn” Mike Ashley was.
“You can’t have regrets [about leaving]. There’s a reason why these things happen and I was at QPR for a year and then ended up at Leicester,” he said.
“At the time I didn’t want to leave. I loved Newcastle, I loved living there, we had a great team and a great squad. I got on with every single player and I had a great relationship with Pardew but it was essentially [that] Mike Ashley is a businessman and the situation was he agreed a contract with my agent at the time which I didn’t know anything about.
“When I got told about it I was a bit unsure and it got a bit messy. And basically Mike Ashley is stubborn and it was kind of that really. We signed Mathieu Debuchy and Pardew was great with me. I said: ‘I understand, we’re signing a France international right-back but I feel like I can challenge for the place.’
“Pardew was great and wanted me to stay but I wanted to play and it didn’t feel right. I didn’t want to be second fiddle, I wanted to play games. I had to move on and try to prove Mike Ashley’s decision wrong, which I hope I did. But when I look back at it the four years were amazing. They set me up for my career brilliantly.”
Asked for a highlight, Benfica in the Stadium of Light was the biggest game he played in. But the best? Two derby wins over Sunderland.
“Those memories will never leave me. You know what sticks with me? How scared I was (about the game). Seriously. Until you play in those games, you don’t realise what it means. I’ve never experienced anything like it,” he admits.
“You play in derbies before but this is a different kind of derby. It’s people’s lives. Man United – Man City is a bit of a banter but I always felt there was more to it for the fans. It wasn’t just leaving the stadium, they carried it with them for weeks with their mates, at work. It meant a lot.
“You can just feel it in the buildup. The warm up, the stadium. I didn’t anticipate the atmosphere and what it would be.
“The 5-1, especially, doing that was incredible. Ryan Taylor’s freekick in the 1-0, as well. It meant so much to the fans and to experience that with them.”
Those memories will never leave me. Until you play in those games, you don’t realise what it means
Danny Simpson