Simpson’s regret over Durrant tackle

GOTHENBURG great Neil Simpson has broken his self-imposed silence on the infamous tackle on Ian Durrant which still inflames passions 24 years after the incident in a league game at Pittodrie.

The Rangers playmaker, regarded as the brightest prospect in Scotland, was unable to play for two years because of cruciateligament damage caused after a horrendous challenge from Simpson. Durrant and his career never reached the heights predicted.

Consequently, Durrant sued the Aberdeen player for £2million for what his lawyers described as ‘an act of extreme recklessness’ but eventually settled out of court for an undisclosed sum.

Simpson, a ballwinning enforcer, was also affected by the welter of criticism and moved on to Newcastle and Motherwell and was never as effective.

‘I have deliberately chosen not to speak about that day because I knew any comments could be used by others to make things even worse,’ admitted Simpson, who is now head of youth development at Aberdeen.

‘I deeply regret what happened. It had a huge impact on how my career went as well.’

But it never dimmed his popularity in his native North East.

In his time at Aberdeen, he answered every call and won six domestic trophies, the Super Cup and the Cup Winners’ Cup, playing in every tie en route to defeating Real Madrid in Gothenburg.

Sir Alex Ferguson will acknowledge his dedication to the Dons’ cause by taking a Manchester United XI to Pittodrie for his Tuesday night testimonial.

The match is a sell-out even though United’s team will be a mixture of current stars and golden oldies such as Dwight York, Andy Cole and Quinton Fortune.

‘I’ve always appreciated the backing from the Dons fans because I’m one of them,’ said 50-year-old Simpson.

‘I’ve already lived my dream by playing for the Dons and a match in my honour is something I could never have imagined.’