Gary Simpson (10 June 1959 – 27 September 2023) was an English footballer who played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

. He played in

The Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

for

Chesterfield Chesterfield may refer to: Places Canada * Rural Municipality of Chesterfield No. 261, Saskatchewan * Chesterfield Inlet, Nunavut United Kingdom * Chesterfield, Derbyshire, a market town in England ** Chesterfield (UK Parliament constitue ...

and Chester City.

Playing career

Simpson began his playing career with hometown club

, where he progressed through the youth ranks to make more than 40 league appearances. In the summer of 1981 he joined fellow Third Division side

Chester Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Dee, close to the English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011,"2011 Census results: People and Population Profile: Chester Loca ...

for £6,000.Sumner (1997), p 97 This came after Chester had been unsuccessful in attempting to sign Simpson's Chesterfield colleague

Ernie Moss Ernest Moss (19 October 1949 – 11 July 2021) was an English footballer, most associated with his home town club, Chesterfield, where in three separate spells he made 539 appearances, scoring a club record 192 goals. He was later voted PFA ...

to strengthen their squad of just 14 professional players. Simpson marked his competitive debut with a goal in a

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Leag ...

tie against

Bury Bury may refer to: *The burial of human remains *-bury, a suffix in English placenames Places England * Bury, Cambridgeshire, a village * Bury, Greater Manchester, a town, historically in Lancashire ** Bury (UK Parliament constituency) (1832–19 ...

Sumner (1997), stats section (81-82) and he ended the season as the club's top scorer with 12 league goals to his name as they finished bottom of the table. His tally included two goals on his return to

, as Chester registered a shock 5–3 win in monsoon conditions. The following season saw him score six times in the league before being one of eight players released at the end of the season. He joined Oswestry Town but then played for

Bangor City Bangor City Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Dinas Bangor) are an inactive Welsh football club from the City of Bangor, Gwynedd. They started the 2021–22 season in the Cymru North the second level of the Welsh football league system, but ...

in the

Alliance Premier League The National League (named Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons) is an association football league in Football in England, England consisting of three divisions, the National League (division), National League, National League Nor ...

later in the 1983–84 season.

Death

Simpson died on 27 September 2023 at the age of 64.

Bibliography

* *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Simpson, Gary 1959 births 2023 deaths Footballers from Chesterfield English men's footballers English Football League players National League (English football) players Men's association football forwards Chesterfield F.C. players Chester City F.C. players Oswestry Town F.C. players Bangor City F.C. players