Ronald Campbell Simpson (11 October 1930 – 19 April 2004) was a Scottish football player and coach. He is mainly remembered for his time with

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foo ...

, where he was the

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting ...

in the ''

Lisbon Lions The Lisbon Lions is the nickname given to the Celtic team that won the European Cup at the Estádio Nacional in Lisbon, Portugal on 25 May 1967, defeating Inter Milan 2–1. The name is likely due to the fact that the Lisbon-based Sporting foo ...

'' team that won the

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

in 1967. Earlier in his career, Simpson had won the FA Cup twice with

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

. He also played for Queen's Park,

Third Lanark Third Lanark Athletic Club was a Scottish football club based in Glasgow. Founded in 1872 as an offshoot of the 3rd Lanarkshire Rifle Volunteers, the club was a founder member of the Scottish Football Association (SFA) in 1872 and the Scottish ...

and Hibernian. Simpson represented Great Britain in the

1948 Olympics 1948 Olympics may refer to: *The 1948 Winter Olympics, which were held in St. Moritz, Switzerland *The 1948 Summer Olympics The 1948 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XIV Olympiad and also known as London 1948) were an internation ...

, but was not selected for Scotland until 1967. He made his international debut in the famous 3–2 victory against England at Wembley.

Club career

Simpson started his senior career with amateur club Queen's Park; he was selected by their first team in 1945, aged just 14 years and 304 days. This made him the youngest person to represent a Scottish league club, although it was an unofficial record due to the suspension of normal competitive football during the Second World War. He was 15 when he made his first Scottish Football League appearance in August 1946. After completing his National Service, Simpson moved to

in 1950. He then joined

six months later for a fee of £8,750. He won the FA Cup twice with Newcastle, after taking over as their regular goalkeeper from

Jack Fairbrother John Fairbrother (16 August 1917 – October 1999, born in Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire) was an English professional football goalkeeper, best known for his time at Newcastle United shortly after the Second World War where he won a FA Cup ...

, in

1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Black Saturday in Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh, becomes ...

and

1955 Events January * January 3 – José Ramón Guizado becomes president of Panama. * January 17 – , the first nuclear-powered submarine, puts to sea for the first time, from Groton, Connecticut. * January 18– 20 – Battle of Yijiangs ...

. After nine years and almost 300 appearances for Newcastle, Simpson returned to Scotland, with Hibernian, in 1960. His performances helped to save Hibs from relegation in

1962 Events January * January 1 – Western Samoa becomes independent from New Zealand. * January 3 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro for preaching communism. * January 8 – Harmelen train disaster: 93 die in the wor ...

, but he fell out of favour under the management of Jock Stein due to his attitude in training. Hibernian sold Simpson to

in 1964 for £4,000. Thought to be in the last throes of his career, Celtic signed Simpson as cover for John Fallon. This perception appeared to be confirmed when Jock Stein, who had let Simpson go as Hibernian manager, was appointed Celtic manager later in the 1964–65 season; however, Simpson became the first choice after Fallon was blamed for a defeat by

Rangers A Ranger is typically someone in a military/paramilitary or law enforcement role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called “ranging”. The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with protecting and ...

in the 1964 Scottish League Cup Final. His sense of humour made Simpson a popular figure in the team, who nicknamed him "Faither", on account of his relative old age. The highlight of his time at Celtic was winning the

1967 European Cup Final The 1967 European Cup Final was a football match between Italian team Inter Milan and Scottish team Celtic. It took place at the Estádio Nacional in Lisbon, Portugal on 25 May 1967 in front of a crowd of 45,000. It was the final of the 1966–6 ...

, as part of a clean sweep of trophies in the 1966–67 season. Apart from an early save with his knees from a

Sandro Mazzola Alessandro "Sandro" Mazzola (; born 8 November 1942) is an Italian former professional footballer, who played as a forward or attacking midfielder for Internazionale and the Italy national team. He currently works as a football analyst and c ...

header, Simpson had little to do during the match. His fancy footwork when dealing with a backpass was one of the highlights. He continued to enjoy domestic success with Celtic after the European Cup win. In all, he won four league championships, three Scottish League Cups and one

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Celtic player Ronnie Simpson
FitbaStats He suffered a dislocated shoulder in 1969, and trouble with this injury forced him to miss the

1970 European Cup Final The 1970 European Cup Final was a football match held at the San Siro, Milan, on 6 May 1970, that saw Feijenoord of the Netherlands defeat Celtic of Scotland 2–1 after extra time. Ove Kindvall's goal in the 117th minute meant the trophy was won ...

and to retire as a player that year.

International career

Simpson represented the Scotland Youth side in a match against England Youth played on 25 October 1947 at Belle Vue, Doncaster. He was selected by

Matt Busby Sir Alexander Matthew Busby (26 May 1909 – 20 January 1994) was a Scottish football player and manager, who managed Manchester United between 1945 and 1969 and again for the second half of the 1970–71 season. He was the first manager of an ...

to play for the Great Britain squad in the

. Great Britain finished fourth, losing a bronze medal playoff to Denmark. Simpson also played for the Scotland national team, making his debut in the famous 3–2 win over

1966 World Cup The 1966 FIFA World Cup was the eighth FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in England from 11 July to 30 July 1966. The England national football team defeated West Germany 4-2 in the ...

winners England at Wembley in 1967. He set a new record for being the oldest player to make his Scotland debut, aged 36 years and 196 days.Oldest and Youngest Players and Goal-scorers in International Football
RSSSF, 20 September 2018 He won five full caps in total, alongside the Youth and B international caps won earlier in his career. He also represented the

Scottish League The Scottish Football League (SFL) was a league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4 km sout ...

once, in 1968.

Style of play

Simpson was small in stature for a goalkeeper, at just 5 feet 10 inches. He compensated for this with an unorthodox style of shot-stopping, using his elbows and shoulders to block shots. He also had top-class foot movement and ball distribution skills.

Personal and later life

Simpson's father Jimmy Simpson also played for Scotland, and enjoyed notable success as a centre-half for

and Dundee United in the 1930s. After Ronnie Simpson retired as a player, he was manager of

Hamilton Academical Hamilton Academical Football Club, often known as Hamilton Accies, or The Accies, is a Scottish football club from Hamilton, South Lanarkshire who currently compete in the Scottish Championship, having been relegated from the 2020–21 Scotti ...

for a year. He also served on the Pools Panel, which adjudicated on results of postponed matches in periods of exceptionally bad weather. He was also a

Progressives Progressivism holds that it is possible to improve human societies through political action. As a political movement, progressivism seeks to advance the human condition through social reform based on purported advancements in science, techn ...

Councillor on

Edinburgh City Council The City of Edinburgh Council is the local government authority for the city of Edinburgh, capital of Scotland. With a population of in mid-2019, it is the second most populous local authority area in Scotland. In its current form, the counci ...

in the 1970s. Simpson died from a heart attack on 19 April 2004.

Awards

In 2002, Simpson was named in Celtic's greatest ever team, ahead of John Thomson and Pat Bonner. He was posthumously inducted into the

Scottish Football Hall of Fame The Scottish Football Hall of Fame is located at the Scottish Football Museum. Nominations are made each year by fans and a committee selects the inductees. The first inductions to the Hall of Fame were in November 2004 in a ceremony at Hampden Pa ...

in November 2011.

Honours

Club

Newcastle United * FA Cup:

Celtic *

: 1966–67 *

(4): 1965–66, 1966–67, 1967–68, 1968–69 *

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,1966–67 **Runner-up 1965–66 * Scottish League Cup: 1965–66, 1966–67, 1967–68 *

Glasgow Cup The Glasgow Cup is a football tournament open to teams from Glasgow, Scotland. Operated by the Glasgow Football Association, it was competed for annually by senior Glasgow clubs from 1887 until 1989. It is now (since the 2019–20 amended rule ...

: 1966–67, 1967–68

Individual

* SFWA Footballer of the Year: 1967

References

External links

* *
Ronnie Simpson RIP
ScottishLeague.net, April 2004 {{DEFAULTSORT:Simpson, Ronnie 1930 births 2004 deaths Scottish footballers Scottish Football League players English Football League players Scottish football managers Association football goalkeepers Queen's Park F.C. players Third Lanark A.C. players Newcastle United F.C. players Hibernian F.C. players Celtic F.C. players Footballers at the 1948 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers of Great Britain Scotland international footballers Scotland B international footballers Hamilton Academical F.C. managers Scottish Football Hall of Fame inductees Scottish Football League representative players Scottish Football League managers Scottish Conservative Party councillors Councillors in Edinburgh Scotland amateur international footballers UEFA Champions League winning players Footballers from Glasgow FA Cup Final players