His Managerial Career has hardly been glowing!
Rochdale
After manager
John Hollins departed from Rochdale in 2002, Simpson stepped in as player-manager.[
citation needed] He began the season in equally bright goal-scoring form, but as the pressure of management took its toll and he enjoyed a largely unsuccessful season.[
citation needed] Simpson left Rochdale after only season in charge where they reached the FA Cup 5th round, an equal club record, but finished 19th after a late turnaround by Macclesfield saw them drop from 13th in the final 10minutes of the season.[
citation needed]
Carlisle United
Following his departure from Rochdale, Simpson moved back to his home town, where he became the manager of
Carlisle United.[
citation needed] He also played for the club.[
citation needed] Carlisle were relegated to the Conference in his first year at
Brunton Park, at a time when the club was struggling financially.[
citation needed] A transfer embargo prevented new players being brought in and by December Carlisle were 15 points adrift, and despite an improved latter half of the season, the club were eventually relegated.[
citation needed] However, he immediately led Carlisle back to
League Two in 2004–05 as
Conference National Playoff winners.[
citation needed] Following this, Simpson enjoyed perhaps his best season as a manager, leading Carlisle to double – promotion, winning promotion to
League One as
League Two champions.[
citation needed] He was also named as the League Two Manager of the Year and in the
League Managers Association statistics was the best manager in the country on points per game above
Rafael Benítez.[
citation needed]
Preston North End
In June 2006, following his success at Carlisle, Simpson left the club to replace
Billy Davies as manager of
Preston North End, where he led the Lancashire side to the top of the
Championship by December, their highest league placing for 55 years.[
citation needed] However, after only being able to bring 3 free transfers in January they were unable to maintain this position and missed out on the play-offs by goal difference despite beating already promoted Birmingham on the last day.[
citation needed] After losing key player
David Nugent, the team made a bad start to the 2007–08 season (including just three victories) resulting in Simpson being sacked on 13 November 2007.[
citation needed]
Shrewsbury Town
On 12 March 2008, he was appointed manager of
League Two club
Shrewsbury Town, replacing
Gary Peters who had left the club by mutual consent after a poor run of results.
[6] After helping them avoid relegation in his first season, Simpson then took them to the Play-off Final where they lost to a last minute
Gillingham goal.
[7] In the following campaign after an overall decent first half of the season, Shrewsbury were dealt six straight defeats in March and April, ultimately costing them a place in the play-offs.[
citation needed] He was dismissed as manager on 30 April 2010.
[8]
Stockport County
Simpson was confirmed as the new manager of
Stockport County on 12 July 2010 following a takeover by The 2015 Group.
[9] He replaced former manager
Gary Ablett, who was sacked by the club's new owners after the club spent the entire season in administration – the worst season in the club's history, with County gaining just 25 points from 46 games.[
citation needed]
Simpson made his first new signing as County boss on 14 July 2010, bringing former
Hull City right-back
Mark Lynch from
Rotherham United on a free transfer.[
citation needed]
Simpson was sacked on 4 January 2011 after a run of just three wins in 19 games.[
citation needed]
Northwich Victoria
Simpson was appointed manager of
Northern Premier League Premier Division side
Northwich Victoria on 1 February 2012, with
Alan Wright as his assistant.
[10] However, he departed after only a month
[11] as he had been due to take up a role in Portugal at the end of the season.[
citation needed] This was, however, brought forward to March, meaning Simpson left following the club's FA Trophy Quarter-final match on Saturday 25 February.[
citation needed] His assistant, Alan Wright, oversaw a match with
Rushall Olympic during Simpson's absence.[
citation needed]
Newcastle United
On 3 July 2015, Simpson was appointed as one of Steve McClaren's assistant coaches along with
Ian Cathro, after leaving Derby County.[
citation needed]
England U20
Simpson took charge of the
England Under 20 Squad in 2017 and won the
U20 World Cup in
Suwon, South Korea on 11 June 2017, beating Venezuela by the only goal of the game.
[12][13] Simpson left his post on the 10th August 2020, to become assistant head coach to
Dean Holden at Bristol City.