Ronnie Simpson

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Ronnie Simpson
Personal information
Full name Ronald Campbell Simpson
Date of birth October 11, 1930
Place of birth    Glasgow, Scotland
Nickname Faither
Playing position Goalkeeper
Club information
Current club Deceased
Senior clubs1
Years Club App (Gls)*
1946-50
1950-51
1951-60
1960-64
1964-70
Queen's Park
Third Lanark
Newcastle United
Hibernian
Celtic
78(0)
21(0)
262(0)
123(0)
118(0)   
National team
1967-68 Scotland 5(0)
Teams managed
1971-72 Hamilton Academical

1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only.
* Appearances (Goals)

Ronald "Ronnie" Campbell Simpson (October 11, 1930 - April 19, 2004) was a Scottish football (soccer) goalkeeper.

He is mainly remembered for his time with Celtic, where he was one of the Lisbon Lions, the first British team to win the European Cup in 1967. Although having little to do during the match, his fancy footwork when dealing with a backpass was one of the highlights of the match.

Before this, he played for Queen's Park , Third Lanark, Newcastle United (where he won the FA Cup twice after taking over as Newcastle's regular goalkeeper from Jack Fairbrother) and Hibernian. Thought to be in the last throes of his career, he was transferred to Celtic in 1965 as cover for John Fallon. Simpson's anticipation, handling and maintaining his concentration during long periods of inactivity, made him an ideal goalkeeper for the attack-minded Celtic; and he soon won the Celtic number one place from Fallon.

He also played for the Scotland national football team, in particular when they beat England 3-2 in 1967, which was Simpson's international debut at the age of 36.

Simpson's father Jimmy Simpson also played for Scotland, and enjoyed notable success as a centre-half for Rangers and Dundee United in the 1930s.

After he retired as a player, he was manager of Hamilton Accies for a year. He also served on the pools panel, which guessed results of postponed matches in periods of exceptionally bad weather.

He died on 19 April 2004, from myocardial Infarction.

Preceded by
Bobby Shearer
Hamilton Academical Manager
1971-1972
Succeeded by
Billy Lamont (caretaker)
Preceded by
John Greig
Scottish Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year
1967
Succeeded by
Gordon Wallace

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