Peter Simpson (Scottish footballer)

Peter Simpson (13 November 1904^[2] – March 1974) was a Scottish footballer of the 1920s and 1930s who set many scoring records.

Club career

Early career

Simpson was born in

At Kettering, Simpson did well and his break came, in a game for Kettering playing against Crystal Palace in an FA Cup First Round tie in 1928. Though he failed to find the net, Simpson impressed Palace manager Fred Mavin who signed him the following summer.

Crystal Palace

Simpson made his Crystal Palace debut in the fifth game of the

In his first five Palace seasons, Simpson topped the goalscoring charts every time, another unbeaten record.^[citation needed]

In the

After two largely un-noteworthy seasons with West Ham, and still not fully recovered from his injury, he left in 1937, moving to Reading. At Elm Park, despite being towards the end of his career, he seemed to regain some form. He would return to Selhurst Park in early 1938 with "The Royals", and score two of Reading's three goals, to beat "The Glaziers" 3–2. Simpson ended his career with a short spell at Aldershot.^[3]

Biography

After his playing career ended, Simpson returned to the Croydon area, taking over a tobacconist's there. He died in Croydon, at the age of sixty-nine.^[3] However, though he did not make it into Palace's Centenary XI (possibly because the majority of the voters were more accustomed to the talents of later players, Ian Wright and Andrew Johnson, who played in the top division, rather than a vintage great, such as Simpson), the record books of Crystal Palace F.C., continue to show Simpson's achievements.

References