Dennis Simpson - Sky Blue Archive

Position

Midfielder

Date Of Birth

1 November 1919

Date Of Death

10 January 2002 (82)

Place Of Birth

Coventry

Nationality

Games Played

Per Game

Games Started

1.0

Per Game

Minutes

6210

90.0

Per Game

Goals

0.1

Per Game

Assists

Per Game

After attending Windmill Road School where he was nicknamed “Chick”, he went to work at Alfred Herbert and was a capstan setter operator. He played football for Salem Baptist in the Coventry Bible Class League and was spotted by Coventry City scouts during the war and started playing in wartime games in 1942.

His first game was a war-time 5-1 home win over Leicester City and Dennis played at outside right and scored a goal. Dennis continued to work Herberts helping the war effort and whenever possible he played for the Bantams. By the time football was restarted on an official basis in August 1946 Dennis was 26 years old and had played 61 wartime games scoring 13 goals. His first “official” league game for the club was a 2-0 home win over Southampton on 21 September 1946.

He was a very fast and direct right-winger who would push the ball past the full-back and then attempt to beat him for pace, get the ball to the by-line and cross it for the big centre-forwards like George Lowrie and Ted Roberts to head for goal. His appearances were limited by the form of Plum Warner.

1949-50 was his final season at Coventry and Warner’s form and fitness meant Dennis only played eight first team games. His final game was against Tottenham at Highfield Road on 4 March. That summer, with the emergence of young wingers Trevor Lewis and Gordon Nutt, Dennis was released and joined Reading, a division lower than Coventry.

At Elm Park he had five good seasons under the managerial influence of first Ted Drake, the former Arsenal player, then later, Jack Smith. He was a regular for most of that period which saw Reading come close to promotion from Division Three South on several occasions.

In 1952 his form attracted the England selectors and he was selected for a trial game at Highbury playing for England B against the British Olympic trial team.

In the summer of 1955 he transferred to Exeter City where he played for just over a year. He returned to Highfield Road with his new club in the FA Cup crossing the ball for Exeter’s winning goal. He picked up a leg injury soon afterwards and was forced to give up the professional game but played a few games for Exmouth Town.

He worked for a small engineering company in Exeter until 1960 when he moved back to the Coventry area and started work at the Jaguar, later moving to the Standard Motor Company.

Second Division (England)

1949-1950

720′

1 (0)

1948-1949

1620′

3 (0)

1947-1948

2610′

1 (0)

1946-1947

1080′

1 (0)

6030′

6 (0)

FA Cup (England)

1945-1946

180′

1 (0)

180′

1 (0)

Totals:

6210′

7 (0)