Danny Simpson has admitted Newcastle United’s current form is evoking flashbacks from the famous 2011-12 season. Under Alan Pardew, the Magpies - on a limited budget - took the division by storm to clinch Europa League football.
Finishing fifth was the highest league position Newcastle achieved during Mike Ashley’s 14-year reign of discontent on Tyneside. Simpson, by this point a first-team regular having arrived from Manchester United two years earlier, was a stalwart in the team, making 35 appearances to prove his worth at Premier League level.
The now 35-year-old had shown glimpses of quality in previous loan moves but it was at St James’ Park where he made his name. Astonishingly, Simpson shocked the world three years after leaving Newcastle by winning the Premier League title with Leicester City.
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Speaking to our sister paper Manchester Evening News, the right-back - yet to hang up his boots after leaving Bristol City earlier this year - opened up about his time in the North East. Simpson also revealed that watching the Magpies fly high under Eddie Howe is conjuring up memories from a decade ago.
"Newcastle is a massive club,” he reflected. “I couldn’t turn that down and it looked like we were on our way to the Premier League. I had mixed emotions (about leaving Man United) at the time. I was already with Newcastle, so I didn’t get the chance to say my goodbyes at United.
“But I knew it was the next step in my career, 50,000 fans every week, with mad passionate Geordies. I was leaving my boyhood club and that was difficult, yes, but ultimately, I wanted to have a career in the Premier League and I definitely made the right choice. I look at Newcastle now and what they're doing and it brings back memories for me.
"You see Newcastle in the top four this year and that was us in the 2011-12 season. When I look back now, I actually think it was a big achievement, to finish fifth in the Premier League and to reach the quarter-finals of the Europa League.
"It’s not really until this season that I’ve appreciated that and really thought about it. My daughter was born there, I’ve still got friends up there and it was a big four years of my life, to be honest."
Simpson - who had a loan spell at Sunderland before joining Newcastle - also relieved one of the greatest games of the Ashley era. In January 2012, during the fifth-placed season, Newcastle battered his boyhood club in front of a raucous home crowd.
"That (the 3-0 win over Man United in January 2012) was on my birthday and it will go down as one of my favourite nights," he added. "Yohan (Cabaye) scored an amazing free-kick and I think we were just on it that night, everyone was. I always had good games against United for Newcastle.
"I also cleared one off the line at Old Trafford to prevent Chicharito from scoring and I got a little clip around the ear from Sir Alex for that. Another game was 4-3 on Boxing Day, we were winning, then drawing and winning - it was a crazy game.
"Newcastle was probably where I started to show that I could comfortably play week in, week out in the Premier League."
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