Dave Simpson (soccer) - Professional Career

Professional Career

He started his professional career at the age of 20, when he signed a lengthy deal with the Manchester United F.C. farm team, and Belgium first division side Royal Antwerp FC. The Belgium side paid 99 thousand euro for his services.The deal was set to run till 2005 but troubles arose when the club went through financial difficulty, causing him to leave in the summer of 2002.

He signed with Hamilton Thunder of the Canadian Soccer League that same summer, clinched the League Title. Contract disputes forced him to miss the 2004 season.

In 2005 he signed with the Toronto Lynx in the USL First Division. There he became a fan favorite often chatting with fans, and the media. After impressing with the Lynx he took another chance and left for Europe again and signed with Lombard-Pápa TFC in the Borsodi Liga in 2006, where he continued to impress. Toronto Lynx received 154.000 £.

Return to Europe

Lombard-Pápa TFC ended up paying 154.000 £ for Simpson and improved from six points at winter break, to 24 by the end of the season. Despite his efforts at the end of the 2006 season, Lombard-Pápa was relegated. Dave was sold and signed with Czech giants AC Sparta Prague in the summer of 2006 as one of the biggest Hungarian transfer deals that summer at 352.000 £. He impressed early in the summer camps and quickly became a favorite because of his speed and long runs with the ball.

Upon signing, Simpson became the first Canadian-born player in history to be signed by the club. He played numerous friendly matches before being named to the squad. In September, he was named to the roster for the UEFA Cup wearing #11. Michal Bílek became coach five games into the season and an eventual ten players were changed. The change saw Dave put on loan to his disappointment just one week before the UEFA Cup game against Scottish League giants Hearts. He was loaned to newly-promoted SK Kladno for 154.000 £ till winter break to gain more experience of the Czech league.

He had an impressive start with SK Kladno scoring in his second game. Playing as an offensive midfielder Simpson supplied the Kladno offense with more opportunities on goal. In a game against FK Teplice, he suffered a horrible head injury which saw him leave on a stretcher. Later it was revealed he suffered a concussion. He missed all but one of the remaining games left in the half season. He came on as a substitute against Sparta to a standing ovation.

Due to the injury, Simpson only played 5 games with SK Kladno. Sparta saw it best to lengthen his loan till the end of the season. Kladno changed his position to a defensive midfield or central midfield role helping keep Kladno in the top division. In the summer of 2007, after playing with Kladno for 7 months he signed for two more years with AC Sparta Prague. Sparta qualified for the Champions League by winning the Czech Cup and league title.

After taking on his option Sparta failed to utilize the striker. Instead they sent him along with Jan Šimák to the reserves. Eventually after 2007/2008 winter break he went on loan to FK SIAD Most. Simpson was a starter until he suffered a car crash which kept him out of action for two more weeks. Simpson did not play the remainder of the games. Simpson was reportedly linked Nottingham Forest of the English Championship Division after a brief stay at the clubs grounds early May 2008.He broke his contract with Sparta in the summer of 2008.

He signed with Hungarian side Dunaújváros FC. The official team site has already stated he will be leaving for a bigger team this winter transfer season. He finished as club top goal scorer. In February 2009 Dunaújváros folded as a club due to finances.

He joined Integrál-DAC where he was expected to be transferred from. Instead Integrál-DAC failed to come to an agreement with several clubs, and opted to keep Simpson till the summer transfer window. He finished his stay with 11 goals on the season, and top goal scorer. Integrál-DAC folded in the summer of 2009 leaving Simpson a free player.