10 Players Who Successfully Played For Newcastle & Sunderland

8. Danny Simpson

NUFC: 2009 - 2013 (137 games, 2 goals) SAFC: 2007 (14 games) Simpson's circulatory route to St James' Park encompassed five loan clubs before he eventually landed on Tyneside when Chris Hughton borrowed him from Manchester United for an initial six-months as we prepared for life in the Championship. Unfortunately for the right-back his past association with Sunderland didn't exactly endear him at Newcastle. Two years previous Simpson was part of the successful Mackems side that romped to the Championship title under the guidance of Roy Keane and looked odds on to remain at the Stadium of Light instead of returning to Manchester. It didn't transpire and he turned out Ipswich and Blackburn before becoming a Magpie in 2009. He soon won over the Toon faithful with a series of excellent displays that persuaded Hughton to sign him on a permanent deal in the January transfer window.

For the next three seasons he proved himself a dependable albeit unspectacular performer on the right hand side of the defence. That being said he was much maligned by the Magpies faithful, never more so during our failed summer pursuit of Mathieu Debuchy. But we'll never forget his contributions during the 2011/12 campaign in which he racked up more goal line clearances (7) than actual goals, including one at Old Trafford against his boyhood club.