Four weeks after losing his  job as Shrewsbury manager, Paul Simpson opens his heart to StarSport’s Town reporter JAMES GARRISON

Paul Simpson’s lifestyle has undergone major surgery over the last month.

But for the former Shrewsbury Town boss, the transformation hasn’t been total.

“I’ve still been getting up at 7am and going for a 30 minute run every morning which is keeping me sane and fit,” said Simpson.

“We have got a tidy garden, all the housework is done so we will see how long that lasts before I get bored stiff.”

This affable football addict – who carries a steely determination to return to the game he loves – certainly hopes his household chores won’t stretch on for too long.

But exactly four weeks on from seeing his two-year-tenure as Town boss ended, the sadness still remains for Simpson after his dream of guiding Shrewsbury to League One, maybe even the Championship, was halted by his sacking.

“I’m still disappointed with the whole season and the way it all ended,” said the 43-year-old.

“There is a lot of disappointment and there was anger at one point as well.

“On the other side of it, I’m also looking forward.

“I go away on holiday which is something to look forward to and I’ve had a lift because I’ve had a good response from the players.

“Most of them have been in touch to thank me and wish me all the best.

“I’ve avoided coming into the town most of the time, but I came in the other day and four or five people stopped me in the street and were shaking my hand and thanking me.

“The ones that were being noisy at the games and ‘anti-me’ obviously haven’t seen me yet or don’t want to speak.

“I’ve had a lift but I just want to get back in and prove people wrong.”

Not that Simpson leaves Shropshire’s sole Football League club without his fair share of positive memories.

Guiding the team to a Wembley play-off-final in his first full season, albeit with the crushing heartbreak of a last-minute defeat to Gillingham, remains a significant landmark on his CV.

But his side came up short in what was to prove his final campaign, and arguably his relationship with supporters failed to truly recover from the FA Cup defeat to Staines.

“I don’t think it had a big impact with regards to the players for the rest of the season but maybe for my job it did,” he reflects on that miserable November afternoon.

Motivated

“I don’t think the supporters could get that out of their minds.

“As a manager and a coach, what disappoints you is how a group of footballers could perform like they did away at Notts County and then like they did at Staines seven days later.

“People will say they weren’t motivated but from the minute they sat down after the Notts County game, I was drumming into them about the importance of beating Staines.

“It didn’t happen and it definitely didn’t do me any favours.”

Neither, he admits in hindsight, did his refreshing honesty applied to media interviews.

“I think I have been too honest,” he added.

“The thing I learned after Carlisle was I needed to give myself 20 minutes to clear my head before I came out to the media.

“I did that at Shrewsbury but I still probably said too much and didn’t do myself any favours.

“But that’s what I am, I’m honest.

“That’s why I do supporters’ question and answer sessions to let them know what I’m thinking.

“Maybe in the future I might not let people know what I’m thinking as much.”

While former Carlisle, Rochdale and Preston boss Simpson is getting used to a rare absence from the helter-skelter world of football, so too are his family, who have also had to deal with the disappointment of seeing Jake released.

“It has been difficult,” he added. “We are very close and we all throw our whole life into the football club. We move to the area and they all support the team.

“They would all come to the home games and Jacqui (his wife) and Dominic (youngest son) would go to nearly all the away games, certainly the ones they could feasibly do.

“We throw everything into it and when suddenly somebody takes the carpet away, it’s difficult to do deal with.

“On a couple of occasions Dom has had a bit of grief at school with lads just pratting around and saying the wrong thing to him.

“But it will all calm down, we will all move on and we will all be the better for it.”