A supremely talented young left winger who had only just broken into the City first team set-up that day in May, Paul subsequently went on to enjoy a hugely successful career both as a player and subsequent manager.

It’s a journey that saw him accumulate almost 700 league appearances as a player – and more than 500 as a manager, with Paul having also been in charge of the England side that won the FIFA Under-20s World Cup in 2017 in South Korea.

But despite clocking up well over 1,300 games in the professional sphere, Simmo says that magical Maine Road afternoon still stands supreme in his memory bank.

“People ask me what’s your favourite ever game, and I have been involved in a World Cup final as England Under-20 head coach, but that Charlton match is the most memorable match I was ever involved in,” Paul declares.

“I think the crowd went down as 47,285, but there must have been almost 60,000 in Maine Road that day. The noise was incredible and the atmosphere magical.

“David and Andy both scored inside the first 15 minutes and that great start really did for them.

“We just sort of put our foot on the gas and blew them away. It was one of those games that you just didn’t want to end!

“I was just 18 so it was all new to me, and I didn’t really feel nervous. And there was nowhere near the sort of attention that you’d get today. There were a couple of stories in the Manchester Evening News but there wasn’t a massive hype leading up to the game.

“I was also on a bit of a roll at the time, I’d only come in for the last nine games of the season and things had gone well for me.

“But we were all reeling a little bit from what had happened on the Bank Holiday Monday in that penultimate game at Notts County where we got absolutely murdered in the first half, and were 3-0 down. There was a mini riot with fans trying to get in the changing room at half-time.

“We eventually lost that game 3-2 and I think everyone was still affected by that.

“It was a case of we knew we had to go out and do the job properly at home.

“We had the same points as Portsmouth in fourth place, but our goal difference was much better, and we were confident in our ability.”

Yet as Paul reveals, but for a quirk of fate, he could well have ended the season on the sidelines and resigned to leaving City on a free transfer rather than being the centre of attention for the Club’s biggest game in years.

“My contract was up at the end of that season and at one stage I was heading for a free transfer out of City, before I got into the team against Cardiff at the end of March,” Paul admits.

“Just before the Cardiff match, we played a reserve game on the Tuesday night at Maine Road and Bob Stokoe, who was the Carlisle manager, came down to watch me with a view to signing me on a free transfer.

“First half I was really poor, and Bob left at half-time. But in the second half I did really well and then later on that week, Clive Wilson and Gordon Smith, our other two left-sided players, were taken ill.

“Now I have to stress, it was not me! I did not make them ill - I had no part to play in it.

“But they both ended up in hospital. One had blood poisoning and the other had some other illness, so they were both unavailable.

“I was the only other left-sided player left in the Club, so Billy McNeill threw me into the team at home to Cardiff.

“We didn’t play very well on the day and drew 2-2 but I scored and stayed in the team and the rest is history as they say.”

Playing with the freedom of youth and further fired up by the emotion and drama of the day, Simpson produced a sublime all-round display of left-wing wizardry that bamboozled the Addicks.

Not content with providing three assists, the teenager then rounded off a Maine Road five-star special by dispatching City’s fourth goal to really get the promotion party started.

As he ruefully admits, with BBC’s Match of the Day cameras there to chronicle all the drama as it unfolded, Paul’s madcap goal celebrations have lived on and provided his children with all the ammunition they need to constantly take the mickey out of Dad!

“It’s one of those goals that my three boys absolutely hammer me about my celebration! It’s the first and last time I’ve ever done it,” Paul chuckles today.

“I don’t know what was going through my head. Thankfully, there was no social media back then because I think that would have been a GIF at some point in my life!

“Dave Phillips launched the ball up from the halfway line and as it went up in the air, I set off to chase it, thinking ‘What am I doing - I’m never going to get there.’

“But then I realized the Charlton goalkeeper was sort of caught in two minds, and I just managed to nick the ball in front of him and he just froze on the spot.

“It was a horrible moment for him, but for me it was absolutely brilliant to stick that one away.

“As I say, I’ve taken a bit of flak from my family over my celebration, but I can live with that.”

The party atmosphere wasn’t just felt in the stands and terraces around City’s cherished former home.

For amongst those front and centre on that memorable mid-May Saturday was renowned comedian and uber City fan Eddie Large.

One half of the hugely popular Little and Large comedy act who were a permanent fixture on British TV screens across the 1970s and 80s, Eddie was also a lifelong, passionate Blue.

Eddie was first invited to sit on the City bench for home games when the late, great Tony Book was in charge, a tradition that subsequently stuck through John Bond’s subsequent tenure and beyond.

And, sure enough at the Charlton game, there was Eddie perched on the City dugout for one of the biggest matches of the decade!

“It still makes me smile now when I see the footage of Eddie sitting in the dugout with Billy McNeill, that would never happen today!,” Paul laughs.

“But that was just the way it was back then. Eddie would be in the changing room before the game, cracking jokes and calming everybody down.

“The manager would allow Eddie to sit in the dugout and he was there at the Charlton game. There’s a clip of it on YouTube where you see him laughing in the dugout.

“When you think about the importance of the game, to see Eddie sitting there cracking jokes - it was incredible!”

A true pioneering figure and part of the Manchester City family for more than three decades, for goalkeeper Alex Williams, Charlton ’85 was one of those rare days where – for the most part – he could watch and savour the action as it unfolded at the opposite end of the field.

Success that day was all the sweeter too with Alex having been part of the City side that had suffered the trauma of relegation from Division One two years previously after an infamous 1-0 home defeat to Luton Town in May 1983.

And as Alex admits, the manner and scale of the Charlton win not only helped banish those demons but served as a reminder of the unbridled joy that only football is capable of delivering.

“On the day we always felt it was something we were going to achieve and to win, rather than like two years previously against Luton where we lost our Division One status,” Alex points out today.

“In my own mind I felt that I wiped the slate clean against Charlton. It was just nice in my own mind to get City back to where we were when I joined the Club as a kid.

“For me the Charlton game meant we could only gain and win something. The lads were just on a high - we never thought in our minds that it would be anything other than a victory.

“But little things went our way.

“Charlton had a very good, experienced goalkeeper called Bob Bolder, who had got injured before the game, so they had to play a young 17-year-old called Lee Harmsworth as he was their only fit and available goalkeeper.

“Little things like that went for us.”

It’s fair to say it proved a baptism of fire for rookie Harmsworth as those early City goals from Phillips and May rained in and a raucous Maine Road celebration got started in earnest.

For a shell-shocked Harmsworth it was to prove his third and last senior professional appearance before he went on to leave football and instead carve out a successful career in investment banking.

“I felt sorry for him but it’s a bit of a harsh world we’re in,” Alex reflects today.

“For 90 minutes we just had to win. I gave him a big handshake and a hug at the end of the game. It would have been a massive learning curve for him.”

It’s no exaggeration to say that in his modest, understated way Williams was one of the mainstays of that vibrant, attacking City side assembled by McNeill.

An ever-present in goal across the league season, his impact in helping City achieve promotion via goal difference cannot be overstated.

For Alex the only blemish on an otherwise unrivalled day was the late goal he conceded to Rob Lee that provided the Addicks – and their hardy band of 150 travelling fans – a modicum of consolation.

On a professional level Alex reveals it left him with one nagging regret.

“I was just disappointed that I let that late goal in,” Alex admits.

“Had I kept that out I believe I would have equalled Joe Corrigan’s record of 22 clean sheets for the season.

“Nicky Weaver since went on to beat that but that was when we played in the old Third Division, which would be the equivalent of League One now, and City played 46 games that year.

“I used to wind Nicky up because firstly I never had the privilege of playing in that league, and secondly, if I had played 46 games, I would have probably had 45 clean sheets!! (only kidding Nicky!!).

“I actually played every game that season, I played 42 games and ended up having 21 clean sheets, and we went up on goal difference that year.

“So, it’s nice to know that the clean sheets were really important towards us going up.”

Over the course of both his distinguished playing career and subsequent 30-year spell as one of the pivotal figures within City in Community, Williams cemented himself as part of the very fabric of Manchester City.

Alex was also one of a pioneering group of black players who represented the Club with huge distinction and served as true trailblazers in showing what was possible for anyone to achieve in football - regardless of race and background.

Harking back to that special day 40 years on, the former ‘keeper admits clinching promotion in such a special way meant all the more to him being a born and bred Manc.

 “I think the other thing to remember that Manchester City have always been one of the most inclusive clubs in the country,” Alex says.

“The Club took on players like Roger Palmer, Dave Bennett, local black lads from Moss Side, then later on there was myself and Clive Wilson.

“It wasn’t just great for the local community of Moss Side; it was great to show what an inclusive Club we were.

“And that day was a proud moment for us all.”

A product of City’s famed Academy, Bury-born Andy May was one of a phalanx of young guns who brought verve and energy to the Blues’ midfield engine room over the course of five years across the 1980s.

Ironically however, suspension to Mick McCarthy meant that May was redeployed as a stand-in centre half for what was the biggest game of his career to date.

Though not the tallest of players 5ft 7ins, May always married great football intelligence alongside fine technique and positional awareness.

And those qualities were perfectly encapsulated when, after David Phillips had struck to fire City ahead on six minutes, May then doubled the advantage with a quite brilliant 15^th minute header.

“It’s funny as there’s only ever two goals that get mentioned for myself in terms of City. One when I scored for Huddersfield when City won 10-1 in 1987 – and that goal against Charlton!,” Andy says today.

“To this day, if I speak to City fans, they’re the two fixtures they want to talk about.

“I think I’m the only player who scored in both games - and I know which gives me the happiest memories!

“I was playing at centre-half that day, not because of my height but because we had suspensions and injuries to guys like Mick McCarthy and Nicky Reid, but dare I say I wasn’t too bad in the air for my height.

“In terms of the goal, I went up for the corner and it was one of those where it was a case of making contact, and then direction.

“Fortunately for me it had pace and height and found its way into the top left-hand corner of the Charlton goal from 12 yards out.”

That crucial header helped provide added gloss to not only one of the standout moments in City’s Maine Road history – but the most outstanding individual campaign for May too.

And on reflection, May says that fate and serendipity combined to help assemble a potent City team.

It was one that blended exciting young talent such as May, Paul Simpson and Steve Kinsey buttressed by a spine of experience in the shape of Paul Power, Phillips and McCarthy alongside an influx of Tartan talent recruited by former Celtic legend McNeill from north of the border such as Jim Melrose, Jim Tolmie and Neil McNab.

“All told, I played 44 games that year and looking back I probably played my best football at City in that promotion season,” May says today.

“Partly by good fortune and partly due to the financial circumstances of the club, more youngsters and home-grown players were given an opportunity.

“It meant we were able to flourish. Dave Phillips had a fantastic season goalscoring wise and Simmo (Paul Simpson) came to the fore as well and it was my best season too.

“Mick McCarthy had an outstanding campaign and added solidity to our defence. The experience we had there with Kenny Clements and lads like Clive Wilson also meant we had a good blend of youth and experience.

“Paul Power, who was captain that day, also brought all his experience to bear and gave us a good, solid footing.

“We were allowed to play and express ourselves because of the circumstances of the club at the time.”

Three further goals in four minutes just before the hour mark from Phillips, Jim Melrose and Simpson meant the game as a contest was effectively done and dusted.

With the sun beaming down and promotion having long since been assured, thousands of joyous Blues counted down the moments until full time where they launched a mass pitch invasion to revel in the moment and City’s return back to the big time.

Amidst the pandemonium, a number of players – including May – got caught up in the mayhem with fans eager to claim their own mementoes of the day.

“That pitch invasion was quite something and I didn’t get off the ground unscathed,” Andy chuckles today.

“I think I lost everything bar my shorts by the time I managed to make it to the dressing room.

“I was lifted up onto somebody’s shoulders, and then discovered I had no shirt on, I had no boots on, I only had shorts and socks on. So, my boots went, my shirt went, then socks…

“God only knows where they all ended up.”

For a player born and bred in Manchester who had graduated through the City Academy, the opportunity to help secure promotion in front of a packed Maine Road was the stuff of dreams.

And May says reflecting back 40 years, the enormity of that Charlton win still resonates today.

“It was without doubt one of the best days of my City career,” Andy declares.

“For me, being from Manchester, coming up through the ranks, supporting the Club, that sort of thing is every boy’s dream.

“To play for your hometown team, to win promotion and score… everything was wrapped up into that one day.

“It was all you could wish for from being a young boy wanting to play football.”

Charlton were cast as the potential baddies back in 1985 but the south London club had endured plenty of issues in the months ahead of the game.

Just over 12 months earlier, they faced a bankruptcy hearing at the High Court. The Club faced extinction when the Football League set a 5pm deadline for a rescue package before a deal was approved with just 25 minutes to spare.

A relegation battle ensued and deep into the season they persuaded an experienced Curbishley to join the squad. He would become one of Charlton’s greatest-ever managers, but he was unsure exactly what he was first walking into when he joined.

“I took a massive gamble leaving Aston Villa who were in the top-flight by going to Charlton who were in the bottom three of the second division and looking like they might go down,” he said.

“[The manager] Lennie Lawrence came in for me in March and I was living in Birmingham, and I wanted to get back to London. To be honest I thought I'd use Charlton as a stepping stone and then get a move somewhere else as they were struggling. But Lennie promised me in the summer things would change and that was exactly what happened.

“We drew 3-3 with [ Division One champions] Oxford in a crazy game and then went up to City. Knowing that we just survived the game before we went to City, it wasn't quite such a big game for us. But if we had to go to City to get something it might have been a bit different.”

Curbishley, who also played for West Ham, Birmingham, Aston Villa and Brighton during his playing career, didn’t have particularly fond memories of Maine Road. Particularly after once incident involving Asa Hartford when he had visited a few years earlier.

“I played for Birmingham at City against Asa Hartford and he broke my nose,” he recalled simply. “We went into a challenge and his elbow just caught me in the face and after I walked to over Frank Worthington and said: ‘Has he just broken my nose?’ because it felt like my nose was all over the place and Frank said: ‘Err... yep’.”

He returned with Charlton who brought an inexperienced team that included teenage twins Alan and Garry Kimble and 17-year-old goalkeeper Lee Harmsworth.

The rookie number one was playing only his third league game at the time and was called back from an Outward-bound course in Wales to play in the game.

“We had Rob Lee who was just 19 then, the Kimble brothers were very young too. Hardly any of that team played the next season – and survived the changes that were made.

“City had Jim Melrose playing that day who would join Charlton after City went up. I played with him when he was at Charlton and he was a really good striker.”

For Charlton, the hard work had been done, and the players were able to be swept along at being at a packed-out Maine Road.

“My biggest memory of the day was the relief that we never needed to get anything,” Curbishley added.

“And I remember the crowd being incredible and the size of Manchester City was phenomenal.”

Former City skipper Mick McCarthy had a bird’s eye view as all the drama unfolded on that final day against Charlton – as the formidable central defender had to watch on from the stands!

McCarthy was an imposing presence in the City defence throughout the 1984/85 campaign, and leader of the team on and off the field.

However, City fans had experienced last-day jeopardy too many times to count their chickens to believe beating Charlton was a shoo-in – especially as the Blues would have to do it without both the inspirational McCarthy and his equally dependable central defensive partner Nicky Reid!

“I was suspended for the game,” recalled McCarthy who had joined City from Barnsley in 1983.

“I think Reidy and me were sat down near the dugout in the Main Stand. Billy played Andy May at centre half, and Kenny Clements alongside him.

“The Bank Holiday Monday before the Charlton game, we must have taken 10 or 12,000 fans to Notts County, but we lost 3-2 and oh man, there was a riot that day in the dressing room - and with our fans.

“I think Charlton started OK as I recall, then we scored an early goal through David Phillips and that settled everyone down.

“Then Andy May’s header meant we were 2-0 up after about 15 minutes which made things even calmer, and then we scored three in five minutes just after the break. It turned out to be pretty routine in the end, but it didn't seem like that at the time.

“There was a massive crowd there that day, I remember that. We won 5-1, were promoted and that was that.”

Over the course of two memorable spells at City, Kenny Clements figured in more than his fair share of huge occasions.

But for the dependable defender that May day back in 1985 still stands apart.

“My memories of the Charlton game are crystal clear,” Kenny says today.

“I was 10 games into my second spell at City having reluctantly left to join Oldham in 1979.

“I’d played 150 games for City between 1975 and 1978 and was on the verge of an England call-up when I broke my leg against Ipswich Town at Maine Road.

“Malcolm Allison returned in the interim and by the time I was fit again, he made it clear that I wasn’t part of his plans so when Jimmy Frizzell offered me a route out at Oldham, I didn’t hang around.

“I’d only ever played at right-back for City but Oldham put me straight in at centre-half and that’s where I played all my games for them for the next six years.

“When City came back to get me from Oldham in March 1985, it was a dream come true to have that opportunity to play at Maine Road again.

“Despite six years of playing centre-half for Oldham, I was put straight in at right-back by Billy McNeill!

“I’d made my second debut in a 1-0 home win over Middlesbrough and played all the remaining games that season.

“I’ll never forget the reception the City fans gave me on my return to Maine Road and I was right in front of the Kippax because I was playing at full-back again.

“It was a beautiful, hot day in May and Maine Road was packed to overflowing for the Charlton game.

“With Mick McCarthy suspended Billy obviously knew it was a bad time to be going into such a huge game without a centre-half of his stature, so I was switched from full-back.

“What a game to play my first match in the centre of defence for the club I’d joined 14 years before!

“Billy McNeill was superb and never put us under any pressure. There was so much at stake, but he just said, ‘Go out and enjoy yourselves. If you win, great, if you don’t we will have to accept it’.

“He took all the pressure away by saying that as winning was so vital for the club– we had to get back into the top division as a third year in the second tier might have led to many more years in the wilderness. Who knows?

“The day itself was untrue. Everything went our way and by the hour-mark, I think we were already winning 5-1 so it took all the tension away.

“I remember at the end, our fans raced onto the pitch, and we had to rush into the dressing rooms while the mounted police organised a cordon around the tunnel, but there was no aggression– everyone was just happy celebrating!

“We waited until order was restored and then emerged near the directors’ box to celebrate with our fans.

“It was a fantastic day that, for once, had gone exactly as we’d hoped.

“Even 40 years on, I’ll never forget that day in the sunshine.”

Relegation on the final day two years earlier against Luton had come as a shock with a club the size of City belonging in Division One and there was a desperation around the supporters to get back as soon as possible.

“Just a few seasons earlier in 1977, we’d finished second so going down was just out of the blue,” Ian recalls. “The season after we thought we would bounce straight back up, and we didn't.

“So that [84/85] season we started off pretty well and then we went a bit stale and we all thought: ‘Oh God, here we go again!’

“But we had Billy McNeill who was a top manager. David Phillips had had a really great season and got some absolute bangers from outside the area.

“Paul Simpson was an exciting young player and Andy May was one that everyone thought was up and coming.

“But we were struggling for goals.”

Confidence ahead of the Charlton game was not high, particularly as City had won just twice in our previous 10 matches.

“The home game before we played Oldham and it finished 0-0,” Ian said. “The referee [Peter Willis] was the one who sent off [Manchester] United’s Kevin Moran in that year’s FA Cup final, and he sent off Andy May in that game. When they went off at half-time someone threw a meat and potato pie at him and after the game someone asked him about it and he said it was tasty!

“Then we could have gone up at Notts County. We expected to win but we were 3-0 down at half-time and Billy McNeill had to come on to try to calm everything down.

“So then I remember in the build-up to the Charlton game, we were clutching at straws saying things like: ‘Oh their goalie is injured, and they’ve got this young lad in goal’.”

Despite the pre-match nerves, Ian said the energy of the fans arriving to the ground made him think it might be our day as it counted down to kick off.

“We had a pint, and then travelled to Maine Road and had a couple more near the ground,” he added. “We used to take it in turns driving and luckily, it wasn't my turn to drive that day.

“Everyone was a little bit nervous but also you had that feeling that everyone was up for it. I was in the Kippax then and you had your own space - the same place you stood in every week which meant you knew everyone around you.

“The Kippax was full but it always felt packed to me. It was always the North Stand that was empty so when those seats were taken you knew it was full. I just remember it was a great day, the atmosphere was incredible.”

Minutes into the game, David Phillips scored and from then on, there was no looking back.

“I think once we started, we just knew we were going to win,” Ian added. “And when David and Andy May scored that really calmed the nerves.

“Then Jim Melrose scored and Paul Simpson went round the keeper and we could really start to enjoy it.

“The other thing I remember about that day was the pitch invasion after the whistle. It’s the only time I’ve ever been on the pitch at City. Running around the pitch was just mad and the atmosphere was amazing.

“It was just a big relief, getting back into the first division and thinking, we’re back where we belonged, and we'll be staying there.

“The atmosphere was amazing, everyone coming out of the stadium and celebrating. Then going for a few beers. It was just a great day.”