How Simpson has approached build-up to Bradford City v Carlisle United

The Blues boss says he knows from experience that getting carried away by the emotions of the occasion can be counter-productive.

Simpson has plenty of play-off experience as both a player and manager, and while he insists his specific memories are of limited relevance to his current side, he admits level heads are crucial.

“All I’ve tried to do is try and be a little bit calmer this week,” said Simpson.

“I always remember coming towards the end of the season when I was at Derby County, as a player, and Jim Smith got really excitable and, in a way, probably got angry and made everybody nervous as well.

Simpson says he has learned not to be excitable and angry as Jim Smith was at Derby (Image: PA)

“I’ve tried to be nice and calm this week, quite level-headed about it and get them out working.

“It’s not really about what’s happened in the past, because these players are different to who I’ve worked with in the past. There are different personalities, different ways they deal with things.

“I also think over the years since I had a promotion here, the mentality of footballers has changed altogether.

• Simmo's team news update for play-off first leg

“With most players, you have to take a softly-softly approach. If we use the analogy of the stick and the carrot, we can’t use the stick now, it has to be more about the carrot.

“I think it’s just been a case of me trying to keep calm with them and hoping they’re relaxed and going into the game in the right frame of mind.”

Simpson has experienced both emotional extremes in the play-offs as manager, leading Carlisle to glory in the Conference in 2005 and losing in the League Two final with Shrewsbury Town in 2009.

Paul Simpson was a play-off winner with Carlisle in 2005, left, and lost in the final with Shrewsbury in 2009, right (Image: News & Star / PA)

Carlisle’s first play-off game since 2017 gets under way at 7pm at Valley Parade.

It sees the Cumbrians in the spotlight with plenty of media attention on the team, as well as the live Sky Sports cameras.

Simpson says that cannot be allowed to divert his players’ attention from the job in hand.

“There does become more attention on you. You have to make sure we all keep focusing on the game,” he said.

“Over the week we’ve just tried to talk about how we’re going to go about this game on Sunday. Not even looking at the next game, it’s just about this one, making sure we’re right.

Bookies' odds for Bradford v Carlisle play-off clash

“We did some work on Friday, we’ve done our final bits of preparation [on Saturday], everybody knows what we’re expecting and what we want from them.

“Once that game starts, all the periphery stuff is just the noise – that includes noise from the crowd, whether it be positive or negative noise, and we’ve just got to focus on the game and have a bit of tunnel vision that we just focus on a game of football.”

While Carlisle have the worst recent form of all four play-off sides, Simpson says that does not have to set the tone for what happens tonight.

“I always think form can change good or bad at the drop of a hat,” he said.

Simpson says Bradford v Carlisle is a meeting of two sides with proper sets of supporters (Image: Richard Parkes)

“You’ve just got to try and get the momentum in that particular game. If we start the game well and can get the first goal, that will give us a huge leg up and they will be saying the same.

“I can’t really say form goes out of the window, it doesn’t really – if you’re playing with confidence, chances are you’re going to start with confidence.

“But even if you’re not, if you do the first bits really positively and get yourself into a lead, suddenly confidence can come back.

“[In my work a the Football Association] we did a lot of work on trying to understand how you can stop momentum of opposition and keep it for yourselves in games when it’s happening, and we could never come up with the answer.

“If we can get the momentum in a game that will stand us in good stead, and if they get it we’ve got to do everything we can to try and stop it, stop their flow and make sure we get a firm grip back on it.”

While Carlisle will be backed by a 2,440-strong support tonight, Bradford will have a huge home following at their stadium.

On the crowd factor this evening, Simpson said: “The only way I look at it is the crowd will make it a brilliant atmosphere and the sort of game we want to be involved in.

“The crowd won’t win or lose the game, it’s about the players on the pitch.

“The crowd will make it a brilliant occasion. They’re two proper sets of football supporters. They are real, genuine football supporters.

“That sounds a silly thing to say but that doesn’t happen everywhere else. Not all clubs are genuine football supporters but I think Bradford City and certainly us, we are really fortunate to have real football supporters who understand what it’s like to support their teams properly.

“Hopefully it will be ours who are making the noise come [this] evening.”

FOLLOW ALL THE ACTION WITH THE NEWS & STAR'S LIVE BLOG FROM VALLEY PARADE TONIGHT