Ian Helliwell (born 7 November 1962) is an English former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as a

striker Striker or The Strikers may refer to: People *A participant in a strike action *A participant in a hunger strike *Blacksmith's striker, a type of blacksmith's assistant *Striker's Independent Society, the oldest mystic krewe in America People wi ...

. He played in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

for York City,

Scunthorpe United Scunthorpe United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, England. The side currently competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The tea ...

, Rotherham United, Stockport County,

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Bru ...

Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Stags', they ...

, Chester City and Doncaster Rovers. He played for

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot of ...

and

Chesterfield Chesterfield may refer to: Places Canada * Rural Municipality of Chesterfield No. 261, Saskatchewan * Chesterfield Inlet, Nunavut United Kingdom * Chesterfield, Derbyshire, a market town in England ** Chesterfield (UK Parliament constitue ...

as a youth, before joining Matlock Town in

non-League football Non-League football describes football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is specifically used to de ...

. After four seasons, he moved to the Football League with York City, where he was top scorer for three successive seasons. He moved on to Scunthorpe United, where he was top scorer for one season, before having spells with Rotherham United, Stockport County and Burnley. He was loaned out on three occasions while at Burnley and he finished his career with Ilkeston Town.

Career

Born in

Rotherham Rotherham () is a large minster and market town in South Yorkshire, England. The town takes its name from the River Rother which then merges with the River Don. The River Don then flows through the town centre. It is the main settlement of ...

, West Riding of Yorkshire, Helliwell attended

Old Hall Comprehensive School Old Hall Comprehensive School was a comprehensive school located in Kimberworth, Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. It merged with Kimberworth Comprehensive School to form Winterhill School in September 2004. History The school opened in th ...

and started his

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

career as a junior with

. He had trials at

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...

before joining the reserve team at

in 1982, and during his time as a youth player worked for steel producer British Steel Corporation. Helliwell moved into

in 1983 with

Northern Premier League The Northern Premier League is an English football league that was founded in 1968. It has four divisions: the Premier Division (which stands at level 7 of the English football league system), Division One East, Division One West and Divisio ...

club Matlock Town, where he scored 68 goals in just over four seasons before signing for

Third Division In sport, the Third Division, also called Division 3, Division Three, or Division III, is often the third-highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Association football *Belgian Thir ...

club York City on 23 October 1987 for a £10,000 fee, which remains the record fee paid for a Matlock player.Mike Williams & Tony Williams (2016) ''Non-League Club Directory 2017'', Tony Williams Publications, p184 He made his debut a day later in a 4–2 away defeat to

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

, and scored his first goal on 7 November 1987 in a 1–1 home draw with

Bury Bury may refer to: *The burial of human remains *-bury, a suffix in English placenames Places England * Bury, Cambridgeshire, a village * Bury, Greater Manchester, a town, historically in Lancashire ** Bury (UK Parliament constituency) (1832–19 ...

. He finished the 1987–88 season with 33 appearances and eight goals, while York were relegated into the

Fourth Division Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'' (1972 film), a Sovie ...

. Helliwell finished 1988–89 as York's top scorer with 11 goals from 47 matches, and was voted as the Clubman of the Year by the club's supporters. His only

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

for the club came on 7 November 1989 in a 7–1 home victory over

Hartlepool United Hartlepool United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Hartlepool, County Durham, England. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They were founded in 1908 as Hartle ...

in the

Associate Members' Cup The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Le ...

, and he finished 1989–90 as York's top scorer for the second successive season with 19 goals, playing in all 54 matches that season. In 1990–91, he finished as top scorer for a third successive season with 10 goals from 49 appearances. Helliwell signed for York's Fourth Division rivals

on 16 August 1991 for an £80,000 fee. He became the first player to miss a

penalty kick A penalty shot or penalty kick is a play used in several sports whereby a goal is attempted during untimed play. Depending on the sport, when a player commits certain types of penalties, the opposition is awarded a penalty shot or kick attempt. ...

in a penalty shoot-out, in an

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

match against Rotherham United on 26 November 1991. He played in the 1992 Fourth Division play-off final, which Scunthorpe lost on penalties to

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

. Helliwell scored 14 goals from 50 appearances for Scunthorpe in 1991–92. He finished as top scorer for 1992–93 with 17 goals from 51 matches, and before the start of the following season, signed for

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

club Rotherham United on 1 August 1993 for a £50,000 fee. He played some matches as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

at Rotherham, where he made 47 appearances and scored three goals in 1993–94. Having made 16 appearances and scored three goals during 1994–95, Helliwell signed for Second Division club Stockport County on 12 January 1995 as a replacement for Kevin Francis. He scored twice on his debut on 14 January 1995 in a 4–0 home win over Hull City, and finished the season with 17 appearances and 4 goals for Stockport. Having scored 11 goals in 29 matches during 1995–96, Helliwell signed for Second Division club

on 9 February 1996 for a £30,000 fee. He made four appearances for Burnley before the end of 1995–96. He was loaned out to Third Division club

on 6 September 1996 for one month, and made his debut the following day in a 0–0 away draw with Doncaster Rovers. He scored his only goal in his final match, a 1–1 away draw with

Carlisle United Carlisle United Football Club ( , ) is a professional association football club based in Carlisle, Cumbria, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They have played their home games at Brunton Par ...

on 5 October 1996, finishing his loan at Mansfield with five appearances. Helliwell was soon loaned out to another Third Division club, joining Chester City on 11 October 1996, making his debut a day later in a 0–0 draw away to

Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, sub ...

. His only goal came on 19 October 1996 in a 2–1 home win over Exeter City, and having made nine appearances returned to Burnley in December. His only appearances of 1997–98 came after joining Third Division club Doncaster on loan on 3 November 1997, debuting the following day in a 1–1 home draw with

Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Dinas Caerdydd) is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1899 as R ...

. He finished the loan with nine appearances and one goal, which came on 2 December 1997 in a 2–1 home win over Chester. Helliwell returned to playing non-League football when joining Southern League club Ilkeston Town in 1998 and featured for them in FA Cup matches against

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

teams Carlisle United and Swindon Town. Having returned to semi-professional football, he worked part-time as an electrician. Helliwell took over as

caretaker manager In association footballing terms, a caretaker manager or interim manager is somebody who takes temporary charge of the management of a football team, usually when the regular Manager (association football), manager is dismissed or leaves for a ...

at Ilkeston after Keith Alexander resigned in October 2000, and led the team to the

first round First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and reco ...

of the FA Cup before John McGovern was appointed in November. In March 2001, Helliwell was appointed as one of a three-man management team at Ilkeston alongside former Burnley teammate Charlie Bishop and former York teammate

Chris Marples Christopher Marples (born 3 August 1964 in Chesterfield, Derbyshire) is an English former footballer and first-class cricketer. Football career Marples' Football League goalkeeping career spanned 1984 to 1995, beginning and ending with his loca ...

. The trio guided the club to safety at the end of 2000–01; Marples was consequently hired as manager on a permanent basis in May 2001 and Helliwell returned to his playing role. After Marples left Ilkeston in March 2002, Bishop and Helliwell took caretaker charge before

John McGinlay John McGinlay (born 8 April 1964) is a Scottish football manager, former professional footballer and scout who is the club ambassador of Bolton Wanderers. As a player, he was a striker over a 26-year career that saw him notably play in the Pr ...

was appointed later that month. Helliwell retired from football following 2001–02, having spent four seasons with Ilkeston.

Style of play

Helliwell played as a

and, at , his height made him a "useful aerial weapon".

Career statistics

Honours

Individual * York City Clubman of the Year: 1988–89

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Helliwell, Ian 1962 births Living people Footballers from Rotherham English men's footballers Men's association football forwards Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players Chesterfield F.C. players Matlock Town F.C. players York City F.C. players Scunthorpe United F.C. players Rotherham United F.C. players Stockport County F.C. players Burnley F.C. players Mansfield Town F.C. players Chester City F.C. players Doncaster Rovers F.C. players Ilkeston Town F.C. (1945) players Northern Premier League players English Football League players Southern Football League players English football managers Ilkeston Town F.C. managers Southern Football League managers