Simon William Walton (born 13 September 1987) is an English

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 plays as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for

Havant & Waterlooville Havant & Waterlooville Football Club is a professional football club based in Havant, Hampshire, England. The club participates in the National League South, the sixth tier of English football, after relegation from the National League in the 20 ...

. He has 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

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road S ...

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn profession ...

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 ...

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus Ro ...

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Kingston upon Hull, Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving ...

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the team are competing in League One, the third tier of English football. They have played at Home Park, ...

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 ...

Crewe Alexandra Crewe Alexandra Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, that competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' because of ...

Stevenage Stevenage ( ) is a large town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, about north of London. Stevenage is east of junctions 7 and 8 of the A1(M), between Letchworth Garden City to the north and Welwyn Garden City to the south. In 1946, Stevena ...

, and

Crawley Town Crawley Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crawley, West Sussex, England. The club was founded as Crawley Football Club in 1896, changed its name to Crawley Town Football Club in 1958. The team co ...

. Walton was

capped In sport, a cap is a player's appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of rugby football and association football. In the ea ...

by England at under-16, under-17 and under-19 level.

Career

Leeds United

Born in

Sherburn-in-Elmet Sherburn in Elmet (pronounced ) is a large village, civil parish and electoral ward in the Selby District of North Yorkshire, England, west of Selby and south of Tadcaster. It was part of the West Riding of Yorkshire until 1974. It is one o ...

, Walton started his career at hometown club

. He came to attention after being sent off in a pre-season friendly against

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...

in 2004, whilst still just sixteen. He was likened to former

Elland Road Elland Road is a football stadium in Beeston, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, which has been the home of Premier League club Leeds United since the club's formation in 1919. The stadium is the 14th largest football stadium in England. The g ...

heroes Alan Smith and

David Batty David Batty (born 2 December 1968) is an English former professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder. Batty played for Leeds United, Blackburn Rovers and Newcastle United. Whilst with Leeds he was part of the team that won the ...

. He made his competitive debut on 7 August 2004 against

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 1884 ...

, and went on to score three goals in the 2004–05 season, Leeds' first in the

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

. Walton struggled to break into the first team during the 2005–06 season with his only appearances coming after injuries to

Sean Gregan Sean Matthew Gregan (born 29 March 1974) is an English former professional footballer who played as a midfielder or centre back. He played in the Premier League for West Bromwich Albion, and in the Football League with Preston North End and ...

Shaun Derry Shaun Peter Derry (born 6 December 1977) is an English former professional footballer and manager. He previously managed Notts County and Cambridge United, and played for Crystal Palace, Leeds United and Queens Park Rangers among other clubs. De ...

Jonathan Douglas Jonathan Michael Douglas (born 22 November 1981) is an Irish professional footballer who last played for Ipswich Town and has also represented the Republic of Ireland at international level. Club career Blackburn Rovers Born in Monaghan, Dougl ...

and

Gylfi Einarsson Gylfi Einarsson (born 27 October 1978, in Reykjavík) is a retired Icelandic football player. He played as a midfielder. Club career He started his career at Fylkir but moved to Norwegian club Lillestrøm SK in 2000. In the 2004 season he scor ...

Charlton Athletic

In July 2006 he joined

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

side

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in C ...

for an initial fee of £500,000, with clauses that could create a total £1m fee. He quickly moved on loan to get some regular first-team football, moving to

three games into the Championship season on 18 August 2006. Walton scored several important goals for Ipswich before being loaned to another Championship side,

, in January 2007. When playing for Cardiff, he was sent off against former club Leeds for two bookable offences.

Queens Park Rangers

Walton joined Championship side

on 27 July 2007 in a £200,000 deal, having never played a competitive game for Charlton. Shortly afterwards, he broke his leg in a friendly against

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...

. On 29 January 2008 Walton moved to Championship play-off hopefuls

on loan for the remainder of the 2007–08 season.

Plymouth Argyle

On 6 August 2008, Walton signed for

on a four-year contract. Originally proclaimed as a club record signing at £750,000, the initial fee paid was well below the £500,000 paid to Cardiff City for Steve MacLean and never surpassed it prior to the club being placed in administration in March 2011. Walton made his debut for Plymouth in a 2–2 draw with

Wolves The wolf (''Canis lupus''; plural, : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large Canis, canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of Canis lupus, subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been reco ...

on 9 August. On 22 December 2008 Walton was placed on the transfer list by Paul Sturrock after being sent off in a league match against Barnsley. Sturrock questioned Walton's attitude and temperament after some abject performances, and rash decisions by the player. On 26 March 2009 he joined

on loan until the end of the season. He made his debut on 11 April as a 74th-minute substitute in Blackpool's 1–0

West Lancashire Derby The West Lancashire derby (sometimes also known as the '' M55 derby'') is a local rivalry in English football between Lancashire clubs Blackpool and Preston North End. The derby has taken place across all four tiers of English football, but not t ...

win over

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional football club in Preston, Lancashire, England, who currently play in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league syste ...

Deepdale Deepdale is a football stadium in the Deepdale area of Preston, England, the home of Preston North End. Deepdale is "widely recognised as being the oldest 'continuously used' football stadium in the world, though this is contested". History ...

. On 31 August 2009 he joined

on loan for the 2009–10 season. Walton joined

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

on a season-long loan in July 2010. However, he suffered cruciate knee ligament damage during his first outing for the club in a pre-season friendly which proved to be a long-term injury. Following a recovery period at Bramall Lane his parent club, Plymouth Argyle, agreed to terminate his loan and recall him at the start of September. On 5 April 2011, Walton made his first appearance for nine months, and his first for Argyle since 2008, against Leyton Orient. Walton scored his first goal in the match against MK Dons on 25 April 2011. After the club appointed Carl Fletcher as caretaker manager the captaincy was handed to Walton who has become one of the senior players in the young squad. Walton has subsequently scored several goals, some as penalties, including a brace against

Burton Albion Burton Albion Football Club is a professional association football club in the town of Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club moved its home groun ...

on 14 January 2012. Walton had his contract extended until the end of the 2012–13 season in April 2012. Manager Carl Fletcher revealed that Walton had agreed a new deal the previous autumn when the club was in the process of being bought by businessman James Brent. "He signed a new deal during the takeover to benefit the club," said Fletcher in an interview with

BBC Radio Devon BBC Radio Devon is the BBC's local radio station serving the county of Devon. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios in the Mannamead area of Plymouth. According to RAJAR, the station has a weekly audience of 1 ...

. "He agreed terms on a deal when the club was being taken over to help and aid the club in getting it out of administration."

Hartlepool United

Walton was released by Plymouth in July 2012 so he could be closer to his daughter, and signed for

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 ...

on 6 July.

Stevenage

Walton signed for

on 30 June 2014 on a free transfer.

Crawley Town

Walton signed for

on 18 June 2015 on a free transfer on a two-year deal.

Maidstone United

On 12 October 2018, Walton joined Maidstone United permanently after a short-term loan. At the end of December 2018, Tristan Lewis was appointed caretaker manager, with Walton as his assistant.

Havant & Waterlooville

On 11 May 2019,

announced that Walton had joined the club as a player / coach.

Personal life

Walton began dating Nicola Tappenden, a glamour model, in 2007 and they went on to be engaged. He became a father in November 2008 when Tappenden gave birth to a baby girl named Poppy. His younger sister,

Sophie Sophie is a version of the female given name Sophia, meaning "wise". People with the name Born in the Middle Ages * Sophie, Countess of Bar (c. 1004 or 1018–1093), sovereign Countess of Bar and lady of Mousson * Sophie of Thuringia, Duchess o ...

, represented England at youth international level, and has played in the Women's Premier League and

Women's Super League The Women's Super League (WSL), currently known as the Barclays Women's Super League (BWSL) for sponsorship reasons, is the highest league of women's football in England. Established in 2010, it is run by the Football Association and features t ...

. Both Simon and Sophie studied at

Boston Spa Academy Boston Spa Academy (formerly Boston Spa Comprehensive School) is a coeducational secondary school for pupils aged 11–19 years old on Clifford Moor Road in Boston Spa, West Yorkshire, England. It is larger than other secondary schools in ...

during their time as Leeds United Academy scholars.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Walton, Simon 1987 births Living people English footballers England youth international footballers Association football midfielders Leeds United F.C. players Charlton Athletic F.C. players Ipswich Town F.C. players Cardiff City F.C. players Queens Park Rangers F.C. players Hull City A.F.C. players Plymouth Argyle F.C. players Blackpool F.C. players Crewe Alexandra F.C. players Sheffield United F.C. players Hartlepool United F.C. players Stevenage F.C. players Crawley Town F.C. players Garforth Town A.F.C. players Guiseley A.F.C. players Sutton United F.C. players Billericay Town F.C. players Maidstone United F.C. players Havant & Waterlooville F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players People from Sherburn in Elmet People educated at Boston Spa Academy