Simon Walton began his career with Leeds United at the tender age of 16.
His first ever senior appearance for the Elland Road outfit arrived against Spanish giants Valencia in a pre-season friendly in 2004, where he scored a penalty - and received his marching orders for two bookable offences!
Disciplinary problems hardly hindered the England Under-16 international's progress though, and in his first full season as a professional, he racked up an impressive 32 appearances in all competitions, weighing in with priceless goals against Reading, Preston North End and Cardiff City.
The Yorkshiremen could only manage 14th place in the Championship that year, though, and Blackwell's subsequent strivings for a Play-Off place the following season saw a host of established players join the Club. As a result, Walton was only used on five occasions in 2005/06.
A move to Charlton Athletic followed at the start of the 2006/07 campaign.
Walton became Iain Dowie's first signing, for a fee of £500,000, but when Dowie was sacked just 12 games into the new campaign, Walton slipped down the pecking order at The Valley.
He quickly moved on-loan to get some regular first-team football, plying his trade for Ipswich, for whom he made 19 appearances, scoring three goals, including one from the spot against the R's.
After his loan spell with the Tractor Boys ended in January, the highly-rated 19 year-old joined Cardiff Cardiff on loan for the remainder of the season.
