Simon Walton

A tenacious midfielder, Simon Walton was signed by manager Graham Westley in summer 2014 to add a robust dimension to Boro’s midfield ahead of the 2014-5 League Two season. He arrived at the Hertfordshire club having been released by his former employers, and divisional rivals, Hartlepool United.

In two years at Hartlepool, he made a significant number of appearances and gained valuable experience of playing at League One and Two levels. And it was Hartlepool that had ended four years on the books of Plymouth Argyle; a time punctuated by loan spells and Argyle’s financial difficulties.

Walton started his career at hometown club Leeds United and immediately sprang to attention by getting sent off in a friendly against Valencia aged 16. But he was obviously doing something right, with England caps at U16, U17 and U19 levels.

After making a decent number of appearances for Leeds during his two years at Elland Road, less fruitful spells at Charlton Athletic and QPR followed before he moved down to Home Park.

Having firmly established himself as a very useful League One and League Two player, his signature for Stevenage offered the chance for him to drag Boro’ back up the pyramid with thoughts of kicking on even further.

It almost came to fruition, too. Boro’ gallantly went down to a strong Southend United team in the 2015 League Two playoffs with Walton a key fixture in the midfield. With the club looking to take a different direction going forward, however, Walton found himself allowed to leave the club that summer.