Simon Heslop

Simon James Heslop (born 1 May 1987) is an English professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for club Scarborough Athletic.

Heslop started his career at Barnsley, signing his first professional deal with the club in 2005.

He made just one first-team appearance during his six-year association with the club.

During his time at Barnsley, Heslop was loaned out to Conference National club Kidderminster Harriers during the 2005–06 season, and spent the following season on loan with Tamworth.

Heslop began his career at Barnsley, where he progressed through the youth team and signed his first professional contract with the club in 2005.

After playing regularly for Barnsley's reserve team, Heslop went on loan to Conference National club Kidderminster Harriers at the start of the 2005–06 season, on an initial one-month deal.

The Kidderminster manager, Stuart Watkiss, was formerly Barnsley's academy manager, and stated – "He immediately caught my eye during my time at Barnsley, and he's a lad with a lot of natural ability".

He made his debut as a second-half substitute a day later, on 27 August, as Kidderminster drew 1–1 at home with Southport.

After impressing during his time with the club, the loan agreement was extended for a further month, and then once again in October.

Heslop scored his first goal for the club on 5 November 2005, firing home a "sublime shot" in a 2–1 home defeat to Exeter City.

The loan deal was extended until the end of January 2006, and Heslop returned to his parent club having made 27 appearances for Kidderminster during the season.

At the end of the season, on 31 May 2006, Heslop signed a new two-year deal at Barnsley.

Having made no first-team appearances for Barnsley, Heslop was loaned out for a second time in November 2006, joining another Conference National team in the form of Tamworth.

He signed on an initial one-month deal, and made his debut in a 3–1 home victory over Woking.

After making four starting appearances during his month at Tamworth, Heslop's loan was extended for another month, before later being extended for the remainder of Tamworth's 2006–07 season.

He made 33 appearances in all competitions during his time with the club, scoring two goals.

He then spent time on loan with Northwich Victoria and Halifax Town during 2007–08, before having further loan spells at Grimsby Town, Kettering Town and Luton Town respectively.

He returned to Barnsley at the end of April 2007, and made his first-team debut for the club a week later, coming on as a 63rd-minute substitute with the club already five goals down in an eventual 7–0 away loss to West Bromwich Albion.

In September 2007, Heslop spent a month on loan at Northwich Victoria, the third time he had been loaned out to a Conference Premier club.

He played six times during his time with the club, before returning to his parent club after Northwich's 2–0 away defeat to Weymouth.

Just a week after returning from his loan spell at Northwich, Heslop joined divisional rivals Halifax Town on a one-month loan agreement.

He made his debut as a substitute in a 1–0 defeat to Aldershot Town on 20 October 2007, and scored in the club's next match, a 3–1 win over Evesham United in the FA Cup.

Just four days later, on 3 November, Heslop scored his second goal in as many matches, opening the scoring with a left-footed finish as Halifax comfortably beat Crawley Town at The Shay.

After being a regular fixture in Halifax's midfield for the following two months, Heslop's loan was extended once more, this time until the remainder of 2007–08.

He scored twice within the space of two weeks to take his goal tally to five for the season; firstly scoring in a 2–1 reverse to Cambridge United, before scoring the winner with a shot from 20-yards against Weymouth.

He also scored the only goal of the match in a 1–0 win over Ebbsfleet United on 10 April, and made 40 appearances in all competitions for Halifax.

Following a successful first month with Halifax, during which he scored twice in four matches, the loan deal was extended on 16 November, for a further two months until January 2008.

A day later, Heslop scored a long-range effort as Halifax came from two goals down to beat Stevenage at Broadhall Way.

Ahead of the 2008–09 season, back at Barnsley, Heslop trained with Rochdale with a view to a loan move.

However, no transfer materialised, and he had a trial with Port Vale later that month, although "budget restrictions" meant the deal collapsed.

A week before the start of the new season, Heslop joined League Two club Grimsby Town on an initial three-month loan deal, with the option to join permanently after the period was over.

On securing the loan signing, Grimsby manager Alan Buckley said – "He is a bit of everything, a box-to-box player. He's got a good chance of starting next week if he impresses in training".

He made his debut in a 0–0 home draw with Rochdale on the opening day of the season, and went on to make 11 appearances during the three-month period.

Towards the latter stages of that season, in March 2009, Heslop spent a week on trial at Lincoln City, playing in a reserve match against Nottingham Forest.

In October 2009, over a year since his last first-team appearance for any club, Heslop was loaned out for a sixth time when he joined Kettering Town on a month-long deal.

He made his debut on 31 October, playing the whole match in Kettering's 1–1 home draw with Stevenage.

He was released by Barnsley in May 2010, and signed for League Two club Oxford United shortly after.

Heslop made over 100 appearances for Oxford during his three-year stay there.

He was released at the end of 2012–13, and subsequently signed for League One club Stevenage on a free transfer in May 2013.

Heslop was born in York, North Yorkshire, and attended Huntington School.