Johnson: Simon Ainsley (Simon)

2000-2005 (Leeds Player Details)(Player Details)

Forward

Born: West Bromwich: 09-03-1983

Debut: v Charlton Athletic (a) (Substitute): 05-04-2003

5’9” 11st 12lb (2005)

Johnson attended Stuart Bathurst RC High School and after leaving he started with Leeds as a trainee in August 2000. He progressed through the junior teams and started playing and scoring regularly at reserve level. Leeds were well stocked for strikers at the time and he was loaned out to other clubs to get first-team experience. On 12th August 2002 he went to Hull City for a two months spell where he scored twice in a dozen League games, of which eight were from the bench, and one substitute appearance in the League Cup. The loan spell started well, when, on 13th August 2002 at Eastville, he made his debut as a substitute and scored the equaliser in the eighty-fifth minute in a 1-1 draw with Bristol Rovers. After the loan spell it was then back to Elland Road and more games for the reserves until he got on the pitch as a seventy-eighth minute substitute in the famous 6-1 victory at Charlton Athletic on 5th April 2003. He was in the England Under-Twenty team for the Toulon Tournament in June 2003. It was off to Blackpool next on 12th December 2003 where he scored once in three starts and one game off the bench and played one game as a substitute in the F.A. Cup, before returning to Elland Road a month later. He had the odd game or came on as substitute but otherwise it was back to the Pontin’s League until he was next loaned out to Sunderland from 10th September to 24th October 2004, where he had four games from the bench and one start in the League, but all were goalless. It seemed as though Johnson was destined to leave Leeds, but could only find clubs who wanted to use his services on a strictly loan basis. On 6th December 2004 he was off to Doncaster Rovers, where he scored three times in eleven League appearances, three of which were as a substitute, before he returned on 6th February 2005. On 24th February 2005 he joined Barnsley for another loan spell and made his debut in a 4-1 win against Torquay United at Oakwell on 26th February 2005. He scored twice in eleven League games, one of which was from the bench, before returning at the end of the season. Finally, on 24th June 2005, he left Leeds for Darlington on a free transfer and at last got a sustained chance to play first-team football. Johnson had always had plenty of pace and was more than capable of getting onto the end of through balls to pressure the keeper and this showed in his first pre-season with Quakers. He also showed his versatility by also playing on the wing. He made his Darlington debut in a 1-1 away draw against Rushden and Diamonds on 6th August 2005 and netted his first goal for Quakers against Rochdale at Feethams in a 2-1 win. Johnson went on to score seven goals during his first campaign for Darlington but often figured on the wing. He made sixty-six League appearances for them, of which twenty-three were as substitute and hit the net nine times, as well as netting once in three starts in the League Cup and making three starts in the F.A. Cup and three starts and one game off the bench in other games, in his two seasons with the Quakers. He had agreed to join Wycombe Wanderers in January 2007 and even posed with a Wanderers shirt and did an interview for the club's website. But he got cold feet over the deal and changed his mind before the paperwork went through. Johnson's Darlington days were numbered and he made only two more appearances in eighteen games, both as substitute. He was among eleven players to be shown the door by Manager David Penney once the season was finished. He trained with Bradford City and for a time it seemed he would join them but he joined Hereford United on 8th August 2007, on a two month contract. He made his debut in the Carling Cup against Yeovil Town on 14th August 2007 as a eighty-fifth minute substitute for Lionel Ainsworth in a 4-1 home win and then broke into the first team, scoring his first goal for the club against Wycombe Wanderers on 4th December 2007, in the eighty ninth minute, to earn Hereford a 2-2 away draw. He put in some fine performances, particularly during Hereford's 3-1 win at Valley Parade against Bradford City, on 29th December 2007, where he was awarded "Man of the Match" and assisted in two of the three Hereford goals. His original contract was due to expire in November 2007, but he signed an extension until the end of that calendar year, which was then extended until the end of the 2007-08 season. Johnson scored United's winning goal in the seventy-second minutethat saw them progress past Tranmere Rovers into the 4th Round of the F.A. Cup on 16th January 2008. He played regularly as Hereford gained promotion to League One, but their stay in that Division was short and the were relegated at the end of the first season. On 21st April 2009 Johnson's contract was cancelled by mutual consent. He had scored five League goals in sixty-two games, of which thirty-two were as a substitute. He scored once in six F.A. Cup games, of which three were from the bench, made one start and had one game from the bench without scoring in the League Cup and made two Johnstone's Paint Trophy appearances without scoring. He signed a three month deal with Bury on 7th August 2009 but after one start and three games from the bench in the League, and a start in one Johnstone's Paint Trophy and one substitute appearance in the League Cup it was announced on 12th September 2009, that his month to month contract had been terminated. He signed for Halesowen Town in October 2009 and scored four times in twelve Evo-Stick Southern League starts and two games from the bench and two more in the Southern Cup, before joining Blue Square North side Solihull Moors on 12th February 2010. He made his debut in a 4-1 away win at Redditch United on 21st February 2010 when he scored in the forty-sixth and fifty-fourth minute and quickly followed that up with another two goal salvo in a 3-0 home win over Hyde United on 3rd March 2010 when he scored in the twenty-fourth and seventy-third minute. He scored four goals in seven games before, on 19th March 2010 he returned to his Yorkshire roots when he signed for Unibond Premier League side Guiseley. He scored four goals in eight starts and three games from the bench in the League and a further goal from one start in the Cup. He made a scoring start at Stocksbridge as he scored in the sixty-third minute before being replaced in the second half as Guiseley had a strong finish to the season which saw them win the League. He went back to Solihull Moor on loan and after three months there it was made permanent on 3rd January 2011. He scored seven goals in twenty-two starts and one game from the bench in the 2010-11 season and no goals from six starts and eight games from the bench in 2011-12. He joined Hinckley United on 19th March 2012 and made his debut, as a sixty-fifth minute substitute for Andrew Gooding, the following day against his former team. It was to be his only appearance of the season.