Scott Steven Neilson (born 15 May 1987) is an English-born Welsh former professional footballer who played as a midfielder.
Neilson started his career alongside his brother, at first Hertford Town and then Ware, before he earned a move to Cambridge City. He made his name in non-league as a goal-scoring winger and he came to the attention of a number of league clubs. He had trials with three of them and eventually won a move to League Two side Bradford City. He scored a goal on his full debut but Bradford soon changed manager and Neilson dropped back into non-league, first out on loan to Cambridge United and then signed by Crawley Town, having spent less than 12 months with Bradford. Neilson spent a short but successful loan spell with Grimsby Town in 2012, and then joined Luton on a short-term contract in January 2013 before his release a few months later. He returned to Grimsby permanently before joining Whitehawk.
Early life
Neilson was born on 15 May 1987 in Enfield, London, to David and Amanda Neilson, the latter who was born in Swansea. He has an older brother, Tony. His maternal grandfather is Cliff Jones, the former Tottenham Hotspur and Welsh international footballer, whose father Ivor and brother Bryn were also professional footballers and Welsh internationals. Neilson has also worked as a plumber.
Career
Non-league
Neilson was a member of Norwich City's youth teams at the age of 11, went on to Charlton Athletic and also won schoolboy honours for Wales. His senior career started at his brother Tony's club Hertford Town of the Isthmian League in 2005. He was top goalscorer for the reserves when he made his debut on 25 October in an Isthmian League Associate Members Trophy game against Clapton, before going on to play 15 games in his first season and scoring one goal. In his second season, he played 24 games upping his goal tally by another nine, before he earned a move in December 2006 to Ware – a second club where his brother also played. In one game in January 2008, Neilson came off the bench to score four goals for Ware against Tilbury in a 5–2 victory. The goals went towards Neilson's total of 23 from 40 games for Ware in the Isthmian League First Division North, helping Ware towards the end-of-season play-offs. However, he left Ware before the end of the season to join Cambridge City in March 2008 for the rest of the club's Conference South campaign.
Neilson's debut at Cambridge City came three days later in a 3–1 defeat to Lewes, when he came off the bench in the second half. He played seven games, starting all but his debut performance, with six games coming in the league. He scored three goals in his seven matches. He also scored in the Cambridge Invitational Cup final as Cambridge recorded a 3–0 victory against Histon reserves to lift the cup for a record 12th time. Despite an enforced relegation, Neilson stayed at Cambridge for the following season and signed a new contract in first April and then October 2008. He played a total of 49 games in his first full season with the Lilywhites, 40 of which were in the league, scoring a total of 11 league goals and two cup goals. He also helped Cambridge defend their Cambridge Invitational Cup crown with a 1–0 defeat of CRC.
Neilson signed a new one-year contract with Cambridge City in July 2009. However, his form also attracted a number of league clubs and, at the start of the 2009–10 season he had trials with sides Norwich City, Derby County and Bradford City and was offered a trial with Hartlepool United. Neilson scored twice in a reserve game for Bradford as part of his trial, prompting a bid to buy the winger. Bradford's first bid was turned down but they had an improved bid accepted later the same week. The fee remained undisclosed but included a 25 per cent sell-on fee entitling Cambridge City to a share of any fee Bradford received for selling Neilson on to another club – a year later, another manager Martin Ling revealed the initial fee that Cambridge received to be £20,000. Neilson had played a further two league games for Cambridge before his departure.