Des Walker
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Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Full name | Desmond Sinclair Walker | ||
Date of birth | 26 November 1965 | ||
Place of birth | Hackney, England | ||
Height | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)[1] | ||
Position(s) |
Centre-back | ||
Youth career | |||
1980–1984 | Nottingham Forest | ||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
1984–1992 | Nottingham Forest | 264 | (1) |
1992–1993 |
Sampdoria | 30 | (0) |
1993–2001 | Sheffield Wednesday | 307 | (0) |
2002–2005 | Nottingham Forest | 57 | (0) |
Total | 658 | (1) | |
International career | |||
1985–1988 |
England U21 | 7 | (0) |
1988–1993 | England | 59 | (0) |
*Club domestic league appearances and goals |
Desmond Sinclair Walker (born 26 November 1965) is an English football coach and former player who played as a defender.
At club level he played in seven cup finals for Nottingham Forest at Wembley, winning five of them. He was Forest's player of the year three times. On four straight occasions at Forest he was selected for the PFA Team of the Year. At Sheffield Wednesday he picked up another club player of the year accolade. He played in twenty seasons of senior football. All but the last three of those were in the top flight in either England or Italy.
He played 59 times for England, which included the nation's run to the semi-finals of the 1990 FIFA World Cup.
Club career
Nottingham Forest
Walker was spotted playing locally in London and was signed by Forest in 1980 as an apprentice. He had previously been part of the youth system at
In 1987 Walker earned the first of his club player of the year awards at Forest.
Forest won the Football League Centenary Tournament in April 1988 (their first senior trophy since 1981). They finished third in the league in 1988. That form also carried them to the semi-finals of that season's FA Cup with Walker in outstanding form.
Forest won the 1989
With Forest now chasing a unique cup treble tragedy struck a week after the League Cup triumph. Forest and Liverpool met for the second season in a row in the FA Cup semi-finals. The
Walker won his second League Cup winner's medal when Forest retained the trophy in 1990 with victory over Oldham Athletic. He earned his second Forest player of the year accolade. He was also selected for the PFA Team of the Year for the second successive season.
Despite English clubs being re-admitted to Europe for the
Walker scored an own goal in the
On New Year's Day 1992, Walker scored his only goal in professional football, the equaliser in a 1–1 draw against Luton. That season Forest won the Full Members Cup for a second time beating Southampton 3–2 after extra time. Forest reached another League Cup final but lost to Manchester United. Forest had now played in seven domestic cup finals at Wembley in five seasons, winning five of the finals. Walker signed off from Forest as their player of the year for the third time in six seasons. He also earned a fourth successive selection for the PFA Team of the Year. One other player was selected in the same four PFA Teams of the Year, Walker's teammate Stuart Pearce who earned selection five seasons in a row.
Sampdoria
After the Euro 1992 finals, Walker was sold for £1.5 million to Italian side
Sheffield Wednesday
Walker joined Sheffield Wednesday for £2.7 million in 1993. He made more than 300 appearances for the club under eight different managers in eight years. He quickly became a favourite of the fans earning their player of the year award at the end of his first season. He also picked up the captain's armband. His time at Sheffield Wednesday brought mixed fortunes, although he played in the overwhelming majority of the club's games following his arrival.
In that first season, Wednesday finished seventh in the
The 1996–97 season began brilliantly for Wednesday topping the Premier League at the end of August. However they were unable to keep up their excellent form. They finished the season in seventh as they had three seasons before. They also had the best FA Cup run in Walker's time their reaching the last eight. In the next two seasons Wednesday finished 16th and 12th respectively in the top division.
They were then relegated in
In 2007, he came out top alongside
Return to Forest
He briefly trained with his ex-Forest teammate Nigel Clough at Burton Albion (where he was manager) and a short stint in the US playing for the MetroStars in their 9/11 benefit matches against D.C. United. Forest manager, Paul Hart then asked if Walker could train with Forest, who were now struggling in the second tier of English football. In July 2002, Walker signed for Forest on a permanent basis.[5]
Walker made almost 60 more appearances in his second spell for Forest, and left the club at the age of 38 with a total of 354 appearances and one goal. His final competitive appearance for Forest came against Wigan Athletic on 7 August 2004.[6]
On 16 May 2005, a testimonial match was held in his honour – this drew 13,886 spectators with guest appearances from Stuart Pearce, Ian Wright, Emile Heskey and Nigel Clough.[7][8] Controversy was caused when the player was arrested several hours later for being drunk and disorderly.[8] He became first team coach at Forest afterwards but left in January 2005 when Gary Megson was appointed as manager.[7]
International career
Walker made his international debut as a
1990 World Cup
At the 1990 FIFA World Cup, Walker started all seven of the games in which England would play, gaining international acclaim. Playing in a three-man defence alongside Wright and Butcher, Walker shrugged off knocks and fatigue to enjoy a superb tournament, which ended when England were knocked out in a penalty shootout by West Germany in the semi-finals. Rob Bagchi, writing for The Guardian in 2010, praised his performances, arguing that Walker's "speed, anticipation and mastery of the fair tackle were reminiscent of Bobby Moore."[9]
Euro 1992
Walker subsequently became England's defensive lynchpin after Butcher's retirement, continuing to feature regularly after Graham Taylor had taken over as manager. As an almost ever-present during a period when England played a relatively large number of internationals, Walker became the fastest player in history to reach 50 caps, a feat he accomplished in just over four years from 53 internationals played by England.
Walker travelled with the England squad to the
World Cup 1994 qualification
On 28 April 1993, in a 1994 World Cup qualifier, England were leading 2–1 against the Netherlands. With four minutes remaining the exceptionally-paced Marc Overmars became the first person in Walker's then 52 internationals to beat the defender for speed.[10][11] With little choice, Walker fouled Overmars. Peter van Vossen scored the resulting penalty and the game ended 2–2.[11][12]
A month later on 29 May in
Four days later, on 2 June 1993, England's hopes of qualifying were dealt a further blow during a 2–0 loss away to Norway. Walker's defensive authority was compromised by Taylor's imposition of an untested wing back system.[11] Walker was largely at fault for the first goal. After committing a foul near the corner flag Walker began to argue with the referee. He was caught out with a quick free kick leading to a cross for Øyvind Leonhardsen to score.[13]
Walker played in a three-game Summer tour of the host nation of the following year's finals, USA. He then missed other crucial qualifiers, a 3–0 win over Poland and a decisive 2–0 loss against the Netherlands in Rotterdam. Walker played in England's last qualifier in the group in November 1993. San Marino scored the fastest ever goal in a World Cup qualifier, after just eight seconds, capitalising on an under hit backpass from Stuart Pearce. England won 7–1 but failed to qualify (they had needed to win by seven clear goals and hope that the Netherlands lost in Poland, but the Netherlands won 3–1 so England's result was academic). This was Taylor's last match in charge of England, and although he was a member of Taylors successor (Terry Venables) early squads, he never played for the national team again.[4]
In total, Walker made 59 appearances for England, scoring no goals.[4]
Playing style
Described as a "stopper," Walker was a pacey and hard-tackling
At set pieces for his teams, Walker would stay back to provide defensive cover rather than supplement the attack, reflected in the fact that he only scored once in around 800 senior games.
He played in 20 seasons of senior football, with all but the last three of those in the top flight..He played in seven cup finals with Nottingham Forest at Wembley, winning five. Perhaps a more useful indication of the consistency of his excellence are the individual accolades he collected when at his peak: in the last six seasons of his first spell at Forest he was Player of the Year three times, in the last four of those seasons he was selected for the PFA Team of the Year each time, on his return from his season in Italy he was Sheffield Wednesday's player of the year in his first season there, and following his full international debut in 1988 he became the quickest player to collect 50 full England caps, taking just over four years to do so.
Walker rarely missed matches. He incurred a remarkably low number of bookings during the first 10 years of his career, despite often dispossessing opponents with sliding challenges from all directions. While not being the tallest centre-back he could leap to beat the tallest forwards in the air, and his pace meant even the quickest and most skilful forwards very rarely beat him.
Personal life
Walker's two sons are both professional footballers. The elder son Tyler plays for Lincoln City,[15][16] while the younger, Lewis, plays for Gillingham.[17] However they are not related to Kyle Walker, another professional footballer who plays for Manchester City and is an England international.
Career statistics
Club
Club | Season | League | National cup | League cup | Other | Total | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
Nottingham Forest | 1983–84 | First Division | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
1984–85 | First Division | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | |
1985–86 | First Division | 39 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | 43 | 0 | ||
1986–87 | First Division | 41 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 0 | — | 48 | 0 | ||
1987–88 | First Division | 35 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 44 | 0 | |
1988–89 | First Division | 34 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 48 | 0 | |
1989–90 | First Division | 38 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 51 | 0 | |
1990–91 | First Division | 37 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 53 | 0 | |
1991–92 | First Division | 33 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 52 | 1 | |
Total | 264 | 1 | 28 | 0 | 40 | 0 | 14 | 0 | 346 | 1 | ||
Sampdoria
|
1992–93
|
Serie A | 30 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | — | 32 | 0 | ||
Sheffield Wednesday | 1993–94 | Premier League | 42 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 7 | 0 | — | 53 | 0 | |
1994–95 | Premier League | 38 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | 43 | 0 | ||
1995–96 | Premier League | 36 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 44 | 0 | |
1996–97 | Premier League | 36 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 41 | 0 | ||
1997–98 | Premier League | 38 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | 43 | 0 | ||
1998–99 | Premier League | 37 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | 42 | 0 | ||
1999–2000 | Premier League | 37 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | — | 45 | 0 | ||
2000–01 | First Division | 43 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 0 | — | 50 | 0 | ||
Total | 307 | 0 | 24 | 0 | 27 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 361 | 0 | ||
Nottingham Forest | 2002–03 | First Division | 31 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 33 | 0 |
2003–04 | First Division | 25 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 28 | 0 | ||
2004–05 | Championship
|
1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 1 | 0 | ||
Total | 57 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 62 | 0 | ||
Career total | 658 | 1 | 54 | 0 | 68 | 0 | 19 | 0 | 801 | 1 |
International
National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
---|---|---|---|
England[18] | 1988 | 2 | 0 |
1989 | 11 | 0 | |
1990 | 15 | 0 | |
1991 | 10 | 0 | |
1992 | 12 | 0 | |
1993 | 9 | 0 | |
Total | 59 | 0 |
Honours
Nottingham Forest
- 1989–90[19]
- 1991–92[19]
- Football League Centenary Tournament: 1988[19]
Individual
- PFA First Division Team of the Year: 1988–89, 1989–90, 1990–91, 1991–92
- Alan Hardaker Trophy: 1990[20][21]
- Nottingham Forest Player of the Season: 1986–87, 1989–90,[22] 1991–92[23]
- Sheffield Wednesday Player of the Season: 1993–94
- PFA Team of the Century (1977–1996): 2007[24]
References
- ISBN 978-0-356-14354-5.
- ^ a b Williams, Richard (23 May 1993). "Football: No time to show you are fallible: Des Walker was the man England could rely upon above all others. But as two vital World Cup games approach, is that still the case? Richard Williams reports". The Independent. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
- ^ "Lonely man in the middle". The Guardian. 26 April 2003. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
- ^ a b c d Frattini, Marco (28 February 2006). "Walker: il "brivido" difensivo della Samp" (in Italian). TuttoMercatoWeb. Retrieved 16 May 2020.
- ^ "Walker seals Forest return". BBC Sport. 5 July 2002. Retrieved 19 August 2011.
- ^ "Wigan 1–1 Nottm Forest". BBC. 7 August 2004. Retrieved 12 March 2010.
- ^ a b "Forest fans honour legend Walker". BBC Sport. 17 May 2005. Retrieved 11 April 2019.
- ^ a b Taylor, Daniel (17 May 2005). "Drunk Walker arrested". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 April 2019.
- ^ a b Bagchi, Rob (26 May 2010). "Italia 90 had its moments at about 4am on Australia's backpacker trail". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 April 2019.
- ^ "Football: World Cup Football: England undone by Walker's blunder". independent.co.uk. Retrieved 17 August 2018.
- ^ a b c "Des WALKER - Biography of his England football career. - England". Archived from the original on 11 March 2016. Retrieved 8 March 2016.
- ^ "The Joy of Six: Shock falls from grace". The Guardian. 12 March 2010.
- ^ "1993 (June 2) Norway 2-England 0 (World Cup Qualifier)". YouTube. 1 December 2011. Archived from the original on 13 December 2021. Retrieved 17 August 2018.
- ^ "Gary Lineker picks his #One2Eleven on The Fantasy Football Club". Skysports.com. Retrieved 17 August 2018.
- ^ "Nottingham Forest FC Academy Player Profiles". Archived from the original on 22 March 2015. Retrieved 18 March 2015.
- ^ "Des Walker says son Tyler has much more talent than he did". Bbc.co.uk. 25 September 2015. Retrieved 17 August 2018.
- ^ Cawdell, Luke (2 February 2023). "Tristan's mad dash to Gillingham after double injury blow". Kent Online. Retrieved 1 July 2023.
- ^ Strack-Zimmermann, Benjamin. "Des Walker". National-football-teams.com. Retrieved 17 August 2018.
- ^ a b c "Honours". Archived from the original on 22 September 2012. Retrieved 9 March 2013.
- ^ "Alan Hardaker Trophy Winners". Archived from the original on 21 April 2012. Retrieved 6 January 2010. Football League, 26 February 2012
- ^ The Alan Hardaker Trophy EFL
- ^ "Players of the Season 1980's". Nottingham Forest F.C. Archived from the original on 30 March 2016. Retrieved 7 September 2012.
- ^ "Players of the Season 1990's". Nottingham Forest F.C. Archived from the original on 30 March 2016. Retrieved 7 September 2012.
- ^ "Team of the Century: 1977-1996 - Souness, Robson & Hoddle...not a bad midfield trio!". GiveMeFootball.com. Give Me Football. 30 August 2007. Archived from the original on 22 October 2008. Retrieved 22 September 2016.
External links
- Des Walker at Post War English & Scottish Football League A–Z Player's Transfer Database
- Des Walker on RSSSF-site
- Overview of career on FA.com