Billy Walker (footballer, born 1897)
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Personal information | |||
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Full name | William Henry Walker | ||
Date of birth | 29 October 1897 | ||
Place of birth | Wednesbury, England | ||
Date of death | 28 November 1964 | (aged 67)||
Place of death | Sheffield, England | ||
Height | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) | ||
Position(s) | Inside forward | ||
Youth career | |||
1915–1919 | Aston Villa | ||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
1919–1933 | Aston Villa | 478 | (214) |
National team | |||
1920–1932 | England | 18 | (9) |
Teams managed | |||
1933–1937 | Sheffield Wednesday | ||
1938 | Chelmsford City | ||
1939–1960 | Nottingham Forest | ||
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only |
William Henry Walker (29 October 1897 – 28 November 1964) was a prominent English footballer of the 1920s and 1930s.[1] He is considered by many to be one of the greatest footballers to ever play for Aston Villa and England. As a manager he won the FA Cup with each of Sheffield Wednesday and Nottingham Forest, some 24 years apart, a record to this day.
Early life[]
Billy Walker was born in Wednesbury, Staffordshire. His father George Walker, had played professional football for Crystal Palace from 1905 to 1909. The young Walker played schoolboy football for an number of clubs, Hednesford Town FC, Fallings Heath FC, Darlaston FC, Wednesbury Old Park FC and Wednesbury Old Athletic FC, before he was spotted by Aston Villa scouts, who signed him as a part-time professional in 1915. He signed as a full professional with the Villa in May 1919.[2]
Playing career[]
A one-club man, Walker made 531 appearances for Villa between 1920 and 1934, scoring 244 goals, of which 214 came in 478 league matches.[3] He remains Aston Villa's all-time top goalscorer to this day.
Walker burst onto the scene in January 1920, scoring both goals in a 2-1 FA Cup first-round win over Queens Park Rangers on his senior debut. He was an FA Cup winner with Villa in his debut season, the club beating Huddersfield 1–0 in the final.
He again reached the FA-Cup final with Villa in 1924, this time losing 2–0 to Newcastle United.
Walker could shoot with both feet and was a superb header of the ball.[4] He is the only player to have scored a hat-trick of penalty kicks in a Football League game, doing so in a 7–1 win against Bradford City in November 1921.[5]
Walker played for England 18 times, scoring 9 goals. He had the distinction of scoring England's first-ever goal at Wembley in 1924.[1] He was only the second Aston Villa player to captain England, after Howard Spencer.
Towards the end of his career, Villa twice finished runners-up in the league to Arsenal in 1930–31 and 1932–33. The 1930–31 season saw Villa score a record 128 top-flight goals, with 33-year-old Walker contributing 15 goals.
Billy Walker was Villa's talisman throughout the 1920s and into the 1930s, netting double figures in 12 consecutive seasons from 1919–20.[4] Full-back Tommy Smart is said to have once been asked: "What's the team for the match, Tommy?". "Oh, Billy Walker and ten others!" was the reply.[6]
In March 2003, nearly 40 years after his death, he was named by BBC Sport as the former player Aston Villa needed in their modern-day team – who were struggling for goals that season and narrowly avoided relegation from the FA Premier League (top flight of English football).[7]
Management[]
Sheffield Wednesday[]
He became manager of Sheffield Wednesday in December 1933, and he successfully steered them away from relegation. In 1935 he led them to an FA Cup victory, but Wednesday were relegated two years later and Walker resigned in November 1937.[8]
Chelmsford City[]
On 24 January 1938, Walker was appointed secretary-manager of newly formed club Chelmsford City. Walker's first signings as Chelmsford manager included former England international Eric Keen, Ireland international Jackie Coulter and Jack Palethorpe, whom he had managed at Sheffield Wednesday. On 20 October 1938, Walker resigned from Chelmsford due to conflict with Chelmsford's directors over transfers. Walker had intended to sign a player from Plymouth Argyle for free, before discovering a £500 fee was demanded, believing "that money was going to take a lot of finding" from the club.[9]
Nottingham Forest[]
He managed Nottingham Forest from 1939 to 1960, bringing promotion to the First Division in 1956–57 and an FA Cup final triumph two years later (beating former team Aston Villa in the semi-finals), becoming the only manager to win the trophy both before and after the second World War. He died in November 1964, four years after retiring as Nottingham Forest manager (and on the same day as another former Sheffield Wednesday manager, Jimmy McMullan).[10]
Career honours[]
Honours as player[]
Aston Villa[]
Football League First Division
FA Cup
- Winner: 1920
- Runners-up: 1924
Honours as manager[]
Sheffield Wednesday[]
FA Cup
- Winner: 1935
Nottingham Forest[]
FA Cup
- Winner: 1959
Football League Second Division
- Runners-up: 1956–57
Football League Third Division (South)
- Champions: 1950–51
- Runners-up: 1959
References[]
- ^ Jump up to: a b "Billy Walker". englandstats.com. Retrieved 11 September 2009.
- ^ "Walker's schoolboy football". England Football Online. Retrieved 21 February 2021.
- ^ "Walker, William Henry (Billy)". Aston Villa Player Database. Jörn Mårtensson. Retrieved 11 September 2009.
- ^ Jump up to: a b Bishop, Rob (2010). Aston Villa The Complete Record. England: The Derby Books Publishing Company. p. 286. ISBN 9781859838051.
- ^ Butler, Bryon (1998). 100 Seasons of League Football. England: Queen Anne Press. p. 392. ISBN 1852915951.
- ^ Lerwill, John (2009). The Aston Villa Chronicles. England: Aston Villa Limited. p. 390. ISBN 9780956286109.
- ^ Fordyce, Tom (24 March 2003). "Blast from the past: Part one". BBC News.
- ^ Stuart Jackson. "Billy Walker". adrianbullock.com. Retrieved 7 April 2012.
- ^ Don Wright (15 October 2016). Clough and Walker: Forest's Greatest Managers. Amberley Publishing.
- ^ "Jimmy McMullan Dead". The Herald. Glasgow. p. 4. Retrieved 12 March 2016.
- 1897 births
- 1964 deaths
- English footballers
- England international footballers
- Aston Villa F.C. players
- English football managers
- Nottingham Forest F.C. managers
- Sheffield Wednesday F.C. managers
- Sportspeople from Wednesbury
- Chelmsford City F.C. managers
- English Football League players
- English Football League representative players
- English Football League managers
- Association football forwards
- Outfield association footballers who played in goal
- FA Cup Final players