Billy Walker (footballer, born 1897)

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Billy Walker
Billy Walker Footballer.png
Walker in 1925
Personal information
Full name William Henry Walker
Date of birth (1897-10-29)29 October 1897
Place of birth Wednesbury, England
Date of death 28 November 1964(1964-11-28) (aged 67)
Place of death Radcliffe-on-Trent,[a] 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
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

William Henry Walker (29 October 1897 – 28 November 1964) was a prominent English footballer of the 1920s and 1930s.[2] 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 which stands 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 a 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.[1]

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.[5] As of 2022, he remains Aston Villa's all-time top goalscorer.

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 either foot and was a superb header of the ball.[6] He was the first player to score a hat-trick of penalty kicks in a first division match, the second ever after William McAulay for Walsall in 1900, doing so in a 7–1 win against Bradford City in November 1921.[7]

Walker played for England 18 times, scoring nine goals. He had the distinction of scoring England's first-ever goal at Wembley in 1924.[2] 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.[6] 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.[8]

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.[9]

Managerial career

Sheffield Wednesday

Walker 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.[10]

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.[11]

Nottingham Forest

Walker 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 and becoming the only manager to win the trophy both before and after the Second World War. He retired in 1960.

Death

Walker died on 28 November 1964 in Saxondale Hospital, Radcliffe-on-Trent, near Nottingham, after a long illness.[a] Another former Sheffield Wednesday manager, Jimmy McMullan, died on the same day.[12]

Honours

Player

Aston Villa

Manager

Sheffield Wednesday

Nottingham Forest

Notes

  1. ^ a b Although many modern reliable sources list Sheffield as Walker's place of death,[1][2] contemporary newspaper reports confirm his death as having taken place in Nottingham. Most mention that he died in an unspecified Nottingham hospital,[3] which his probate record names as Saxondale Hospital in nearby Radcliffe-on-Trent.[4]

References

  1. ^ a b "Billy Walker". England Football Online. 3 March 2020. Retrieved 29 September 2022.
  2. ^ a b c "Billy Walker". englandstats.com. Retrieved 29 September 2022.
  3. ^ "Mr. Billy Walker". The Times. London. 30 November 1964. p. 14. Mr. Billy Walker, the former Aston Villa and England inside forward and manager of Nottingham Forest when they won the F.A. Cup in 1959, died in Nottingham on Saturday.
    Woodward, Eric (28 November 1964). "Billy Walker, Villa idol for 20 years, is dead". Evening Mail and Despatch. Birmingham. p. 7 – via Newspapers.com.
    L.T.S. (28 November 1964). "Soccer's loss: Billy Walker dead". Leicester Mercury. p. 16 – via Newspapers.com.
    "Death of Billy Walker". Evening Sentinel. Stoke-on-Trent. 28 November 1964. p. 8 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ "England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858–1995 for William Henry Walker". 1966 p. 61 – via Ancestry.co.uk. WALKER William Henry of Cotteswood Bunny Hill Costock Nottinghamshire died 28 November 1964 at Saxondale Hospital Radcliffe on Trent Nottinghamshire Administration (with Will) Nottingham 3 March to Sarah Elizabeth Walker widow.
  5. ^ "Walker, William Henry (Billy)". Aston Villa Player Database. Jörn Mårtensson. Retrieved 11 September 2009.
  6. ^ a b Bishop, Rob (2010). Aston Villa The Complete Record. England: The Derby Books Publishing Company. p. 286. ISBN 9781859838051.
  7. ^ Butler, Bryon (1998). 100 Seasons of League Football. England: Queen Anne Press. p. 392. ISBN 1852915951.
  8. ^ Lerwill, John (2009). The Aston Villa Chronicles. England: Aston Villa Limited. p. 390. ISBN 9780956286109.
  9. ^ Fordyce, Tom (24 March 2003). "Blast from the past: Part one". BBC News.
  10. ^ Stuart Jackson. "Billy Walker". adrianbullock.com. Retrieved 7 April 2012.
  11. ^ Don Wright (15 October 2016). Clough and Walker: Forest's Greatest Managers. Amberley Publishing.
  12. ^ "Jimmy McMullan Dead". The Herald. Glasgow. 30 November 1964. p. 4.
  13. ^ "1935/36 F.A. Charity Shield". footballsite.co.uk. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
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