Des Walker

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Des Walker bigraphy, stories - English footballer

Des Walker : biography

26 November 1965 –

Desmond Sinclair "Des" Walker (born 26 November 1965 in Homerton, London) is a former England international footballer who is best remembered for his spells with Nottingham Forest and Sheffield Wednesday.

Club career

Nottingham Forest

Walker, a pacy and hard-tackling central defender, was spotted playing locally in London and was signed by Forest in 1980 as an apprentice. Known for being unafraid of pitching youngsters into the first team if they were good enough, Forest manager Brian Clough, trying to build a second great side after his ageing European Cup winning team broke up, gave Walker his debut in March 1984 at the age of 18, just two months before the end of the 1983–84 First Division campaign in which Forest finished third and qualified for the UEFA Cup.

Forest made progress with Walker and his fellow young graduates from the youth academy gaining ground and plaudits. Further top half-finishes in the League were followed by a run to the semi-finals of the FA Cup in 1988 with Walker in outstanding form, to the extent that calls began to come from football observers for England coach Bobby Robson to select Walker to play for his country.

Tragedy struck a week after the League Cup triumph, however, when Forest and Liverpool met for the second season in a row in the FA Cup semi-finals, and the Hillsborough disaster claimed the lives of 96 Liverpool fans. When the game was re-scheduled, Walker struggled against a rampant Liverpool side who won 3–1.

The following year, Forest won their first trophy for nine seasons when, with Walker again in outstanding form, they won the League Cup with a 3–1 victory at Wembley over Luton Town. They also finished third in the First Division, but were unable to compete in the UEFA Cup as the ban on English clubs in European competition, arising from the Heysel tragedy of 1985, still had one season to run

Walker got his second League Cup winner’s medal when Forest retained the trophy in 1990 with victory over Oldham Athletic and, despite a disappointing League season for Forest, Walker was a certain name on the list of 22 players whom Robson took to the 1990 FIFA World Cup in Italy.

Despite English clubs being re-admitted to Europe for the 1990–91 season, places in the competition were initially limited, and League Cup winners Forest were not included; the only UEFA Cup place that season went to league runners-up Aston Villa. Walker was now in his 25th year, and despite playing for one of England’s most successful clubs, he had not yet been given a chance to prove himself in European competition.

On New Year’s Day 1992, Forest played Luton in a League game and the game reached the last few minutes with Forest 1–0 down. Walker ventured forward as an emergency measure, as central defenders often do in such situations, and found himself chasing a long pass through on goal. Despite having no known finishing prowess and a goalscoring record to prove it, Walker unleashed a fierce shot into the roof of the net to earn Forest a point. The crowd and the rest of Forest team went berserk in their celebration of Walker finally breaking his duck. Prior to the game, an old lady who called up GEM AM radio’s hotline predicted in a competition that "Number 4" would be the first goalscorer for Forest. On hearing this the staff laughed hysterically that she had selected Des Walker as the first goalscorer. Ironically enough, Walker scored Forest’s first goal; his only ever goal in almost 700 senior appearances for clubs and country. Having conceded a few own goals in his time, it was perhaps ironic that his only goal at the right end was scored against a Forest goalkeeper, Steve Sutton, who was on loan to Luton at the time.

Later that season, Forest reached another League Cup final, but lost it to Manchester United. Walker then travelled with the England squad to Euro 92 in Sweden but England failed to get beyond the group stages.

Sampdoria

After the Euro 1992, he was sold to Italian side Sampdoria, coached by Sven-Göran Eriksson, for £1.5 million. Walker’s pace suffered after a long-term injury and his England career was cut short as a result. He lasted just one season at Sampdoria, before returning to England to join Sheffield Wednesday for £2.7 million.