William Henry Walker (29 October 1897 – 28 November 1964) was a prominent English footballer of the 1920s and 1930s. 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 The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football compet ...

with each of

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot ...

and Nottingham Forest, some 24 years apart, a record which stands to this day.

Early life

Billy Walker was born in Wednesbury,

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands C ...

. His father George Walker had played professional football for

Wolves The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly un ...

and Crystal Palace. His teenage years saw him play for a number of football clubs at junior level, starting at

Hednesford Town Hednesford Town Football Club is a football club based in Hednesford, Staffordshire, England. They are currently members of the and play at Keys Park. History The club was established in 1880 as a merger of the Red & Whites and Hill Top.

in 1912. He went onto play for Fallings Heath, Darlaston, Wednesbury Old Park and

Wednesbury Old Athletic Wednesbury Old Athletic, often referred to as W.O.A.C., was an England, English association football club based in Wednesbury, West Midlands (county), West Midlands (Staffordshire at the time). There were three clubs that had this name. Original ...

. In 1915 he was signed by Aston Villa on a part-time contract, signing professional forms after the

first world war World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

in May 1919.

Playing career

Walker made his senior debut in January 1920 in the

, scoring twice as

Villa A villa is a type of house that was originally an ancient Roman upper class country house. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the fall of the Roman Republic, villas became ...

won 2-1 in the first round against non-league side Queens Park Rangers. He played in five more FA Cup games, scoring another three, helping Aston Villa reach the FA Cup Final, against

second division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

Huddersfield Town. An extra time winner at Stamford Bridge by

Billy Kirton William John Kirton (2 December 1896 – 27 September 1970) was a footballer in the early years of professional football in England, who played over 200 games for Aston Villa and is best known for scoring the only goal in the 1920 FA Cup Final. ...

saw Walker become an FA Cup winner in his debut season. Walker also scored 8 league goals in 15 matches at the back end of the 1919-20 season, including a hat-trick against

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East En ...

, as Villa ended the first season after the first world war in ninth place. On the opening day of the 1920-21 season he scored 4 goals as Villa beat

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostl ...

5-0. In November 1921, Walker became the first player to score a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three w ...

penalty Penalty or The Penalty may refer to: Sports * Penalty (golf) * Penalty (gridiron football) * Penalty (ice hockey) * Penalty (rugby) * Penalty (rugby union) * Penalty kick (association football) * Penalty shoot-out (association football) * Penal ...

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 Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system and are currently managed by Mark Hughes. Th ...

. Walker is one of ten players to score this rare hat-trick in a league game – five more in cup games – only matched later in the top flight by

Charlie Mitten Charles Mitten (17 January 1921 – 2 January 2002) was an English football player and manager who came through the junior ranks at Manchester United. Over his career, Mitten also played for Fulham, Mansfield Town and Altrincham in England, and ...

( Man Utd 1950) and Ken Barnes ( Man City 1957). Walker would score 26 goals this season which would be his best in the league and also 4 in the FA Cup. He scored over 20 league goals in each of the next two seasons also. The 1923-24 season saw Villa again reach the FA Cup final, Walker scoring 3 in 6 games, but disappointment this time as they lost 2-0 to

at Wembley. Walker scored 21 goals in the 1925-26 season, the fourth and final time he would score over twenty league goals. He became Aston Villa’s captain in 1926, leading the team for five years before handing it over to Alec Talbot in 1931. He scored 10 in 1927-28 but the next season saw him net 19 times in 36 league appearances. The following season he failed to reach double figures, scoring only 8 times. The 1930-31 season saw Walker come close to leading Aston Villa becoming English champions, finishing second in the league, scoring a record total of goals, but losing out to a tighter

defence. Villa scored 128 goals, Arsenal scored 127 but Villa conceded 78. Costly away defeats left the Villains seven points adrift of the Gunners. 33 year old Walker contributed with 15 goals that season, adding to the 49 scored by Pongo Waring and Eric Houghton’s 30. Walker again came close to a league title with Villa, again finishing second to

, this time by four points in 1932-33. Away form the difference again as Villa managed only twenty points and thirty two goals away from

Villa Park Villa Park is a football stadium in Aston, Birmingham, England, with a seating capacity of 42,682. It has been the home of Premier League side Aston Villa since 1897. The ground is less than a mile from both Witton and Aston railway station ...

, from their twenty one matches. That season would be Walkers last; he had scored 5 goals in 30 league games. He played in five matches the next season before deciding to retire in September 1933 and by December that year had become manager of

. A

one-club man List of one-club men may refer to: * List of one-club men in association football * List of one-club men in rugby league * List of Major League Baseball players who spent their entire career with one franchise * List of NBA players who have spent ...

, Walker made 531 appearances for Villa, scoring 244 goals between 1920 and 1934. He scored 214 goals in 478 matches in the league, that ranks him 17th in the all time top flight league scorers in England. He finished his league career only a goal behind

Harry Hampton Harry Hampton VC (14 December 1870 – 2 November 1922) was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. Details Hampton was bor ...

(215), however still to this day; he is Aston Villa's all-time top goalscorer, beating Hampton’s 242. Walker was capped 18 times by

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

, scoring nine goals. He scored on his debut as England beat

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...

2-0 at Roker Park,

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

in October 1920. He has the distinction of scoring England's first ever goal at Wembley, although he wasn’t the first Englishman to score that day.

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...

were the first visitors for an international match at Wembley on 12 April 1924, and led at half time through an Eddie Taylor own goal. The ball hitting the keeper after rebounding off the post following a Billy Cowan shot. Walker equalised on the hour mark for a 1-1 draw. Five of his goals came in the

British Home Championship The British Home Championship * sco, Hame Internaitional Kemp * gd, Farpais lìg eadar-nàiseanta * cy, Pencampwriaeth y Pedair Gwlad, name=lang (historically known as the British International Championship or simply the International Champio ...

, with two braces in friendly matches making up his tally. In the friendly against

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

in December 1924 at The Hawthorns, Walker missed a penalty after fifteen minutes, but scored twice in the second half. His final cap came nearly six years after earning his 17th, when he was made captain for a friendly in December 1932, against

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

which England won 4-3. He became the second Aston Villa player to captain England, after Howard Spencer. Billy Walker was Villa's talisman throughout the 1920s and into the 1930s, netting double figures in 12 consecutive seasons from 1919–20. 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. In March 2003, nearly 40 years after his death, he was named by

BBC Sport BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC, providing national sports coverage for BBC television, radio and online. The BBC holds the television and radio UK broadcasting rights to several sports, broadcasting the sport live or alongside f ...

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 The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

Managerial career

Sheffield Wednesday

Walker became manager of

in December 1933, and he successfully steered them away from relegation. In 1935 he led them to an

victory, but Wednesday were relegated two years later and Walker resigned in November 1937.

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 Errington Ridley Liddell Keen (4 October 1910 – July 1984) was an English football player and manager. Keen played at both professional and international levels, before becoming a coach at both national and international level in Europe and Af ...

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.

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 World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. He retired in 1960.

Death

Walker died on 28 November 1964 in Saxondale Hospital, Radcliffe-on-Trent, near

Nottingham Nottingham ( , locally ) is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east of Sheffield and north-east of Birmingham. Nottingham has links to the legend of Robi ...

, after a long illness. Another former Sheffield Wednesday manager,

Jimmy McMullan James McMullan (26 March 1895 – 28 November 1964) was a Scottish football player and manager. He won 16 Scotland caps as a player at half-back and was part of the famous ''"Wembley Wizards"'' side of 1928. Playing career Early life and Th ...

, died on the same day.

Career statistics

Honours

Player

Aston Villa *

: 1919–20; runner-up: 1923–24 *

Football League First Division The Football League First Division was a division of the Football League in England from 1888 until 2004. It was the top division in the English football league system from the season 1888–89 until 1991–92, a century in which the First ...

runner-up: 1930–31, 1932–33

Manager

Sheffield Wednesday * FA Cup: 1934–35 * FA Charity Shield:

1935 Events January * January 7 – Italian premier Benito Mussolini and French Foreign Minister Pierre Laval conclude an agreement, in which each power agrees not to oppose the other's colonial claims. * January 12 – Amelia Earhart ...

Nottingham Forest * FA Cup: 1958–59 *

Football League Third Division South The Third Division South of The Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division North with clubs elected to the League or relegated from Division Two allocated to ...

: 1950–51 *

Football League Second Division The Football League Second Division was the second level division in the English football league system between 1892 and 1992. Following the foundation of the FA Premier League, the Football League divisions were renumbered and the third t ...

runner-up: 1956–57 * FA Charity Shield runner-up: 1959

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Walker, Billy 1897 births 1964 deaths Sportspeople from Wednesbury English footballers England international footballers Association football forwards Aston Villa F.C. players English Football League players English Football League representative players English football managers Nottingham Forest F.C. managers Sheffield Wednesday F.C. managers Chelmsford City F.C. managers English Football League managers Outfield association footballers who played in goal FA Cup Final players