Charles Edward Walker (14 May 1911 – 7 May 1990) was an English
footballer
A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...
who played as a
left-back
In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring.
Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...
in the
Football League
The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...
for
West Ham United
West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...
.
Born in
Nottingham
Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...
, Walker started his career at
Arsenal. He spent a period on loan to Arsenal's nursery club
Margate
Margate is a seaside resort, seaside town on the north coast of Kent in south-east England. The town is estimated to be 1.5 miles long, north-east of Canterbury and includes Cliftonville, Garlinge, Palm Bay, UK, Palm Bay and Westbrook, Kent, ...
,
but never played a first-team game for Arsenal themselves, with opportunities limited by the presence of
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 b ...
captain
Eddie Hapgood
Edris Albert "Eddie" Hapgood (24 September 1908 – 20 April 1973) was an English footballer, who captained both Arsenal and England during the 1930s.
Playing career
Hapgood was born in Bristol and started his footballing career in the mid-192 ...
. Walker joined West Ham United in 1936, and went on to make 118 league and cup appearances for the east London club.
After the outbreak of World War II, Walker's three Second Division appearances of
1939–40 were expunged from the records.
[ He played in all but one of the ]Football League War Cup
The Football League War Cup was an association football tournament held between 1939 and 1945. It aimed to fill the gap left in English football by the suspension of the FA Cup during the Second World War. Though it was often referred to in conte ...
games of that season, leading to victory at Wembley
Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...
in June 1940.[ He also played in 27 matches of the ]Football League South
The Football League North and Football League South divisions of the Football League were created temporarily for the League to continue through the Second World War while limiting the amount of movement that was required by teams. The leagues star ...
, which ended with West Ham finishing second in both A and C groups. The following season, he made nine League South appearances, and 1941–42 saw him make two appearances each in the League South and the London War Cup. Walker also played for St Mirren during the war, making nine appearances in the Southern League during the 1942–43 season. He saw service with the Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
and toured the Far East
The ''Far East'' was a European term to refer to the geographical regions that includes East and Southeast Asia as well as the Russian Far East to a lesser extent. South Asia is sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons.
The ter ...
.[
Walker played in 21 games of the first peacetime League South season of 1945–46, which included pre-war First and Second Division clubs. His last game for West Ham was a 3–3 away draw against ]Wolves
The wolf (''Canis lupus''; plural, : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large Canis, canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of Canis lupus, subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been reco ...
that season.[
After this, Walker rejoined Margate as ]player-manager
A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the s ...
for two seasons (winning the Kent League). He then moved to Ashford Town (Kent), where he performed a similar role for the following three seasons (winning the Kent League in his first season). He later managed Ramsgate
Ramsgate is a seaside resort, seaside town in the district of Thanet District, Thanet in east Kent, England. It was one of the great English seaside towns of the 19th century. In 2001 it had a population of about 40,000. In 2011, according to t ...
in a part-time capacity.
Honours
*1937–1938 as a Margate player
** Southern League Championship winner
**Southern League Eastern Section winner
** Southern League Central Section winner
**Kent Senior Cup
The Kent Senior Cup is an English football competition played between senior clubs in the county of Kent. It is administered by the Kent County Football Association.
History
The Kent Badge preceded the Kent Senior Cup, and was won in its three ...
Winner
**Kent Senior Shield Winner
Managerial statistics (League Matches)
References
External links
Charlie Walker
at westhamstats.info
Charlie Walker
at Margate Football Club History
Charlie Walker player profile
at Nuts and Bolts archive: History of Ashford Town
{{DEFAULTSORT:Walker, Charlie
1911 births
1990 deaths
Footballers from Nottingham
English men's footballers
Men's association football fullbacks
Arsenal F.C. players
Margate F.C. players
West Ham United F.C. players
St Mirren F.C. wartime guest players
Margate F.C. managers
Ashford United F.C. players
Ashford United F.C. managers
Ramsgate F.C. managers
Royal Air Force personnel of World War II
English football managers