Colin Walker (born 1 May 1958) is a former professional

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 le ...

and

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

who is head of coaching at

EFL League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

side

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that in the 2022–23 season will compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system, following the victory in ...

. As a player he was a striker who notably played 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

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...

Doncaster Rovers Doncaster Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The team compete in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club play their home games at ...

Cambridge United Cambridge United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Cambridge, England. They compete in EFL League one , the 3rd tier of the English football league system. The club is based at the Abbey Stadium on N ...

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 of ...

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town. In the 19th century, Darlington underwen ...

and

Torquay United Torquay United Football Club is a professional football club based in Torquay, Devon, England. The team currently compete in the , the fifth tier of English football. They have played their home matches at Plainmoor since 1921 and are nicknamed ...

. He also spent time playing in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

with three spells at

Gisborne City Gisborne City AFC was an association football club in Gisborne, New Zealand. Founded in 1939 as Eastern Union, the club changed its name to Gisborne City after winning the Central Districts League at the first attempt in 1967. As Eastern Union, ...

. He also played non-league football for Retford Town,

Matlock Town Matlock Town Football Club is a association football, football club based in Matlock, Derbyshire, Matlock, Derbyshire, England. Nicknamed 'the Gladiators', they are currently members of the and play at Causeway Lane. History The club was esta ...

and Harworth Colliery Institute. Walker was capped 15 times by

between 1984 and 1988, scoring 10 goals. He had obtained citizenship during his time spent playing in the country. As a manager Walker took charge of Gisborne City in 1988 before moving on to manage non-league side Maltby Miners Welfare. He later had coaching roles at Barnsley and

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road S ...

whilst also working for

Rugby Union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

side

Rotherham Titans Rotherham Rugby Union Football Club, or Rotherham Titans is a professional rugby union team from Rotherham, South Yorkshire, currently playing in the fourth tier of the English rugby union league system, following their relegation from the Nat ...

. He later joined

York City York City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team compete in the National League, at the fifth tier of the English football league sys ...

as a first team coach before becoming manager between 2007 and 2008. He has since worked for

Forest Green Rovers Forest Green Rovers Football Club are a professional football club based in Nailsworth, Gloucestershire, England. The team compete in , the third tier of the English football league system, and have played their home games at The New Lawn since ...

, Notts County Ladies and

in varying coaching positions.

Club career

Born in

Rotherham Rotherham () is a large minster and market town in South Yorkshire, England. The town takes its name from the River Rother which then merges with the River Don. The River Don then flows through the town centre. It is the main settlement of ...

West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county County of York, West Riding (the area under the control of West Riding County Council), abbreviated County ...

, Walker played as a trialist in

youth Youth is the time of life when one is young. The word, youth, can also mean the time between childhood and adulthood ( maturity), but it can also refer to one's peak, in terms of health or the period of life known as being a young adult. You ...

and

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players under contract to a club but who do not normally play in matches for the first team. Reserve teams often include back-up players from the first team, young players who need playing time to i ...

s in 1976, after which he moved to New Zealand to play for

in 1980 after being spotted playing in English

non-League Non-League football describes football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is specifically used to de ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

for Retford Town and

Kevin Fallon Kevin Barry Fallon (born 3 December 1948) is an English-born football coach residing in New Zealand. He is the father of New Zealand international footballer Rory Fallon and former coach of the Cook Islands national football team but did not man ...

. After the end of the season, he returned to play in England for

side

in November 1980. He scored 12 times in 24 games for Barnsley, with an additional five goals in 12 games while on

loan In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that d ...

from February 1983, before returning to New Zealand to play for Gisborne City. Walker reached the final of the

Chatham Cup The Chatham Cup is New Zealand's premier knockout tournament in men's association football. It is held annually, with the final contested in September. The current champions of the Chatham Cup are 2022 winners Auckland City, who defeated Eastern ...

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to Internet protocol suite, TCP/IP is officially completed (this is consid ...

with Gisborne. He scored twice, but the match ended 2–2, and was won by Gisborne's opponents Mount Wellington 2–0 in the replay. During the 1983 season, he scored seven goals in 12 appearances. He scored 16 goals in 22 appearances and won the country's Player of the Year award in 1984. He then scored 15 goals in 22 appearances in 1985. Overall, he was the top scorer in New Zealand during three of the five years he spent playing in the country. In November 1985, Walker returned to Doncaster Rovers on non-contract terms, playing five times before moving to

in January 1986. He scored once in 3 games, but was released by Cambridge and returned to Matlock Town. From there he joined Harworth Colliery Institute from where he was signed by

in August 1986. He joined

on loan in December 1986, where he made seven appearances, and

on loan in October 1987, where he made three appearances. He left Sheffield Wednesday having played just two league games and after scoring 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 wic ...

in a

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

tie, a 7–0 victory against

Stockport County Stockport County Football Club are a professional association football, football club in Stockport, England, who compete in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1883 as Heaton Norris Rovers, they wer ...

, which Wednesday won 10–0 on aggregate. He then returned to New Zealand for a final spell with Gisborne City, where he took over 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 sq ...

, but left because of financial problems at the club. He also worked as striker-coach at the club. After returning to England for a run-out with Doncaster, he suffered a

cruciate ligament Cruciate ligaments (also cruciform ligaments) are pairs of ligaments arranged like a letter X. They occur in several joints of the body, such as the knee joint and the atlanto-axial joint. In a fashion similar to the cords in a toy Jacob's la ...

injury to his knee which brought an end to his playing career.

International career

Whilst at Gisborne City, Walker acquired New Zealand citizenship, and so played for the New Zealand national team and scored 10 goals in 15

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

. The highlight of his international career came against

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, during which he was marked by

Aldair Aldair Nascimento dos Santos (; born 30 November 1965), known simply as Aldair, is a Brazilian retired association football, footballer who played as a defender (association football), defender, and who was part of the Brazil national football ...

Coaching and managerial career

Walker spent three-and-a-half-years after his playing career ended as

of Maltby Miners Welfare, whom he took from the

Northern Counties East Football League The Northern Counties East Football League is a semi-professional English association football, football league. It has two divisions – Premier Division and Division One – which stand at the ninth and tenth levels of the English football lea ...

Division One to the Premier Division. He won the Presidents' Cup in his final season in charge. He had coaching appointments with

, where he held a variety of different positions from youth team coach to assistant manager. Walker left Barnsley, along with manager

Glyn Hodges Glyn Peter Hodges (born 30 April 1963) is a Welsh football coach and former professional player who is assistant manager at Bradford City. During his playing career he played for Wimbledon, Newcastle United, Watford, Crystal Palace, Sheffield Un ...

, in July 2003. He soon found employment at the

youth academy in addition to work at

Rotherham R.U.F.C. Rotherham Rugby Union Football Club, or Rotherham Titans is a professional rugby union team from Rotherham, South Yorkshire, currently playing in the fourth tier of the English rugby union league system, following their relegation from the N ...

and undertaking scouting assignments for lower league clubs while trying "to earn enough to pay the mortgage". Billy McEwan appointed him as first team coach at

on 28 May 2005, stating that Walker would "bring honesty and commitment to the club, as well as a lot of knowledge". He took over as

caretaker manager In association footballing terms, a caretaker manager or interim manager is somebody who takes temporary charge of the management of a football team, usually when the regular Manager (association football), manager is dismissed or leaves for a ...

at York on 19 November 2007, following McEwan's sacking by the club. His first game in charge finished as a 2–1 victory against Weymouth and after achieving five wins and a draw in six games, he was appointed as the club's permanent manager on 26 December 2007. He won the

Conference National The National League, known as the Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest level of the National League System and fifth-highest of the overall English football league system. It is the highest league that is semi-profes ...

manager of the month award for December 2007, when the team gained 10 out of a possible 12 points in the league and made progress in the

FA Trophy The Football Association Challenge Trophy, commonly known as the FA Trophy, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after the English Football Association and competed for primarily by semi-professional teams. The compet ...

and

Conference League Cup The Conference League Cup (formerly known as the Setanta Shield for sponsorship reasons, and before that the Bob Lord Trophy) was a football competition open to clubs playing in the Football Conference. History The competition was formed for ...

. He led the team to a 14th place finish in the Conference in the 2007–08 season, and also reached the

semi-final A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

of the FA Trophy and the

fifth round Fifth is the ordinal form of the number five. Fifth or The Fifth may refer to: * Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, as in the expression "pleading the Fifth" * Fifth column, a political term * Fifth disease, a contagious rash th ...

of the Conference League Cup. During York's 1–0 defeat to

Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Stags', they ...

in an

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 competi ...

fourth qualifying round replay in October 2008, Walker was targeted by some fans chanting his name. He was sacked as York manager on 21 November 2008. Walker joined

as assistant manager to caretaker manager David Brown in August 2009. Walker left Forest Green in September after the club appointed

Dave Hockaday David Hockaday (born 9 November 1957) is an English professional footballer who is currently Head of Male Football at South Gloucestershire and Stroud College. He has previously worked as a manager at Leeds United, Forest Green Rovers, Kidde ...

as their new manager. He later joined Doncaster, who he played for during his playing career, as Centre of Excellence technical development officer. Walker is currently with Notts County Ladies where he is assistant manager. He was appointed as assistant on 16 December 2013. In 2017 he moved to

as head of coaching, within the clubs academy system.https://www.linkedin.com/in/colin-walker-bbb70214/?originalSubdomain=uk

Career statistics

Managerial statistics

Honours

Maltby Miners Welfare *

Presidents Cup: 1992–93

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Walker, Colin 1958 births Living people Footballers from Rotherham English footballers New Zealand association footballers New Zealand international footballers Association football forwards Retford Town F.C. players Matlock Town F.C. players Gisborne City AFC players Barnsley F.C. players Doncaster Rovers F.C. players Cambridge United F.C. players Harworth Colliery F.C. players Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players Darlington F.C. players Torquay United F.C. players English Football League players English football managers New Zealand association football coaches Maltby Main F.C. managers York City F.C. managers National League (English football) managers York City F.C. non-playing staff Doncaster Rovers F.C. non-playing staff Grimsby Town F.C. non-playing staff