Justin Matthew Walker (born 6 September 1975) is an English football coach and former player, who is the joint assistant head coach at

EFL Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the E ...

club

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Kingston upon Hull, Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving ...

. As a player he was a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

who made more than 300

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 ...

appearances for six different clubs from 1997 to 2006. He notably played for

Scunthorpe United Scunthorpe United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, England. The side currently competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The tea ...

and Lincoln City having come through the

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

academy. He later played professionally for

Exeter City Exeter City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Exeter, Devon, England. The team play in , the third tier of the English football league system. Known as "the Grecians", the origin of their nickname is subject to ...

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 ...

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 ...

and Chester City before finishing his career in Non-league football with Ilkeston Town and

FC Halifax Town FC Halifax Town is a professional association football club based in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. They currently compete in and play at the Shay. They replaced Halifax Town A.F.C., which went into administration in the 2007–08 season. ...

. He has previously had a spell as interim manager of Derby before the appointment of

Wayne Rooney Wayne Mark Rooney (born 24 October 1985) is an English professional football manager and former player, who is the manager of Major League Soccer club D.C. United in the United States. He spent much of his playing career as a forward while als ...

Playing career

As a youngster, Walker represented England at youth and schoolboy level and signed professional forms with

in September 1992. But he failed to break into the first-team with Forest and joined

in March 1997. Walker was a regular with United until he moved to Lincoln City in July 2000, playing in the 1998–99

Football League Division Three The Football League Third Division was the third tier of the English football league system in 1920–21 and again from 1958 until 1992. When the FA Premier League was formed, the division become the fourth tier level. In 2004, following the ...

play-off final win at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

against

Leyton Orient Leyton Orient Football Club is a professional football club based in Leyton, East London, England, who compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They are the second oldest football club in London to play at a professio ...

. After two years with Lincoln, in which he was named Player of the Season for the 2000–01 season, financial difficulties due to the ITV Digital collapse meant that Walker was released at the end of his contract. Walker joined

in August 2002, but his solitary season with the Grecians ended in relegation from

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 ...

. Walker joined

in 2003 and suffered relegation in the 2004–05 season. Walker achieved a possibly unique hat-trick of successive relegations out of the league by playing for

on loan for two months in the 2003–04 season. Walker joined Chester City ahead of the 2005–06 campaign, where he was to manage just 13 league starts. With six weeks of the season remaining Chester lay bottom of the

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 ...

table and Walker seemed set for yet another relegation experience, but a late run of wins saved City from the drop. However, Walker was released in the summer of 2006 and joined Ilkeston Town. On 2 August 2008, he linked up with his former Ilkeston manager

Nigel Jemson Nigel Bradley Jemson (born 10 August 1969) is an English footballer, who represented his country at under-21 level and was the player-manager of Ilkeston Town until May 2008. He finished his career at Rainworth Miners Welfare in the Norther ...

debuting in their inaugural match, a 3–0 home defeat to

Bamber Bridge Bamber Bridge is an urban village in Lancashire, England, south-east of Preston, in the borough of South Ribble. The name derives from the Old English "bēam" and "brycg", which probably means "tree-trunk bridge". The population was 13,945 at ...

on 16 August 2008. After starting Town's first seven league games, Walker found himself dropped to the substitutes bench and, after one further league appearance from the bench, he was released in November 2008.

Coaching career

On 3 September 2020, after a number of years as part of

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 1884 ...

's academy staff, Justin was handed the role of Derby County's first-team development coach in

Phillip Cocu Phillip John-William Cocu (born 29 October 1970) is a Dutch professional football manager and former player, he is the manager of Vitesse. Cocu was born in Eindhoven but raised in Zevenaar, playing youth football for local clubs DCS and De Graa ...

's backroom team. In November 2020, he was one of the caretaker management team appointed following the dismissal of Cocu. After

took sole charge shortly after, Walker returned to his first-team development role. In November 2022, he joined

as the Assistant Head coach to

Liam Rosenior Liam James Rosenior (born 9 July 1984) is an English football manager and former player. He played either as a full-back or winger. He is the son of former player and manager Leroy Rosenior, and spent time on loan at Torquay United, where his f ...

. In June 2023, Walker gained his UEFA Pro Licence.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Walker, Justin (Footballer) 1975 births Footballers from Nottingham Living people English men's footballers English Football League players Men's association football midfielders Nottingham Forest F.C. players Scunthorpe United F.C. players Lincoln City F.C. players Exeter City F.C. players Cambridge United F.C. players York City F.C. players Chester City F.C. players Ilkeston Town F.C. (1945) players Derby County F.C. non-playing staff Derby County F.C. managers Hull City A.F.C. non-playing staff