Jason Walker (born 21 February 1984) is an English semi-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 ...
who plays as a
striker for
Northern Premier League
The Northern Premier League is an English football league that was founded in 1968. It has four divisions: the Premier Division (which stands at level 7 of the English football league system), Division One East, Division One West and Divisio ...
club
Lancaster City
Lancaster City Football Club is an English semi-professional non-League football club based in the northern city of Lancaster, Lancashire. They currently compete in and play at Giant Axe. They are full members of the Lancashire County Footb ...
. He previously played for
Dundee
Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...
,
Greenock Morton
Greenock Morton Football Club is a Scottish professional football club, which plays in the Scottish Championship. The club was founded as Morton Football Club in 1874, making it one of the oldest senior Scottish clubs. Morton was renamed Green ...
,
Morecambe
Morecambe ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the City of Lancaster district in Lancashire, England. It is in Morecambe Bay on the Irish Sea.
Name
The first use of the name was by John Whitaker in his ''History of Manchester'' (1771), w ...
,
Luton Town
Luton Town Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire, England, that competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1885, it is nicknam ...
,
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 ...
,
Östersund
Östersund (; sma, Staare) is an urban area (city) in Jämtland in the middle of Sweden. It is the seat of Östersund Municipality and the capital of Jämtland County. Östersund is located at the shores of Sweden's fifth-largest lake, Storsjön, ...
,
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 ...
,
Southport
Southport is a seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 90,336, making it the eleventh most populous settlement in North West England.
Southport lies on the Irish ...
,
Barrow,
Chorley
Chorley is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Chorley in Lancashire, England, north of Wigan, south west of Blackburn, north west of Bolton, south of Preston and north west of Manchester. The town's wealth came pr ...
and
Workington
Workington is a coastal town and civil parish at the mouth of the River Derwent on the west coast in the Allerdale borough of Cumbria, England. The town was historically in Cumberland. At the 2011 census it had a population of 25,207.
Loca ...
.
Club career
Early career
Born in
Barrow-in-Furness
Barrow-in-Furness is a port town in Cumbria, England. Historically in Lancashire, it was incorporated as a municipal borough in 1867 and merged with Dalton-in-Furness Urban District in 1974 to form the Borough of Barrow-in-Furness. In 2023 the ...
,
Cumbria
Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumb ...
, Walker grew in
Flookburgh
Flookburgh is an ancient village on the Cartmel peninsula in Cumbria, England, until 1974 part of Lancashire. Being close to Morecambe Bay, cockle and shrimp fishing plays a big part in village life.
Flookburgh is sometimes thought to derive ...
and attended
Cartmel Priory School
Cartmel Priory CofE School is a mixed 11-16 secondary school and academy in Cartmel, Cumbria, England.
History
The school was opened in 1958 on land given by Lord Richard Cavendish built with money from the Church and the local community. The ...
.
He was playing for Cartmel in the North Lancashire and District Football League at the age of 16 when he was spotted by a
Dundee
Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...
scout.
He signed for the
Scottish Premier League
The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the top level league competition for professional football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football' ...
team's
youth system
In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team in the future if t ...
on a two-year scholarship straight from school after playing three games on trial.
He then had two years on a professional contract before being released in May 2004 with the club in
administration
Administration may refer to:
Management of organizations
* Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal
** Administrative assistant, Administrative Assistant, traditionally known as a Secretary, or also known as an admini ...
, bringing to an end four years with Dundee.
He subsequently joined
Scottish Second Division
The Scottish Football League Second Division was the third tier of the Scottish football league system between 1975 and 2013.
History
The Second Division was created in 1975, as part of a wider reconstruction of the Scottish Football League (SFL ...
side
Greenock Morton
Greenock Morton Football Club is a Scottish professional football club, which plays in the Scottish Championship. The club was founded as Morton Football Club in 1874, making it one of the oldest senior Scottish clubs. Morton was renamed Green ...
in July 2004.
He left the club and signed for
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 ...
side
Morecambe
Morecambe ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the City of Lancaster district in Lancashire, England. It is in Morecambe Bay on the Irish Sea.
Name
The first use of the name was by John Whitaker in his ''History of Manchester'' (1771), w ...
in January 2007 after training with the team.
He scored in the 90th minute on his
first team debut, a 5–0 victory at home to
Mangotsfield United 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 ...
second round
The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds e ...
on 13 January 2007, after entering the match as a 65th minute
substitute.
Following the game,
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 ...
Sammy McIlroy
Samuel Baxter McIlroy (born 2 August 1954) is a Northern Irish retired footballer who played for Manchester United, Stoke City, Manchester City, Örgryte (Sweden), Bury, VfB Mödling (Austria), Preston North End and the Northern Ireland natio ...
said "Jason took his goal really well. He could be a good asset for us".
Barrow
Walker was released by Morecambe on 8 March 2007 and one day later signed for
Conference North
The National League North, formerly Conference North, is a division of the National League in England, immediately below the National League division. Along with the National League South, it is at the second level of the National League Sy ...
side
Barrow.
He scored 13 goals in 48 games in the
2007–08 season as Barrow won
promotion
Promotion may refer to:
Marketing
* Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...
to the
Conference Premier
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-profess ...
via the Conference North play-offs.
In the
2008–09 season he was Barrow's top scorer with 12 goals in the league, and scored Barrow's goal in their 2–1 defeat by
Middlesbrough
Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area.
Until the early 1800s, the a ...
in 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 competi ...
third round
Third or 3rd may refer to:
Numbers
* 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3
* , a fraction of one third
* 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute''
Places
* 3rd Street (disambiguation)
* Third Avenue (disambiguation)
* Hig ...
.
![Jason Walker 25-08-08 2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c4/Jason_Walker_25-08-08_2.png)
Walker was allowed to go on trial with
Championship
In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion.
Championship systems
Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship.
Title match system
In this system ...
side
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 ...
in July 2009, having impressed their manager
Sean O'Driscoll
Sean Michael O'Driscoll (born 1 July 1957) is a former professional footballer and manager. He has previously managed AFC Bournemouth, Doncaster Rovers, Crawley Town, Nottingham Forest, Bristol City and Walsall. He was known by the nickname "N ...
in a pre-season friendly against his side.
However, despite Walker scoring in two trial games, Doncaster did not follow up their interest and he returned to Barrow for the
2009–10 season.
On 20 March 2010, Walker scored twice as Barrow beat
Salisbury City 2–1 in the second leg of the FA Trophy semi-final, which gave Barrow a 3–1 win on
aggregate and therefore progression to the
Final
Final, Finals or The Final may refer to:
*Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event
** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...
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 ...
.
Barrow faced
Conference Premier
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-profess ...
champions
Stevenage Borough
Stevenage Football Club (known as Stevenage Borough Football Club until 2010) is a professional association football club based in the town of Stevenage, Hertfordshire, England. The team competes in EFL League Two, League Two, the fourth tier o ...
in the Final on 8 May 2010 and Walker scored the winning goal with a 25-yard "wonder strike" in a 2–1 victory after
extra time
Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played onl ...
.
Luton Town
Walker signed for fellow Conference Premier side
Luton Town
Luton Town Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire, England, that competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1885, it is nicknam ...
on 17 November 2010, initially on loan, with a view to a permanent transfer in January 2011.
He scored on his Luton debut with a header from
Matthew Barnes-Homer
Matthew Brian Barnes-Homer (born 25 January 1986) is an English professional footballer who is a player/coach as a striker for Gloucester City.
Barnes-Homer started his career as a youth player at Wolverhampton Wanderers, where he spent three ...
's cross and earlier in the match assisted a
Jake Howells
Jake Thomas Howells (born 18 April 1991) is a former professional footballer who played as a defender or a midfielder for Luton Town. He was capped by the England C team four times from 2009 to 2011 and has represented Wales at under-21 level ...
goal in a 5–1 win at home to
Histon
Histon is a village and civil parish in the South Cambridgeshire district, in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is immediately north of Cambridge – and is separated from the city – by the A14 road which runs east–west. In ...
on 20 November 2010.
[
]
The permanent switch for an undisclosed fee, believed to be around £45,000, was completed on 5 January 2011, with Walker signing a one-and-a-half-year contract.
[
] His final act as a Luton player was to miss a crucial
penalty kick
A penalty shot or penalty kick is a play used in several sports whereby a goal is attempted during untimed play. Depending on the sport, when a player commits certain types of penalties, the opposition is awarded a penalty shot or kick attempt. ...
in the
2011 Conference Premier play-off Final penalty shoot-out
The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...
defeat to
AFC Wimbledon
AFC Wimbledon is an English professional Association football, football club, based in London Borough of Merton, Merton, London, that plays in the EFL League Two, after being relegated from the EFL League One following the 2021–22 EFL Leagu ...
at the
City of Manchester Stadium on 21 May 2011, with his chipped effort being saved by goalkeeper
Seb Brown
Sebastian Alexander Brown (born 24 November 1989) is an English professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Sutton United.
Career Early years
Brown came through the youth system of Brentford, moving up from the under–18s squad to ...
.
He finished the season with six goals in 29 appearances for Luton.
York City
![Jason Walker 30-07-11 1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/74/Jason_Walker_30-07-11_1.png)
Eight months after joining Luton, Walker signed for Conference Premier rivals
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 ...
on a two-year contract on 16 June 2011, with the officially undisclosed fee being revealed by Luton as £60,000.
He scored a penalty and a 90th minute winning goal with a header on his debut, a 2–1 victory away at
Ebbsfleet United
Ebbsfleet United Football Club is a professional football club based in Northfleet, Kent, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the club competes in the National League South, the sixth tier of English football.
The club was formed in 1946 fr ...
in the opening game of the
2011–12 season on 13 August 2011.
Walker was handed a three-match
suspension
Suspension or suspended may refer to:
Science and engineering
* Suspension (topology), in mathematics
* Suspension (dynamical systems), in mathematics
* Suspension of a ring, in mathematics
* Suspension (chemistry), small solid particles suspend ...
after being
red carded during a 0–0 draw away at former club Barrow on 19 November 2011 for a tackle on Jason Owen during
stoppage time.
Walker won a second FA Trophy in the
2012 Final with York at Wembley on 12 May 2012, in which the side beat
Newport County 2–0.
Eight days later he played in the 2–1 victory over his former club Luton in the
2012 Conference Premier play-off Final at Wembley, seeing York return to
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 ...
after an eight-year absence with promotion to
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 ...
.
Walker started York's game away at
League One
The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...
Doncaster Rovers in the
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 ...
first round
First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1).
First or 1st may also refer to:
*World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement
Arts and media Music
* 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and reco ...
in the opening game of the
2012–13 season on 11 August 2012, which the side lost 4–2 in a penalty shoot-out following a 1–1 draw after extra time.
After converting
Jonathan Smith's header, his first goal of the season came in the following game, a 3–1 defeat at home to
Wycombe Wanderers
Wycombe Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play their ho ...
on 18 August 2012, which was York's first Football League fixture since their promotion.
He completed the season having scored nine goals in 48 games before being released by York on 29 April 2013.
Östersunds FK
Walker signed for Swedish
Superettan
Superettan (; meaning the super first (division)) is an association football league and the second highest league in the league system of Swedish men's football. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with Al ...
side
Östersund
Östersund (; sma, Staare) is an urban area (city) in Jämtland in the middle of Sweden. It is the seat of Östersund Municipality and the capital of Jämtland County. Östersund is located at the shores of Sweden's fifth-largest lake, Storsjön, ...
on 1 July 2013 and made his debut in a 2–0 away defeat to
Falkenbergs FF
Falkenbergs Fotbollsförening, also known simply as Falkenbergs FF, Falkenberg or (especially locally) FFF, is a Swedish football club based in Falkenberg. Formed on 3 January 1928, the club plays in the second highest Swedish league, Superet ...
on 20 July.
Forest Green Rovers
Walker joined
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 ...
in the Conference Premier on 22 January 2014, signing a contract until the end of the
2013–14 season. He made his debut for the club on 25 January 2014, coming on as a substitute for
Lee Hughes
Lee Hughes (born 22 May 1976) is an English professional footballer who plays as a striker for club Stourport Swifts.
A strong striker with excellent finishing abilities, Hughes represented the England semi-professional team once in 1996. ...
on 86 minutes in a 3–0 home win against
Chester
Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Dee, close to the English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011,"2011 Census results: People and Population Profile: Chester Loca ...
.
After making two appearances for Forest Green, Walker signed for Conference Premier rivals
Southport
Southport is a seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 90,336, making it the eleventh most populous settlement in North West England.
Southport lies on the Irish ...
on 27 February 2014, on a loan deal until 26 March. He scored on his debut, in a 3–0 home win over
Dartford
Dartford is the principal town in the Borough of Dartford, Kent, England. It is located south-east of Central London and
is situated adjacent to the London Borough of Bexley to its west. To its north, across the Thames estuary, is Thurrock in ...
on 1 March 2013.
On 24 March 2014, it was announced that Walker had extended his loan with Southport until the end of the season. After scoring 6 times in 10 appearances for Southport, he was recalled by Forest Green on 20 April 2014 after an injury crisis at the club. On 28 April 2014, it was announced that he had been released by Forest Green.
[
]
Return to Barrow
Walker rejoined Barrow on a three-year contract on 19 May 2014, with the club by this time playing in the Conference North.
Walker was part of the Barrow team who won the Conference North title in the 2014–15 season by beating Lowestoft 3–2 on the final day of the season.
Chorley
Upon his release by Barrow Walker signed for National League North side
Chorley
Chorley is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Chorley in Lancashire, England, north of Wigan, south west of Blackburn, north west of Bolton, south of Preston and north west of Manchester. The town's wealth came pr ...
.
International career
Walker became the first Barrow player since the early 1990s to earn a call-up to the
England C
The England national football C team (previously known as the England National Game XI and the England Semi-Pro national team) is the football team that represents England at non-league level.
Formed in 1979 as the England Non-League team, it fe ...
team after being included in the squad to face the
Malta under-21 team in February 2009.
He started the game alongside Barrow teammate
Paul Brown
Paul Eugene Brown (September 7, 1908 – August 5, 1991) was an American football coach and executive in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) and National Football League (NFL). Brown was both the co-founder and first coach of the Clevela ...
, with England winning the match 4–0, although he was substituted at half time for
Adam Boyes Adam Boyes may refer to:
* Adam Boyes (footballer)
* Adam Boyes (entrepreneur)
{{hndis, Boyes, Adam ...
.
Career statistics
Honours
Barrow
*
Conference North
The National League North, formerly Conference North, is a division of the National League in England, immediately below the National League division. Along with the National League South, it is at the second level of the National League Sy ...
play-offs:
2008
File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...
*
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 ...
:
2009–10
York City
*
Conference Premier
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-profess ...
play-offs:
2012
File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...
*FA Trophy:
2011–12
References
External links
Jason Walker profileat
Barrow A.F.C.
Barrow Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England. The club plays in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English league system. Since 1909, Barrow have played their home games at ...
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Walker, Jason
1984 births
Living people
Footballers from Barrow-in-Furness
English footballers
English expatriate footballers
England men's semi-pro international footballers
Men's association football forwards
Dundee F.C. players
Greenock Morton F.C. players
Morecambe F.C. players
Barrow A.F.C. players
Luton Town F.C. players
York City F.C. players
Östersunds FK players
Forest Green Rovers F.C. players
Southport F.C. players
Scottish Football League players
National League (English football) players
English Football League players
Superettan players
Expatriate footballers in Sweden
English expatriate sportspeople in Sweden
Lancaster City F.C. players
Workington A.F.C. players
Chorley F.C. players