Leonard Walker (born 4 March 1944) is an English former football player and manager. He was the manager of Aldershot from July 1981 until November 1984, and then June 1985 until 11 April 1991.

Playing career

Walker was born in

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 started his football career as a trainee with Middlesbrough. After a spell in

non-league football 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 ...

with

Spennymoor United Spennymoor United Association Football Club was an association football club based in Spennymoor, County Durham, England. History Spennymoor United Association Football Club was formed in 1904 as an amalgamation of Spennymoor Town and Weardale ...

he returned 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 ...

with

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 End ...

in May 1963. In July 1964, he moved to Hampshire to join Aldershot where he played for the next twelve seasons, making nearly 500 appearances in all competitions. He also became the club's regular penalty taker; of his 23 league goals, 18 came from the penalty spot. He was an ever-present in 1966–67. He also captained the side, and helped them win their first promotion from the Fourth Division in 1973. In August 1976, he returned to his native

north-east The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...

with

. After two years, he retired from playing and took over as manager in October 1978.

Management career

Darlington

His spell as manager at Darlington only lasted until the end of the 1978–79 season, when he lost his job, being replaced by Billy Elliott.

Aldershot

In January 1981, he was appointed manager of his former club, Aldershot. Apart from finishing one place outside of promotion in 1984, Walker achieved little of note during his first spell as manager, and was sacked later that year after the club's new owners decided to replace him with the higher-profile Ron Harris. Harris moved on at the end of that season however, which led to Walker being re-appointed. During his second spell as manager, Aldershot achieved promotion from the

Fourth Division Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'' (1972 film), a Sovie ...

in 1987 - only the second promotion in their

history. They spent two years in the

Third Division In sport, the Third Division, also called Division 3, Division Three, or Division III, is often the third-highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Association football *Belgian Thir ...

before being relegated, but the board kept faith in Walker, even though Aldershot struggled back in the basement division and in 1990 only just avoided relegation to 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 ...

. On 31 July 1990, Aldershot was wound up in the High Court due to six-figure debts that had rendered the club "hopelessly insolvent", and it looked as though Walker and everyone else at the club would soon be without a job. But the club was rescued by 19-year-old property speculator

Spencer Trethewy Spencer Trethewy (born 23 December 1971), known since 1998 as Spencer Day, is a asset fund manager and property developer, who is also currently manager of Farnborough F.C. He first came to recognition as a teenager in 1989 when he saved Aldersh ...

, and Walker's job was saved. Walker moved to the role of General Manager on 11 April 1991 after 10 years as team manager, and first team duties were taken over by new player-manager

Brian Talbot Brian Ernest Talbot (born 21 July 1953) is an English former football player and manager. He was capped six times for the England national team. Talbot played in midfield for Ipswich Town, Arsenal, Watford, Stoke City, West Bromwich Albion, ...

. Financial problems continued to plague the club and it finally went out of business on 25 March 1992. Walker had been on the club's payroll as General Manager to the end. Since then he has done scouting work for various league clubs, Nottingham Forest amongst them.

Honours

As a manager

Aldershot *

Play-off Final winner: 1986–87

Managerial statistics

References

External links

*
Aldershot manager profiles
{{DEFAULTSORT:Walker, Len 1944 births Footballers from Darlington Living people English men's footballers English football managers English Football League players Men's association football defenders Middlesbrough F.C. players Spennymoor United A.F.C. players Newcastle United F.C. players Aldershot F.C. players Darlington F.C. players Darlington F.C. managers Aldershot F.C. managers Fulham F.C. non-playing staff