Philip Leonardus Walker (29 August 1954 – 7 July 2022) was an English 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 played as a

central 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 ...

. He played for

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Limehouse, north of Greenwich and Deptford, eas ...

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in ...

and Gillingham in the

English 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 Engl ...

. After a brief spell with

Eastern AA Eastern Athletic Association Football Team Limited, also known as Eastern Sports Club (), is a Hong Kong professional sports club whose football section competes in the Hong Kong Premier League, the top flight of Hong Kong football. The f ...

of Hong Kong, he finished his career with eleven years in Portugal with

Leixões The Port of Leixões ( pt, Porto de Leixões, ) is one of Portugal's major seaports, located 4 km north of the mouth of the Douro River, in Matosinhos municipality, near the city of Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city i ...

, Boavista and

Maia Maia (; Ancient Greek: Μαῖα; also spelled Maie, ; la, Maia), in ancient Greek religion and mythology, is one of the Pleiades and the mother of Hermes, one of the major Greek gods, by Zeus, the king of Olympus. Family Maia is the daugh ...

. His nephew is the

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

player,

Kyle Walker-Peters Kyle Leonardus Walker-Peters (born 13 April 1997) is an English professional footballer who plays as a full-back for Premier League club Southampton and the England national team. Personal life Walker-Peters was born in Edmonton, London. His ...

Career

Born in London, Walker joined

in 1975 having played for non-league sides Epsom & Ewell and Cobham prior to that, quickly establishing himself in the centre of the team's

midfield Midfield is the part of a sports field that lies approximately in the center. In American football, association football (soccer) and field hockey, it is the area in and around the center circle, as well as the players who occupy that region. In ...

. One of the first notable black players in the club's history, he garnered renown as a skilful player with excellent passing; he moved to

in 1979, and remained there until 1983 when he briefly joined

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

club

. Walker spent half a season with Portuguese club

before moving on at the age of 30 to Boavista. He quickly established himself in the starting eleven, and was a first-choice player for the vast majority of his seven-year spell. After nearly five seasons with northern neighbours

, then playing in the

Portuguese Second Division Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

, Walker retired at the age of 41. He subsequently had a brief stint as Maia's coach in the early 2000s.

Later life

Following his retirement, Walker returned to England and set up a soccer school in Wandsworth, London. He died on 8 July 2022.Phil Walker Football
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References

External links

*
TotalSoccer profile
* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Walker, Phil 1954 births 2022 deaths Footballers from Greater London English footballers Association football midfielders Cobham F.C. players Epsom & Ewell F.C. players Millwall F.C. players Charlton Athletic F.C. players Gillingham F.C. players Eastern Sports Club footballers Leixões S.C. players Boavista F.C. players F.C. Maia players English Football League players Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Segunda Divisão players English expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Hong Kong Expatriate footballers in Portugal English expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Black British sportsmen