Richard Martin Walker (born 8 November 1977) is an English former

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

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for

Devon and Exeter League The Devon and Exeter Football League is a football competition based in England. It was established around 1900. The top division of this league, the Premier, sits at level 12 of the English football league system and is a feeder to the Devon Footb ...

club Beer Albion.

Career

Early career

Walker started his career at

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

in 1997. Here, he scored a goal against Arsenal, one of the highest points of his Villa career. After loan spells with

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 Ne ...

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

and

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 ...

, he signed for the Seasiders in 2001. He helped Blackpool win the 2001–02 Football League Trophy, playing as a substitute in 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 ...

. Walker was loaned out to

Northampton Town Northampton Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Northampton, England. The team plays in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1897, the club competed in the Midland ...

and

Oxford United Oxford United Football Club is a professional football club in the city of Oxford, England. The team plays in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The chairman is Grant Ferguson, the manager is Karl Robinson and t ...

in the 2003–04 season, before joining

Bristol Rovers Bristol Rovers Football Club are a professional football club in Bristol, England. They compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play home matches at the Memorial Stadium in Horfield, they have been c ...

in the summer of 2004.

Bristol Rovers

A natural goalscorer, he formed a formidable partnership with

Junior Agogo Junior or Juniors may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * ''Junior'' (Junior Mance album), 1959 * ''Junior'' (Röyksopp album), 2009 * ''Junior'' (Kaki King album), 2010 * ''Junior'' (LaFontaines album), 2019 Films * ''Junior'' (1994 ...

before the Ghanaian was sold to

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 ...

. Walker scored two goals in the 2007

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 ...

Play-off Final against Shrewsbury at

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

, as the Gasheads secured a 3–1 victory to send them up to

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 ...

. Walker was placed on the transfer list at the end of the 2007–08 season, having scored only four goals in that season, all from the penalty spot. He joined Shrewsbury on a full-season loan in the summer of 2008, taking him up to the expiry of his contract with Bristol Rovers.

Burton Albion

Following the expiry of his Bristol Rovers contract, he joined newly promoted

Burton Albion Burton Albion Football Club is a professional association football club in the town of Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club moved its home grou ...

in July 2009 on a two-year contract, he scored 4 goals in 35 games for the club before his release in May 2011.

Solihull Moors

On 9 September 2011,

Solihull Moors Solihull Moors Football Club is a professional football club based in Solihull, England. The club currently competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system, after achieving promotion from the National Leag ...

announced the signing of Richard Walker. He made his debut the following day in a 1–0 away win at

Boston United Boston United Football Club is a semi-professional association football club based in Boston, Lincolnshire, England. The club participates in the National League North, at the sixth tier of the English football league system. The club is known ...

. He scored his first goal for the club on 17 September 2011, opening the scoring as Solihull overcame

Altrincham Altrincham ( , locally ) is a market town in Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, south of the River Mersey. It is southwest of Manchester city centre, southwest of Sale and east of Warrington. At the 2011 Census, it had a population o ...

2–0 at

Damson Park Damson Park is an association football stadium in Damson Parkway, Solihull, West Midlands, England. It was the new home of Solihull Borough following their departure from their original Widney Lane Ground. It is now the home of Solihull Moors ...

Post-retirement

After having played less than a season of

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 ...

football, he opted to move with his family to

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

in April 2012. Following his retirement, Walker has worked in a large warehouse for Axminster Tools. He ended the season playing for Beer Albion in the Premier Division of the Devon & Exeter Football League, at level 12 of the league system, some six levels below the team where he had begun the year. He was recruited for Beer by a colleague who played for the team, and who convinced Richard to play alongside him. In August 2019, Walker was announced to have stepped away from the role of player-manager, staying on at the club as a player alongside his son Jamie.

Career statistics

Honours

;Blackpool *

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Le ...

winner:

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

;Crewe Alexandra *

Football League Second Division The Football League Second Division was the second level division in the English football league system between 1892 and 1992. Following the foundation of the FA Premier League, the Football League divisions were renumbered and the third ti ...

runner-up: 2002–03 ; Bristol Rovers *

runner up: 2007 *

Football 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 ...

play-off winner: 2007

References

External links

Richard Walker player profile
at bristolrovers.co.uk

at shrewsburytown.com

at oufc.co.uk

at ntfc.co.uk

at blackpoolfc.co.uk * {{DEFAULTSORT:Walker, Richard 1977 births Living people Footballers from Birmingham, West Midlands English footballers Association football forwards Aston Villa F.C. players Cambridge United F.C. players Blackpool F.C. players Wycombe Wanderers F.C. players Northampton Town F.C. players Oxford United F.C. players Bristol Rovers F.C. players Shrewsbury Town F.C. players Burton Albion F.C. players Solihull Moors F.C. players Premier League players English Football League players National League (English football) players