Stephen Joseph Walford (born 5 January 1958) is an English former football player and

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 ...

. He played as a defender for clubs such as

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. The team has playe ...

, Arsenal,

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the 20 ...

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

, and

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pl ...

. After his playing career, Walford has worked as a coach, often assisting

Martin O'Neill Martin Hugh Michael O'Neill, (born 1 March 1952) is a Northern Irish professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. Starting his career in Northern Ireland, O'Neill moved to England where he spent most of his playi ...

Early life

Walford was born in

Highgate Highgate ( ) is a suburban area of north London at the northeastern corner of Hampstead Heath, north-northwest of Charing Cross. Highgate is one of the most expensive London suburbs in which to live. It has two active conservation organisat ...

, London.

Playing career

Walford began playing as a

centre half In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either ...

. He started his footballing career at

in 1974. At Spurs, he made only two appearances before being signed in 1977 by Arsenal to play under former Spurs manager

Terry Neill William John Terence Neill (8 May 1942 – 28 July 2022) was a Northern Irish football player and manager. A centre-back, he captained and later managed Arsenal, guiding the club to a European final in 1980 and three consecutive FA Cup final ...

in a deal worth £25,000. Walford went on to play as a substitute in Arsenal's victorious

1979 FA Cup Final The 1979 FA Cup Final was a football match played on 12 May 1979 at Wembley Stadium. The match was contested by Arsenal and Manchester United. It is regarded as one of the greatest-ever finishes in an FA Cup final. For over 85 minutes the gam ...

side. All in all, he made 98 appearances and scored four goals for the Gunners. In 1981, he moved to

for £175,000. Whilst with Norwich, he suffered relegation and thereafter saw them being promoted to the First Division. After 108 appearances for Norwich, Walford moved on to

in 1983 for a fee of £160,000; he played 115 times for the Hammers over the next four years. Towards the end of his West Ham career, he had loan spells at

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The team have played home games at the Kirklees Stadium since moving from Leeds Road in 1994. Th ...

, Gillingham, and

. He moved abroad to play for

Lai Sun Lai Sun Group () is a Hong Kong conglomerate. It was founded by garment billionaire and entrepreneur, Lim Por-yen. Its businesses include property development, real estate investment, hotel, telecom, mass media and entertainment. Lai Sun is wor ...

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 ...

in 1989 before returning to England to play for

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 ...

under

the following year.

Coaching career

After a brief spell at

Wealdstone Wealdstone () is a district located in the centre of the London Borough of Harrow, England. It is located just north of Harrow town centre and is south of Harrow Weald, west of Belmont and Kenton, and east of Headstone. The area accommodates ...

, Walford returned to Wycombe to become O'Neill's assistant, who he previously worked alongside at

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

, Celtic, Aston Villa, and Sunderland. On 5 November 2013, O'Neill became manager of the Republic of Ireland national football team, and so Walford joined up with his coaching staff. Walford left the Ireland coaching staff in late 2018 for personal reasons. On 18 September 2015, he returned to club football after being appointed as the Assistant Manager to

Neil Lennon Neil Francis Lennon (born 25 June 1971) is a Northern Irish football coach and former player. During his playing career he represented English clubs Manchester City, Crewe Alexandra and Leicester City. Lennon moved to Celtic in 2000, where he ...

at Bolton Wanderers, replacing Johan Mjallby who left for personal reasons. He lasted just seven months in his role at Bolton and on 14 April 2016 left the club along with Garry Parker following the club's relegation from the

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 ...

Honours

Player

Arsenal *

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 ...

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the '' International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the '' Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the so ...

Coach

Leicester * Football League First Division Play-offs: 1995–96 *

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 ...

: 1996-97, 1999-2000 Celtic * Scottish Premier League: 2000–01, 2001–02, 2003–04 *

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,2000–01, 2003–04, 2004–05 *

Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup (also known as the Viaplay Cup for sponsorship reasons) is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League Cup in existen ...

: 2000–01

References

External links

Steve Walford
Flown from the Nest {{DEFAULTSORT:Walford, Steve 1958 births Celtic F.C. non-playing staff Living people Footballers from Highgate English men's footballers Men's association football defenders English Football League players Tottenham Hotspur F.C. players Arsenal F.C. players Norwich City F.C. players West Ham United F.C. players Huddersfield Town A.F.C. players Gillingham F.C. players West Bromwich Albion F.C. players Wycombe Wanderers F.C. players Hong Kong First Division League players Wealdstone F.C. players Wycombe Wanderers F.C. non-playing staff Norwich City F.C. non-playing staff Leicester City F.C. non-playing staff Aston Villa F.C. non-playing staff Sunderland A.F.C. non-playing staff Bolton Wanderers F.C. non-playing staff