John Thomas Walley (born 27 February 1945) is a Welsh 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 le ...

, who played as a

wing half 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 ...

Playing career

Walley was born in

Caernarfon Caernarfon (; ) is a royal town, community and port in Gwynedd, Wales, with a population of 9,852 (with Caeathro). It lies along the A487 road, on the eastern shore of the Menai Strait, opposite the Isle of Anglesey. The city of Bangor is ...

and educated at Ysgol Segontium, named after the town's Roman fort. At the age of 14, he underwent a neck operation which prevented him playing football for almost three years. In March 1963, he joined

Caernarfon Town Caernarfon Town Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl Droed Tref Caernarfon) is a semi-professional Welsh football club based in Caernarfon, Gwynedd. The club is nicknamed "the Canaries" because of its yellow and green strip, a nickname that dates from ...

playing in the Welsh League (North); after only a handful of games, he briefly joined

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...

in the spring of 1964, but returned to Caernarfon in August, before (on the recommendation of his elder brother

Ernie Ernie is a masculine given name, frequently a short form (hypocorism) of Ernest, Ernald, Ernesto, or Verner. It may refer to: People * Ernie Accorsi (born 1941), American football executive * Ernie Adams (disambiguation) * Ernie Afaganis (born c ...

, who was a former Spurs player) joining English side

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

in December 1964 for a fee of £1,000. He played for Arsenal 18 times—4 of those appearances as a substitute—and scored once, as well as playing for the Wales under-23 national team, before transferring to

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

in March 1967 for £9,500. During the first of two periods Walley would spend at

Vicarage Road Vicarage Road is a stadium in Watford, England, and is the home stadium of championship club Watford. An all-seater stadium, its current capacity is 22,200. History It has been the home of Watford since 1922, when the club moved from Cassi ...

as a player, he earned his sole

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. Caps typically have a visor, or no brim at all. They are popular in casual and informal se ...

for the

Wales national football team ) , Association = Football Association of Wales (FAW) , Confederation = UEFA (Europe) , Coach = Rob Page , Captain = Gareth Bale , Most caps = Gareth Bale (111) , Top scorer = Gareth ...

; a 3–1 defeat to

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

Vetch Field The Vetch Field was a football stadium in Swansea, Wales. It was used for football matches and was the home ground of Swansea City until the club moved to the newly built Liberty Stadium in 2005. Opened in 1912, the ground held around 12,000 at ...

, Swansea on 21 April 1971. After making over 200

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 ...

appearances for Watford, he was sold to

Orient The Orient is a term for the East in relation to Europe, traditionally comprising anything belonging to the Eastern world. It is the antonym of ''Occident'', the Western World. In English, it is largely a metonym for, and coterminous with, the c ...

at the end of 1971 for £22,500. After 157 league games and 6 goals, Orient sold Walley back to Watford for £3,000 at the end of 1975–76. His second period at the club was dogged by injury, and Walley managed only 13 further league games before retiring in 1977.

Coaching career

Upon his retirement from playing, Walley became the youth coach at Watford in August 1977. In his early years, players such as

Kenny Jackett Kenneth Francis Jackett (born 5 January 1962) is a former professional football player and manager, who is currently Director of Football at club Gillingham. A skilful left-footed player, able to play in defence or midfield, Jackett was cappe ...

progressed to the first team. Under his management, Watford won the

FA Youth Cup The Football Association Youth Challenge Cup is an English football competition run by The Football Association for under-18 sides. Only those players between the age of 15 and 18 on 31 August of the current season are eligible to take part. It ...

in 1982. Players in that side included future

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

international

John Barnes John Charles Bryan Barnes MBE (born 7 November 1963) is a former professional football player and manager. He currently works as an author, commentator and pundit for ESPN and SuperSport. Initially a quick, skilful left winger, he moved to cent ...

, future Watford captain, Player of the Season and one-club man

Nigel Gibbs Nigel James Gibbs (born 20 November 1965) is an English professional football manager and former player. He has been an assistant coach at Swansea City and has previously worked as a coach with the Under-19 squad of Tottenham Hotspur. A Watford ...

, and

1984 FA Cup Final The 1984 FA Cup Final was contested by Everton and Watford at Wembley. Everton won 2–0, with one goal by Graeme Sharp and a controversial goal from Andy Gray. He was adjudged by many to have fouled the Watford goalkeeper Steve Sherwood by hea ...

ist Neil Price.Jones p. 287 They again reached the final in 1985. Walley was promoted to first-team coach in 1988 by manager Steve Harrison. When Harrison moved to

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, east ...

in 1990, Walley joined him as a youth coach, and in his first full season Walley lifted the FA Youth Cup for the second time in 1991. Just as he did at Watford, he followed this with a second final three years later. Walley left Millwall to join Arsenal in 1996, serving under

Bruce Rioch Bruce David Rioch (; born 6 September 1947) is a football manager and former player for the Scotland national team. His last managerial post was at AaB in the Danish Superliga in 2008. As a player, he made more than 550 appearances in the Fo ...

and

Arsène Wenger Arsène Charles Ernest Wenger (; born 22 October 1949) is a French former association football, football Manager (association football), manager and football player, player who is currently serving as FIFA's Chief of Global Football Developme ...

. In 1996, he was appointed manager of the Wales under-21 team by

Bobby Gould Robert Hewitt Gould (born 12 June 1946) is an English former footballer and manager. Early life Gould was born in Wyken, Coventry, Warwickshire on 12 June 1946. He is the son of Henry Gould and Helen McKellar Gould (née Morton). He spent hi ...

Personal life

Walley, whose first language is

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

, was born in the town of

, in

Gwynedd Gwynedd (; ) is a county and preserved county (latter with differing boundaries; includes the Isle of Anglesey) in the north-west of Wales. It shares borders with Powys, Conwy County Borough, Denbighshire, Anglesey over the Menai Strait, and C ...

, north west Wales. His older brother

was also a professional footballer and coach. Ernie briefly managed Crystal Palace in 1980, and coached Watford's reserves while Walley was a first team coach at the club. He now lives in the Nascot area of

, Hertfordshire.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Walley, Tom Welsh footballers Wrexham A.F.C. players Caernarfon Town F.C. players Arsenal F.C. players Leyton Orient F.C. players Watford F.C. players Watford F.C. non-playing staff Arsenal F.C. non-playing staff Wales international footballers Wales under-23 international footballers Wales national football team non-playing staff English Football League players People from Caernarfon Sportspeople from Gwynedd 1945 births Living people Association football wing halves