Walter William George Akers (1917–1976) was an English professional footballer either side of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

Playing career

Born in West Auckland, he began his professional career with

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

in 1934, but left the club without ever playing for the first team, and joined Newport County, where he experienced a similar spell. He finally made his debut in

The Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in Association football around the wor ...

for Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic, where he made 15 League starts in total. After a short spell with

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

, in which he again played no first-team football, he joined

Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Stags', they play in a blue and ...

for the start of the 1939–40 season. He played three times and scored three goals before the League was abandoned due to the start of the war. After the war, he joined Gillingham of the Southern League, where he played for two seasons, scoring 20 goals in 40 games. One of his goals came in a 12–1 win over Gloucester City, which remains the club's biggest-ever win in a competitive fixture. In 1948, he moved on to

Corby Town Corby Town Football Club is a football club based in Corby, Northamptonshire, England. They are currently members of the and play at Steel Park. History The club was established in 1948, taking over from Stewarts & Lloyds as the main team ...

and later played for

Goole Town Goole Association Football Club is a semi-professional football club in Goole, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. They are currently members of the and play at the Victoria Pleasure Grounds. History The club was established by Mike Norman i ...

Managerial career

In 1950 he took over as manager of Corby, and led the team to the

United Counties League The United Counties League (also known after its sponsor as the ''Uhlsport United Counties League'') is an English football league covering Northamptonshire, Rutland and Bedfordshire and most of Leicestershire as well as parts of Buckinghamshi ...

championship in both his first two seasons in charge. He later managed

Kettering Town Kettering Town Football Club is a football club based in Burton Latimer, Northamptonshire, England. They are currently members of and play at Latimer Park in Burton Latimer. Kettering were the first club to wear sponsorship on their shirts in ...

Notes

A. Akers played three matches, scoring three goals, at the start of the 1939–40 season, but the season was abandoned due to the outbreak of the

and all matches played up to that point expunged.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Akers, Wally 1917 births 1976 deaths English Football League players Gillingham F.C. players Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players Chelsea F.C. players Mansfield Town F.C. players Newport County A.F.C. players AFC Bournemouth players Corby Town F.C. players Goole Town F.C. players Kettering Town F.C. managers Corby Town F.C. managers Men's association football outside forwards English football managers English men's footballers People from West Auckland Footballers from County Durham United Counties League players