Michael Stewart Gordon Walker (born 28 November 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, rugb ...

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 activitie ...

. After starting his career at

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spell ...

, Walker played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting ...

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 five clubs, most notably

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, and ...

and

Colchester United Colchester United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Colchester, Essex, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1937, the club spent its earl ...

. He later managed Colchester,

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 ...

, Everton and

APOEL APOEL FC ( el, ΑΠΟΕΛ; short for Αθλητικός Ποδοσφαιρικός Όμιλος Ελλήνων Λευκωσίας, ''Athletikos Podosferikos Omilos Ellinon Lefkosias'', literally "Athletic Football Club of Greeks of Nicosia") ...

. In 2010, he was inducted into the Colchester United Football Club Hall of Fame. Walker represented Wales at under-23 level on four occasions. His son Ian, also a goalkeeper, later played for England's senior team.

Playing career

Colwyn Bay Colwyn Bay ( cy, Bae Colwyn) is a town, community and seaside resort in Conwy County Borough on the north coast of Wales overlooking the Irish Sea. It lies within the historic county of Denbighshire. Eight neighbouring communities are incorpo ...

-born Walker started his playing career as a

with

in January 1963. He joined

Shrewsbury Town Shrewsbury Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of English football. The club plays its home games at the New Meadow, having mo ...

in June 1964 and also played for

York City York City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team compete in the National League, at the fifth tier of the English football league sys ...

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 most notably

, for whom he made 363 league appearances. Perhaps the most memorable moment in Walker's playing career came when lower division Watford knocked

Bill Shankly William Shankly (2 September 1913 – 29 September 1981) was a Scottish football player and manager, who is best known for his time as manager of Liverpool. Shankly brought success to Liverpool, gaining promotion to the First Division and winnin ...

Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

out of the

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 compet ...

in February 1970, in what was considered to be a major cup upset and a result, and which convinced Shankly of the need to dismantle his ageing side and begin building a new team. Walker was inducted into the Colchester United Hall of Fame in the 2009–10 season, in recognition for his service to the club as a player and manager. Also inducted that season was Walker's former Watford and Colchester teammate

Mick Packer Michael David Packer (born 20 April 1950) is an English former professional footballer who played as a fullback. Career In 1968 Packer was listed in the Watford match programme v Oldham as "Roy Packer" https://oldwatford.com/1968/12/14/14th- ...

Managerial career

Walker had a brief spell in charge of

in 1986 but was sacked in 1987 whilst top of the league. He then took charge of the

reserve team in 1987. On 1 June 1992, he was promoted to the position of manager at

Carrow Road Carrow Road is an association football stadium located in Norwich, Norfolk, England, and is the home of EFL Championship side Norwich City. The stadium is located toward the east of the city, near Norwich railway station and the River Wensum. ...

and gave Norwich their highest-ever league finish in the new

FA Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

where they finished third and qualified for the 1993/94 UEFA Cup — the first time they had qualified for European competition (Norwich had technically qualified three times for the UEFA Cup, but were unable to enter due to the ban on English clubs imposed after the 1985 Heysel Disaster). Norwich achieved a famous victory over

FC Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), also known as FC Bayern (), Bayern Munich, or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional men's football team, which pla ...

in the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

Second Round before being knocked out by the eventual winners, Internazionale. Due to his notable achievements at a relatively small club such as Norwich, Walker was felt by many commentators at this time to be one of the most promising new managers in

English football Association football is the most popular sport in England, where the first modern set of rules for the code were established in 1863, which were a major influence on the development of the modern Laws of the Game. With over 40,000 association f ...

, and he was praised for the positive, attack-minded passing game played by his Norwich side. Walker quit Norwich in January 1994, following a long running feud with Chairman Robert Chase (mainly centring on Chase's habit of selling off the club's key players without consulting his manager first - for example Robert Fleck to

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 ...

just after Walker's appointment), to become manager of Everton, with Everton having to pay substantial compensation to Norwich to secure his services. Walker failed, however, to meet the high expectations of a bigger club. Although Walker oversaw an extraordinary last day escape from relegation with Everton securing a 3–2 home victory over Wimbledon (Everton had been 2-0 down, and 2-1 down at half time), Everton made a disastrous start to the 1994/95 season, failing to win a single league game until November. With Everton bottom of the table and having made their worst start to a league season, Walker was sacked having spent just ten months in charge and recording only six league wins, leaving him with the worst record of any post-war Everton manager. Walker was nicknamed the 'Silver Fox' during his time at Goodison. However, there were a few positive aspects of his reign at the club. They included the signing of

Anders Limpar Anders Erik Limpar (born 24 September 1965) is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Limpar featured for the clubs IF Brommapojkarna, Young Boys, Cremonese, Arsenal, Everton, Birmingham City, AIK, Colorado Rapid ...

in March 1994, the gamble on

Daniel Amokachi Daniel Owefin Amokachi (born 30 December 1972) is a Nigerian football manager and former professional footballer and a member of the dubious goals panel for the Premier League. As a player he was a forward who notably played in the Premier L ...

and the decision to bring the controversial Rangers striker

Duncan Ferguson Duncan Cowan Ferguson (born 27 December 1971) is a Scottish former professional footballer. Ferguson was the caretaker manager of Everton in 2019 and 2022. He began his career at Dundee United in 1990, and moved to Rangers in 1993 for what was ...

to Everton on loan, a gamble which ultimately paid off after Walker's departure with

Joe Royle Joseph Royle (born 8 April 1949) is an English football manager and former footballer. In his playing career as a striker, he debuted for Everton at the age of 16 and went on to play for Manchester City, Bristol City, Norwich City, and the ...

signing the Scot on a permanent basis. After Walker's dismissal, Everton went on that season not only to avoid relegation, but also to win the

under Royle. Walker did not return to football until taking over again at Norwich on 21 June 1996, by which time the Canaries had been relegated to

Division One The Football League First Division was a division of the Football League in England from 1888 until 2004. It was the top division in the English football league system from the season 1888–89 until 1991–92, a century in which the First Div ...

. He remained in charge for two seasons but was sacked as manager after they failed to return to the Premiership. Since leaving Norwich, Walker has had a spell managing

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ...

, where he resides to this day.

Managerial statistics

Personal life

Walker is the father of Ian Walker, former

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 ...

. He also has a son, David and a daughter, Ursula. His wife and the mother of his children, Jacqueline "Jackie" Walker, died on 3 November 1997 after a long battle against cancer.

Honours

Player

Watford *

Football League Third Division The Football League Third Division was the third tier of the English football league system in 1920–21 and again from 1958 until 1992. When the FA Premier League was formed, the division become the fourth tier level. In 2004, following the ...

: 1968–69 Individual * Colchester United Player of the Year: 1979–80, 1980–81, 1982–83

Manager

Individual *

Premier League Manager of the Month The Premier League Manager of the Month is an association football award that recognises the best adjudged Premier League manager each month of the season. The winner is chosen by a combination of an online public vote, which contributes to ...

: October 1993

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Walker, Mike 1945 births Living people Colchester United F.C. managers Association football goalkeepers Welsh football managers Welsh expatriate football managers Welsh footballers Wales under-23 international footballers Expatriate football managers in Cyprus Welsh expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Everton F.C. managers Premier League managers Norwich City F.C. managers Reading F.C. players Shrewsbury Town F.C. players York City F.C. players Watford F.C. players Charlton Athletic F.C. players Colchester United F.C. players English Football League players People from Colwyn Bay Sportspeople from Conwy County Borough APOEL FC managers