Thomas Jackson Walker (14 November 1923 – 13 June 2005) was an English centre-half who also played as an outside-right. He spent the first twelve years of his career playing for Newcastle United before moving to

Oldham Athletic Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is a professional football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The history of Oldham Athletic be ...

and

Chesterfield Chesterfield may refer to: Places Canada * Rural Municipality of Chesterfield No. 261, Saskatchewan * Chesterfield Inlet, Nunavut United Kingdom * Chesterfield, Derbyshire, a market town in England ** Chesterfield (UK Parliament constitue ...

. Despite his success at club level he was not selected to play for the England national team. He was often overshadowed by the big reputations of teammates such as

Jackie Milburn John Edward Thompson "Jackie" Milburn (11 May 1924 – 9 October 1988) was a football player principally associated with Newcastle United and England, though he also spent four seasons at Linfield. He was also known as Wor Jackie (particularly ...

George Robledo Jorge "George" Robledo Oliver (14 April 1926 – 1 April 1989) was a Chilean professional footballer. He played as a striker, and is most notable for his time spent with Newcastle United. He was the first non-British-registered foreign player ...

and Bobby Mitchell.

Career

Before Walker became a footballer he was a champion professional sprinter.

Newcastle United

He was recruited by his local club Newcastle United from Netherton Juniors in 1941, at a time when competitive football had been suspended due to

World War II 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 opposing ...

. However the club played in the wartime leagues and Walker was able to make 29 appearances. He also appeared as a guest player for

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 ...

later in World War II. He made his Football League debut on 11 October 1946 against

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. The club is nicknamed t ...

. During his first season he made a total of 9 appearances. The following season he played only 8 matches, scoring 3 goals, as Newcastle won promotion into the First Division. He suffered a broken arm which kept him out of action for several months. The following season he played 22 of Newcastle's 42 matches in the top division and began to show signs of establishing himself in the first team. He managed to gain a regular starting place in the 1949–50 season, playing as part of a forward line that also included Ernie Taylor, George Robledo, Jackie Milburn and Bobby Mitchell. He made 40 appearances for the club in both league and cup competition and scored 14 goals in those matches. The following year, Walker played in every match for the club and helped to guide them into fourth place in the First Division table. It was also during that season that Walker won his first medal by winning 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 competi ...

, 2–0 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 con ...

against Blackpool. In the 1951–52 season, the club finished in 8th place, their lowest since promotion, but Walker won a second FA Cup, 1–0 against third-placed Arsenal in the

. However he began to find his chances limited and Stan Seymour sold him to Oldham in February 1954.

Oldham

After signing for a fee of £2500, Walker went on to play 120 times for

. When he left the club for £1250, many fans were aggrieved at

Ted Goodier Edward Goodier (15 October 1902 – 4 November 1967) was an English professional footballer and football manager. Born in Farnworth, Lancashire, he played as a wing half for Huddersfield Town, Lancaster Town, Oldham Athletic, Queens Park Ranger ...

's willingness to let him leave. He later returned to the club for a second spell, playing 38 games before retiring from football in 1959.

Chesterfield

Walker moved to Chesterfield in 1957 for £1250.

Retirement and death

Walker retired in 1958 after a 17-year career, at the age of 35. He decided not to go into football management and instead was in charge of a

newsagents A newsagent's shop or simply newsagent's or paper shop (British English), newsagency (Australian English) or newsstand (American and Canadian English) is a business that sells newspapers, magazines, cigarettes, snacks and often items of local ...

located in Middleton. Walker died on 13 June 2005, aged 81, at a nursing home in Manchester following a short illness.

Personal life

Walker married Lily and they had a son together, Thomas. He also had two grandchildren, Richard and Andrew.

Honours

As a player

Newcastle United *

winner:

1951 Events January * January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950). * January 9 – The Government of the United ...

1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Black Saturday in Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh, becomes m ...

References

External links

Spartacus entry

Player Profile: Thomas Jackson Walker at toon1892.co.uk
{{DEFAULTSORT:Walker, Tommy 1923 births 2005 deaths People from Cramlington Footballers from Northumberland English men's footballers Men's association football defenders Men's association football wingers Newcastle United F.C. players Oldham Athletic A.F.C. players Chesterfield F.C. players English Football League players West Ham United F.C. wartime guest players