Colin Walker (born 1 May 1958) is a former professional

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 lea ...

and

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

who is head of coaching at

EFL League Two The English Football League Two, simply known as League Two and for sponsorship purposes as Sky Betting & Gaming, Sky Bet League Two, is a professional association football league in England. EFL League Two is the fourth division of the English ...

side

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Nicknamed "the Mariners", the club was f ...

. As a player he was a striker who notably played 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, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

for

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. It is the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. The town's population was 71,422 in 2021, while the wider boroug ...

Doncaster Rovers Doncaster Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The team currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system after winning the 202 ...

Cambridge United Cambridge United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Cambridge, England. They currently compete in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed the U’s, the club h ...

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an off ...

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. It lies on the River Skerne, west of Middlesbrough and south of Durham. Darlington had a population of 107,800 at the 2021 Census, making it a "large town" ...

and

Torquay United Torquay United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Torquay, Devon, England. The team currently compete in the National League South, the sixth level of the English football league system. They have played their ho ...

. He also spent time playing in

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

with three spells at Gisborne City. He also played non-league football for Retford Town,

Matlock Town Matlock Town Football Club is a association football, football club based in Matlock, Derbyshire, Matlock, Derbyshire, England. Nicknamed 'the Gladiators', they are currently members of the and play at Causeway Lane. History The club was esta ...

and Harworth Colliery Institute. Walker was capped 15 times by

between 1984 and 1988, scoring 10 goals. He had obtained citizenship during his time spent playing in the country. As a manager Walker took charge of Gisborne City in 1988 before moving on to manage non-league side Maltby Miners Welfare. He later had coaching roles at Barnsley and

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league system. Leeds United have won the League Championship th ...

whilst also working for

Rugby Union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

side

Rotherham Titans Rotherham Rugby Union Football Club, or Rotherham Titans is a rugby union club from Rotherham, South Yorkshire, currently playing in the third tier of the English rugby union league system, following their promotion from the National League ...

. He later joined

York City York City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system, as of the 2024–25 seas ...

as a first team coach before becoming manager between 2007 and 2008. He has since worked for

Forest Green Rovers Forest Green Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nailsworth, Gloucestershire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. Formed in October 188 ...

Notts County Ladies Notts County Ladies Football Club was a women's football club based in Nottingham, England. They played their home games at Meadow Lane. Notts County Ladies were created in 2014 when Lincoln Ladies were relocated from Lincoln to Nottingham ...

and

in varying coaching positions.

Club career

Born in

Rotherham Rotherham ( ) is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. It lies at the confluence of the River Rother, South Yorkshire, River Rother, from which the town gets its name, and the River Don, Yorkshire, River Don. It is the largest settlement ...

West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire was one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the riding was an administrative county named County of York, West Riding. The Lord Lieutenant of the West Riding of Yorkshire, lieu ...

, Walker played as a trialist in

youth Youth is the time of life when one is young. The word, youth, can also mean the time between childhood and adulthood (Maturity (psychological), maturity), but it can also refer to one's peak, in terms of health or the period of life known as bei ...

and

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players who are under contract to a club but who do not regularly play in matches for the club's primary team. Reserve teams usually include players who are part of the larger first-team squad but ...

s in 1976, after which he moved to New Zealand to play for Gisborne City in 1980 after being spotted playing in English

non-League Non-League football describes association football, football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

for Retford Town and

Kevin Fallon Kevin Barry Fallon (born 3 December 1948) is an English-born football coach residing in New Zealand. He is the father of New Zealand international footballer Rory Fallon and former coach of the Cook Islands national football team but did not man ...

. After the end of the season, he returned to play in England for

side

in November 1980. He scored 12 times in 24 games for Barnsley, with an additional five goals in 12 games while on

loan In finance, a loan is the tender of money by one party to another with an agreement to pay it back. The recipient, or borrower, incurs a debt and is usually required to pay interest for the use of the money. The document evidencing the deb ...

from February 1983, before returning to New Zealand to play for Gisborne City. Walker reached the final of the

Chatham Cup The Chatham Cup is New Zealand's premier Single-elimination tournament, knockout tournament in men's association football. It is held annually, with the final contested in September. The current champions of the Chatham Cup are Wellington Olymp ...

1983 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...

with Gisborne. He scored twice, but the match ended 2–2, and was won by Gisborne's opponents Mount Wellington 2–0 in the replay. During the 1983 season, he scored seven goals in 12 appearances. He scored 16 goals in 22 appearances and won the country's Player of the Year award in 1984. He then scored 15 goals in 22 appearances in 1985. Overall, he was the top scorer in New Zealand during three of the five years he spent playing in the country. In November 1985, Walker returned to Doncaster Rovers on non-contract terms, playing five times before moving to

in January 1986. He scored once in 3 games, but was released by Cambridge and returned to Matlock Town. From there he joined Harworth Colliery Institute from where he was signed by

in August 1986. He joined

on loan in December 1986, where he made seven appearances, and

on loan in October 1987, where he made three appearances. He left Sheffield Wednesday having played just two league games and after scoring a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

in a League Cup tie, a 7–0 victory against

Stockport County Stockport County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Stockport, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in EFL League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1883 as Heaton ...

, which Wednesday won 10–0 on aggregate. He then returned to New Zealand for a final spell with Gisborne City, where he took over as

player-manager A player–coach (also playing coach, captain–coach, or player–manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. Player–coaches may be head coaches or assistant coaches, and they may make chang ...

, but left because of financial problems at the club. He also worked as striker-coach at the club. After returning to England for a run-out with Doncaster, he suffered a

cruciate ligament Cruciate ligaments (also cruciform ligaments) are pairs of ligaments arranged like a letter X. They occur in several joints of the body, such as the knee joint, wrist joint and the atlanto-axial joint. In a fashion similar to the cords in ...

injury to his knee which brought an end to his playing career.

International career

Whilst at Gisborne City, Walker acquired New Zealand citizenship, and so played for the New Zealand national team and scored 10 goals in 15

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

. The highlight of his international career came against

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

, during which he was marked by

Aldair Aldair Nascimento dos Santos (; born 30 November 1965), known simply as Aldair, is a Brazilian retired association football, footballer who played as a defender (association football), centre back, and who was part of the Brazil national footb ...

Coaching and managerial career

Walker spent three-and-a-half-years after his playing career ended as

of Maltby Miners Welfare, whom he took from the

Northern Counties East Football League The Northern Counties East Football League is a semi-professional English football league. It has two divisions – Premier Division and Division One – which stand at the ninth and tenth levels of the English football pyramid respectively. ...

Division One to the Premier Division. He won the Presidents' Cup in his final season in charge. He had coaching appointments with

, where he held a variety of different positions from youth team coach to assistant manager. Walker left Barnsley, along with manager Glyn Hodges, in July 2003. He soon found employment at the

youth academy in addition to work at

Rotherham R.U.F.C. Rotherham Rugby Union Football Club, or Rotherham Titans is a rugby union club from Rotherham, South Yorkshire, currently playing in the third tier of the English rugby union league system, following their promotion from the National League 2 ...

and undertaking scouting assignments for lower league clubs while trying "to earn enough to pay the mortgage". Billy McEwan appointed him as first team coach at

on 28 May 2005, stating that Walker would "bring honesty and commitment to the club, as well as a lot of knowledge". He took over as

caretaker manager In association footballing terms, a caretaker manager or interim manager is somebody who takes temporary charge of the management of a football team, usually when the regular manager is dismissed or leaves for a different club. However, a caret ...

at York on 19 November 2007, following McEwan's sacking by the club. His first game in charge finished as a 2–1 victory against Weymouth and after achieving five wins and a draw in six games, he was appointed as the club's permanent manager on 26 December 2007. He won the

Conference National The National League, officially known as Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in England. The National League is the first division of the National League (English football), National Le ...

manager of the month award for December 2007, when the team gained 10 out of a possible 12 points in the league and made progress in the

FA Trophy The Football Association Challenge Trophy, also known as the Isuzu FA Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after The Football Association (the FA) and competed by mainly National League ...

and

Conference League Cup The National League Cup is an annual association football competition in England. The National League Cup is open to clubs playing in the National League and, since its revival in 2024, professional under-21 teams playing in the Premier League 2. ...

. He led the team to a 14th place finish in the Conference in the 2007–08 season, and also reached the

semi-final A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

of the FA Trophy and the

fifth round Fifth is the ordinal form of the number five. Fifth or The Fifth may refer to: * Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, as in the expression "pleading the Fifth" * Fifth Avenue * Fifth column, a political term * Fifth disease, a cont ...

of the Conference League Cup. During York's 1–0 defeat to

Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the third level of the English football league system. The club was formed in 1897 as Mans ...

in an

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

fourth qualifying round replay in October 2008, Walker was targeted by some fans chanting his name. He was sacked as York manager on 21 November 2008. Walker joined

as assistant manager to caretaker manager David Brown in August 2009. Walker left Forest Green in September after the club appointed

Dave Hockaday David Hockaday (born 9 November 1957) is an English professional footballer who is currently Head of Male Football at South Gloucestershire and Stroud College. He has previously worked as a manager at Leeds United, Forest Green Rovers, Kiddermi ...

as their new manager. He later joined Doncaster, who he played for during his playing career, as Centre of Excellence technical development officer. Walker is currently with Notts County Ladies where he is assistant manager. He was appointed as assistant on 16 December 2013. In 2017 he moved to

as head of coaching, within the clubs academy system.

Career statistics

Managerial statistics

Honours

Maltby Miners Welfare *

Presidents Cup: 1992–93

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Walker, Colin 1958 births Living people Footballers from Rotherham English men's footballers New Zealand men's association footballers Men's association football forwards Retford Town F.C. players Matlock Town F.C. players Gisborne City AFC players Barnsley F.C. players Doncaster Rovers F.C. players Cambridge United F.C. players Harworth Colliery F.C. players Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players Darlington F.C. players Torquay United F.C. players English Football League players New Zealand men's international footballers English football managers New Zealand association football managers Maltby Main F.C. managers York City F.C. managers National League (English football) managers York City F.C. non-playing staff Doncaster Rovers F.C. non-playing staff Grimsby Town F.C. non-playing staff 20th-century New Zealand sportsmen