Ian Walker (soccer player)

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Ian Walker
Personnel
Surname Ian Michael Walker
birthday October 31, 1971
place of birth Watford ,  England
position goalkeeper
Juniors
Years station
1987-1989 Tottenham Hotspur
Men's
Years station Games (goals) 1
1989-2001 Tottenham Hotspur 260 (0)
1990 →  Oxford United  (loan) 2 (0)
1990 →  Ipswich Town  (loan) 0 (0)
2001-2005 Leicester City 140 (0)
2005-2008 Bolton Wanderers 0 (0)
National team
Years selection Games (goals)
1990-1993 England U-21 9 (0)
1998 England B 1 (0)
1996-2004 England 4 (0)
Stations as a trainer
Years station
2011 Bishop's Stortford FC
1 Only league games are given.

Ian Michael Walker (born October 31, 1971 in Watford ) is a former English football goalkeeper. The son of former Welsh national goalkeeper Mike Walker , who later became known as coach of Everton FC and Norwich City among others , was Tottenham Hotspur's number 1 for a long time in the 1990s . With the "Spurs" he won the league cup in 1999 . Between 2001 and 2005, the four-time England national player and European Championship participant from 1996 and 2004 was again a regular goalkeeper at Leicester City .

Athletic career

Club career

Tottenham Hotspur (1987-2001)

Ian Walker, son of Mike Walker , who was active between 1963 and 1983 , began his career at Tottenham Hotspur . There he had been an official part of the youth team since June 1987 before he was promoted to the professional squad in December 1989. He benefited greatly from the former England goalkeeper Ray Clemence , who had his last active position there and moved to the coaching staff of the "Spurs" at the end of the 1980s. At first, Walker was not used behind regular goalkeeper Erik Thorstvedt ; with the youth team, however, he won the FA Youth Cup in 1990 . At the beginning of the 1990/91 season he was briefly loaned to the second division club Oxford United . There he played against Wolverhampton Wanderers on September 29, 1990 his first professional league game and after his return following another brief engagement for Ipswich Town , he made his debut in April 1991 against Norwich City for Tottenham in the top English division. From the third game day of the 1991/92 season he represented Thorstvedt again, then returned to the "second link" in October 1990, before ending the season after another comeback in April 1992 as provisional "number 1". In the following two years, however, he could not hold his ground against Thorstvedt. In the 1994/95 season he "profited" from the massive knee problems of his competitor and completed 39 compulsory games. He made a visibly positive development under the new coach Gerry Francis , although often generally poor defensive performance his front men overshadowed his good goalkeeping performances. He made a particularly lasting impression with a series of six clean sheets between mid-December and early January 1995. With his agility, quick reflexes and talent to “read” the game, he quickly became the focus of the English senior team and was part of the squad for the first time in the friendly against Ireland .

In the 1995/96 season, when Walker made his first two international appearances, he was consistently in good shape. He stayed clean in five consecutive games in the autumn of 1995, was particularly nervous in major pressure situations away from Liverpool (0-0), Manchester United (0-1) and Newcastle United (1-1) and played all 47 Competitive games. His ascent received his first setbacks in the following year, as it were with clear defeats against Newcastle (1: 7) and in the league cup against second division Bolton Wanderers (2: 6) and the clear media scolding that he received after the 0: 1 defeat in the World Cup - qualifying match against Italy - he was given considerable complicity in the goal against Gianfranco Zola .

Plagued by injury concerns in the Tottenham team, the 1997/98 season was also disappointing. The defensive formation before Walker changed frequently and although he held himself harmless against opponents such as Arsenal and Blackburn, which were regarded as high-profile at the time , his case once again became a shooting gallery at times. These included a hefty 6-1 home defeat to Chelsea and twelve goals against in four consecutive away games. A shoulder injury from the third round match against Fulham in the FA Cup meant that he and his representative Espen Baardsen had to fight for the place of the goalkeeper. In addition, there was a form weakness, so that he was finally not even nominated for the 1998 World Cup in France . After a disappointing start with two defeats and six goals conceded in the first two league games of the 1998/99 season, he was relegated to the bench until December 1998. He then made his comeback in a 3-1 league cup against Manchester United and ultimately he hit only six times in 17 consecutive games between January and March 1999. The conclusion was the 1-0 in the league cup final against his future employer Leicester City , which he won 1-0 after a goal by Allan Nielsen . The form barometer showed down again the following year, although it received good reviews in the UEFA Cup against teams like Liverpool and Kaiserslautern . The signing of Neil Sullivan from relegated from Wimbledon then ushered in Walker's end at Tottenham. In his senior year, he seldom got behind Sullivan. Although he did not concede a goal against FC Southampton and West Ham United at the end of January 2001 , he could no longer convince his coach George Graham and so Walker left the "Spurs" after almost twelve professional years for Leicester.

Leicester City (2001-05)

With the league competitor and relegation candidate Leicester City , Walker could not complain about the extent of employment and his performances further ensured that England coach Sven-Göran Eriksson frequently called him to international games. Ultimately, however, Leicester was relegated to the bottom of the table in the second division and Walker felt this was a decisive reason why he did not make it into the English squad for the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea . Already in the following year Leicester succeeded in the immediate rise again and with his performances he was later only defeated Shaka Hislop from Portsmouth FC in the fight for the award for the best goalkeeper in the league. As the only player in his team who played all of the season's games, his contribution in the groundbreaking duel against Crystal Palace (1-0) was seen as defining, which paved the way for a direct promotion.

The "up-and-down" continued for Walker in the 2003/04 season, which ended with another first division relegation. He showed himself to be in good shape, especially at the beginning and the end. In between, however, he occasionally hit the headlines negatively - especially on January 31, 2004, when he conceded five goals in 18 minutes in a 5-0 home draw against Aston Villa and not even two weeks later his bizarre own goal in a 1-1 draw against Aston Villa Bolton Wanderers . Still, no “credit” was so high that he was nominated for Euro 2004 and played his fourth (and last) international match in the run-up to Iceland (6: 1).

Due to a knee injury, Walker was sidelined from late August 2004 to January 2005. After his return, he regained his place and at a time when Leicester had to fear for relegation in the second division, he secured an important point with a saved penalty against West Ham United . On May 1, 2005, he played his last game for the "Foxes" against Leeds United . Just days later, coach Craig Levein announced that his contract would not be renewed.

Bolton Wanderers (2005-08)

Shortly afterwards, on the basis of a one-year contract, the Bolton Wanderers went free of charge. Under coach Sam Allardyce , however, there was no Premier League appearance, which was mainly due to the fact that Jussi Jääskeläinen was considered "set" and he had other prominent competition in the squad with Oman's national goalkeeper Ali al-Habsi . Walker's contribution was limited to cup games, including the early rounds of the UEFA Cup . However, as his experience was further valued, the board extended his contract and Walker stayed in Bolton until December 2008. Since Ali Al Habsi in particular developed very positively in the club, Walker's active professional career finally ended before the end of the year. Walker's back injury was also partly responsible for the end of the career.

English national team

Walker was considered one of the greatest goalkeeping talents in English football from an early age. He completed a total of nine U-21 internationals between 1990 and 1993. In addition, he took part in the Junior World Championship in Portugal in 1991, which ended with the premature exit for England in the preliminary round. Walker was later four times for the English senior team on the field. He made his first international match in 1996 against Hungary in the run-up to the European Championship in his own country, for which he was then nominated by coach Terry Venables .

Ultimately, however, he only rarely replaced regular goalkeepers like David Seaman or later David James, and apart from another nomination for the 2004 European Championship by Sven-Göran Eriksson as number three behind David James and Paul Robinson , he was not allowed to participate in final tournaments. Shortly before the start of Euro 2004, Walker played a game for the English eleven for the last time, when he was substituted on for Robinson on June 5, 2004 against Iceland after just over an hour.

After a career as an active player

In 2011, Walker coached Bishop's Stortford FC for nine months . In December of that year, the sixth division team dismissed him as a result of a 5-0 defeat in the FA Trophy against Carshalton Athletic . The following year he moved to Shanghai Shenhua in China . There, Nicolas Anelka, his former teammate at Bolton Wanderers, took over the position of player- coach and from then on he served the club as goalkeeping coach.

Title / Awards

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ "England - U-21 International Results 1986–1995 - Details" (RSSSF)
  2. ^ "England - International Results B-Team - Details" (RSSSF)
  3. ^ Hugman, Barry J .: Premier League: The Players - A Complete Guide to Every Player 1992-93 . Tony Williams Publishing, 1992, ISBN 1-869833-15-5 , pp. 338 .
  4. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The 1995-96 Official PFA Footballers Factfile . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 1995, ISBN 0-09-180854-5 , pp. 222 .
  5. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The 1996-97 Official PFA Footballers Factfile . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 1996, ISBN 1-85291-571-4 , pp. 251 .
  6. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The 1997-98 Official PFA Footballers Factfile . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 1997, ISBN 1-85291-581-1 , pp. 279 .
  7. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The 1998-1999 Official PFA Footballers Factfile . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 1998, ISBN 1-85291-588-9 , pp. 314 .
  8. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The 1999-2000 Official PFA Footballers Factfile . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 1999, ISBN 1-85291-607-9 , pp. 307 .
  9. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The 2000-2001 Official PFA Footballers Factfile . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 2000, ISBN 1-85291-626-5 , pp. 327 .
  10. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The 2001-2002 Official PFA Footballers Factfile . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 2001, ISBN 0-946531-34-X , pp. 315 .
  11. ↑ "Relegation ruins Walker's hopes" (BBC Sport)
  12. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2002/2003 . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 2002, ISBN 1-85291-648-6 , pp. 423 .
  13. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2003/2004 . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 2003, ISBN 1-85291-651-6 , pp. 437 .
  14. ^ "Walker escapes FA action" (BBC Sport)
  15. ↑ "Adams consoles Walker" (BBC Sport)
  16. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2004/2005 . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 2004, ISBN 1-85291-660-5 , pp. 421 .
  17. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2005/2006 . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 2005, ISBN 1-85291-662-1 , pp. 421 .
  18. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2006-07 . Mainstream Publishing, 2006, ISBN 1-84596-111-0 , pp. 421 .
  19. ^ "Veteran Goalkeeper Walker leaves Bolton" (Express.co.uk)
  20. ^ "Ian Walker on some of his Chinese players: 'Lazy, out of shape and won't train in the rain'" (The Independent)
  21. ↑ "FIFA World Youth Championship Portugal 1991, Teams: England" (FIFA.com)
  22. ^ Statistics from Ian Walker on sporting-heroes.net
  23. ^ "Ian Walker loses job as Bishop's Stortford manager" (BBC Sport)
  24. ^ "Nicolas Anelka loses first match as Shanghai Shenhua player-boss" (BBC Sport)
personal data
SURNAME Walker, Ian
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Walker, Ian Michael
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English football goalkeeper
DATE OF BIRTH October 31, 1971
PLACE OF BIRTH Watford , England