Jim Walker (soccer player)

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Jim Walker
Personnel
Surname James McIntyre Walker
birthday June 10, 1947
place of birth Northwich ,  England
position Midfield , full-back (left)
Men's
Years station Games (goals) 1
until 1968 Northwich Victoria
1968-1974 Derby County 42 (3)
1970 →  Hartlepools United  (loan) 10 (0)
1974-1975 Brighton & Hove Albion 28 (4)
1975-1976 Peterborough United 31 (1)
1976-1981 Chester FC 172 (4)
1 Only league games are given.

James McIntyre "Jim" Walker (born June 10, 1947 in Northwich ) is a former English football player . As a midfielder and left full-back , he was initially a substitute for the English first division club Derby County before he matured into a regular at third division Chester FC in the late 1970s . After his active career, he took up the profession of physiotherapist , which he practiced for 18 years at Aston Villa .

Athletic career

In the hometown of Northwich Walker began his football career from the 1966/67 season as an amateur for Northwich Victoria before moving to the second division Derby County in February 1968 . It was agreed that the two clubs would then enter into official negotiations if Derby County saw a player in Walker because it wanted to sign permanently. In this case, Walker should first sign a professional contract in Northwich so that a transfer fee would be due for a subsequent transfer. However, this agreement was not applied and so Walker finally switched to the “Rams” trained by Brian Clough for a “bargain price ”.

After a first league appearance on the last day of the 1967/68 season against FC Blackpool (1: 3), Walker was a regular in midfield in the first half of the subsequent season 1968/69 before John McGovern ousted him. As a result, he was rarely and often used as a substitute after the turn of the year and could no longer make a significant contribution to winning the second division championship and the associated rise to the top class . When Derby developed into one of the leading English football clubs at the beginning of the 1970s, Walker only got a sporadic role and he owed his rare probationary opportunities to his versatility. In the spring of 1970 he helped out on loan at Clough's former club Hartlepools United in the fourth division. After his return, he completed six league games for Derby in the 1971/72 championship season - mostly on behalf of Alan Hinton - and overall the proportion was too low to officially receive a championship medal. In the same year, the contribution to the Texaco Cup was bigger, for example when he was in the starting line-up in the first leg at Airdrieonians FC (0-0) (second leg 2-1).

In September 1974 Walker left Derby after a total of 55 competitive appearances and with the third division side Brighton & Hove Albion he found a new employer. The coach there was Clough's former assistant Peter Taylor and, as part of the £ 25,000 deal, another derby player, Tommy Mason , moved to the south coast of England. In Brighton he was first a regular player in left midfield in the 1974/75 season and scored four goals in 27 championship matches. In the 1975/76 season only one league appearance followed and in October 1975 he was hired on loan and in February 1976 permanently for 6,000 pounds with league rivals Peterborough United . But his stay in Peterborough was short-lived, so he went to Chester FC in November 1976 .

Returning home to Cheshire was a godsend for Walker in several ways. His close friend Alan Oakes coached Chester and had attended the club's games often during his school years. In the five years to 1981 he was a regular in the left full-back position and the team had some prominent names in their ranks with Ian Rush , Ian Edwards , Ian Mellor and Trevor Storton , Bob Delgado and Nigel Edwards . With fifth place in the third division season 1977/78 Chester reached its highest position in the club's history and there were two five-round defeats in the FA Cup against Wolverhampton Wanderers (1976/77 season) and Ipswich Town (1979/80 season). An injury to the Achilles tendon ultimately ended the career of the 34-year-old.

After the active career

After his footballing career, Walker stayed in Chester, where he was henceforth active as a physiotherapist. Later he helped out as a trainer and one summer he stood in the city center in the club shop behind the counter. From 1983 he worked alongside Dave Mackay in Kuwait for al-Arabi and after two years he returned to Great Britain to take a position as a physiotherapist with the Blackburn Rovers and from 1986 with Aston Villa .

He stayed with the Villans for 18 years before becoming Paul Merson's assistant at Walsall FC in 2004 . Two years later he was briefly employed again as a physiotherapist at Peterborough United . After that, he left the football business at nearby Sutton Coldfield on the Golfsportanlage The Belfry to work.

Title / Awards

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ "Saddlers appoint Walker" (BBC Sport)
personal data
SURNAME Walker, Jim
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Walker, James McIntyre (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English soccer player
DATE OF BIRTH June 10, 1947
PLACE OF BIRTH Northwich , England