Ian Walker (footballer)

Ian Walker

Personal information
Full name	Ian Michael Walker
Date of birth	(1971-10-31) 31 October 1971 (age 53)[1]
Place of birth	Watford, England
Height	1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)[2]
Position(s)	Goalkeeper
Team information
Current team	Shanghai SIPG (Goalkeeping coach)
Youth career
0000–1989	Tottenham Hotspur
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1989–2001	Tottenham Hotspur	259	(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)
Total		401	(0)
International career
1990–1993	England U21	9	(0)
1996–2004	England	4	(0)
1998	England B	1	(0)
Managerial career
2011–2012	Bishop's Stortford
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Ian Michael Walker (born 31 October 1971) is an English football coach and former professional footballer, he is the goalkeeping coach of Chinese Super League side Shanghai SIPG.

As a player, he was a goalkeeper who notably played in the Premier League for Tottenham Hotspur and Leicester City. He made 259 league appearances for Spurs and was their first choice keeper from 1994 until just before his departure in 2001. He also finished his career with a three-year spell in the top flight with Bolton Wanderers but all eight of his appearances came in cup competitions. He also had brief loan spells in the Football League with Oxford United and Ipswich Town. Walker was capped four times by England, he was part of the Euro 96 squad and would go on to be selected for Euro 2004. He was also capped at U21 and B team level.

Following retirement, he later became manager of non-league side Bishop's Stortford, before moving to China as the goalkeeping coach for Shanghai Shenhua in 2012. Two-years later he moved to rivals Shanghai SIPG in a similar role.

Club career

Tottenham Hotspur

After starting out with the team in the late 1980s as a trainee and having two loan spells away, at Ipswich Town and Oxford United Walker played in the winning 1989–90 FA Youth Cup Tottenham team overcoming Middlesbrough. During the early 1990s Walker was mainly used as the reserve keeper, making the odd cup appearance along the way, but after a serious injury to then Spurs keeper Erik Thorstvedt Walker took his chance and soon became the number 1 at Spurs, cementing his place in the side and getting his chance in the team during the first season of the Premiership making a total of 17 appearances in the league. 1992–93 season. Walker went on and made a total of 312 appearances for Tottenham Hotspur and played a big part during the 1999 season in helping Spurs win the 1999 Football League Cup Final after beating Leicester City 1–0 at Wembley Stadium. During the latter stages of Walkers career at Spurs he fell out of favour with the management and lost his place to the newly signed Neil Sullivan it was shortly after this, that the England international handed in a transfer request in September 2000.^[3] He played his final game for Spurs against West Ham United on 31 January 2001.^[4]

Leicester City

Walker signed a four-year contract with Leicester City in July 2001 for a fee of £2.5 million, rising to £3 million depending on appearances.^[5] His first season at the club ended in relegation to the First Division,^[6] which he felt may have ruined his dreams of an England call-up for the 2002 World Cup.^[7] Walker had an impressive season with Leicester as they regained promotion to the Premier League, earning his first England recall in six years in May 2003.^[8]

A cult hero to many of the Foxes fans, Walker had an indifferent season back in the Premier League, producing moments of magic, but unfortunately it all unraveled in a match against Aston Villa at the Walkers Stadium on 31 January 2004, in which he conceded five goals in 18 minutes.^[9] Walker put up such a poor display in the match that he was confronted by a Leicester fan who ran onto the pitch, telling him he "didn't think he was fit to be a Premiership player."^[10] On 10 February 2004, Walker scored a bizarre own goal in a match against Bolton Wanderers to give them a 1–1 draw at Leicester.^[11] Despite comfortably saving Kevin Davies' shot, he lost grasp of the ball as it crawled over the goal line.^[12] He did make a comeback performance in a goalless home draw against Wolves on 28 February,^[13] putting up a "world-class save" to deny Kenny Miller.^[14] Walker pledged to stay at Leicester despite their relegation from the Premier League in the 2003–04 season.^[15] He was released from Leicester City on 6 May 2005, after the club could not afford him a new contract.^[16] Walker spent four years at Leicester.

Bolton Wanderers

Walker joined Bolton on a one-year contract. Walker was the goalkeeper for Bolton's first ever European match away from England against Bulgarian team Lokomotiv Plovdiv, which was also his debut.^[17]

International career

Walker was capped by the England national team four times, making his debut in 1996 against Hungary. His most infamous game was against Italy in a qualification match for the 1998 World Cup where he is widely believed to have been at fault to a Gianfranco Zola strike. England lost this game to Italy 1–0 at Wembley Stadium. He backed up David James at Euro 2004 but was overtaken by others in the pecking order.^[18] Despite Walker's club Leicester suffering relegation from the Premier League, he played his first England match in seven years as a 61st-minute substitute for Paul Robinson in a 6–1 win over Iceland on 5 June 2004, which was also his last international.^[19]

Coaching career

On 14 March 2011, Walker was appointed as manager of Bishop's Stortford who were playing in the Conference South.^{[citation needed]}

In April 2012, Walker joined his former Bolton teammate Nicolas Anelka at Chinese Super League side Shanghai Shenhua and became their goalkeeping coach.^[20] On 2 January 2014, Walker became the goalkeeping coach of Shanghai East Asia, another Super League team in Shanghai.^[21] On 15 May 2014, Walker signed a new contract with Shanghai East Asia, keeping him at the club until the end of 2017 season.^[22]

Walker continues to coach the 1st team goalkeepers at Shanghai SIPG FC. Walker has produced two national team goalkeepers for China, Wang Dalei from Shanghai Shenhua in 2012–13 and Yan Junling from Shanghai SIPG in 2014–15, both continue to be in the national squad with Yan Junling who is still coached by Walker the China number 1 goalkeeper.^{[citation needed]}

In the 2018 season Walker was the goalkeeper coach when Shanghai SIPG won their first league title ever.

Personal life

Walker is the son of Mike Walker who was also a goalkeeper and managed Norwich City and Everton.^[23]

Walker attended Great Cornard Upper School. He and his former Page Three wife Suzi lived in a mock-Tudor mansion in Cobham, Surrey, as featured on MTV Cribs.^[24] After the birth of daughter Sophie in 1998, Suzi suffered Post Natal Eclampsia,^[25] and is an ongoing sufferer of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis.^[26] He became a father just months after the death of his mother Jackie after a long battle against cancer.^[23]

Career statistics

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition^[27]

Club	Season	League			FA Cup		League Cup		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Tottenham Hotspur	1989–90	First Division	0	0	0	0	0	0	—		0	0
	1990–91	First Division	1	0	0	0	—		—		1	0
	1991–92	First Division	18	0	0	0	1	0	2[a]	0	21	0
	1992–93	Premier League	17	0	0	0	2	0	—		19	0
	1993–94	Premier League	11	0	2	0	1	0	—		14	0
	1994–95	Premier League	41	0	6	0	2	0	—		49	0
	1995–96	Premier League	38	0	6	0	3	0	0	0	47	0
	1996–97	Premier League	37	0	1	0	4	0	—		42	0
	1997–98	Premier League	29	0	1	0	3	0	—		33	0
	1998–99	Premier League	25	0	7	0	4	0	—		36	0
	1999–2000	Premier League	38	0	2	0	2	0	4[b]	0	46	0
	2000–01	Premier League	4	0	0	0	1	0	—		5	0
	Total		259	0	25	0	23	0	6	0	313	0
Oxford United (loan)	1990–91	Second Division	2	0	—		1	0	—		3	0
Ipswich Town (loan)	1990–91	Second Division	0	0	—		—		—		0	0
Leicester City	2001–02	Premier League	35	0	2	0	2	0	—		39	0
	2002–03	First Division	46	0	2	0	3	0	—		51	0
	2003–04	Premier League	37	0	2	0	1	0	—		40	0
	2004–05	Championship	22	0	4	0	0	0	—		26	0
	Total		140	0	10	0	6	0	—		156	0
Bolton Wanderers	2005–06	Premier League	0	0	1	0	1	0	3[b]	0	5	0
	2006–07	Premier League	0	0	1	0	2	0	—		3	0
	Total		0	0	2	0	3	0	3	0	8	0
Career total			401	0	37	0	33	0	9	0	480	0

1. Appearances in European Cup Winners' Cup
2. Appearances in UEFA Cup

International

Appearances and goals by national team and year

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
England	1996	2	0
	1997	1	0
	1998	0	0
	1999	0	0
	2000	0	0
	2001	0	0
	2002	0	0
	2003	0	0
	2004	1	0
Total		4	0

Honours

Tottenham Hotspur

• Football League Cup: 1998–99^[28]

References

1. "Ian Walker". 11v11.com. AFS Enterprises. Retrieved 4 June 2020.
2. "Ian Walker Profile". Premier League. Retrieved 26 June 2021.
3. "Spurs accept Walker transfer request". BBC Sport. 15 September 2000. Retrieved 15 February 2010.
4. "Hammers held by Spurs". BBC Sport. 31 January 2001. Retrieved 1 August 2012.
5. "Leicester sign Walker". BBC Sport. 9 July 2001. Retrieved 15 February 2010.
6. "Man Utd relegate Leicester". BBC Sport. 6 April 2002. Retrieved 15 February 2010.
7. "Relegation ruins Walker's hopes". BBC Sport. 29 April 2002. Retrieved 15 February 2010.
8. "Ian Walker". BBC Sport. 17 May 2004. Retrieved 15 February 2010.
9. "Leicester 0–5 Aston Villa". BBC Sport. 31 January 2004. Retrieved 15 February 2010.
10. "Walker escapes FA action". BBC Sport. 2 February 2004. Retrieved 15 February 2010.
11. "Leicester 1–1 Bolton". BBC Sport. 10 February 2004. Retrieved 15 February 2010.
12. "Adams consoles Walker". BBC Sport. 10 February 2004. Retrieved 15 February 2010.
13. "Leicester 0–0 Wolves". BBC Sport. 28 February 2004. Retrieved 15 February 2010.
14. "Cotterill praises Walker". BBC Sport. 28 February 2004. Retrieved 15 February 2010.
15. "Walker makes Foxes pledge". BBC Sport. 16 April 2004. Retrieved 15 February 2010.
16. "Levein rues losing star players". BBC Sport. 14 May 2005. Retrieved 15 February 2010.
17. "Lok Plovdiv 1–2 Bolton (agg 2–4)". BBC Sport. 29 September 2005. Retrieved 1 August 2012.
18. "Walker raring to get going". BBC Sport. 29 July 2004. Retrieved 15 February 2010.
19. "Clockwatch: England 6–1 Iceland". BBC Sport. 5 June 2004. Retrieved 16 February 2010.
20. "阿内尔卡携4人进申花教练组 前队友出任门将教练 (Four men followed Anelka to join Shenhua's coaching team, Former teammate became the goalkeeping coach)". Netease. 12 April 2012. Archived from the original on 10 January 2016. Retrieved 19 January 2015.
21. "官方公告:东亚俱乐部与前英格兰国门伊恩沃克签约 (Official: Shanghai East Asia signed with former England national team goalkeeper Ian Walker)". Shanghai East Asia F.C. 2 January 2014. Archived from the original on 2 January 2014. Retrieved 2 January 2014.
22. "官方公告：东亚俱乐部与伊恩沃克续约至2017赛季! (Official: Shanghai East Asia extended Ian Walker's contract to 2017)". Shanghai East Asia F.C. 15 May 2014. Archived from the original on 17 May 2014. Retrieved 15 May 2014.
23. "Spurs star's mum dies". The Mirror. 5 November 1997. Retrieved 25 May 2018 – via The Free Library.
24. Venning, Nicola (17 October 2006). "Living in the past (with all mod cons)". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 11 September 2012. Retrieved 4 May 2010.
25. Info on Health, Medical News, Healthy Living, Healthy Eating, Health News, Diet, Cancer, Cholesterol, Depression, Kidney, Migraine, Smoking Archived 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine
26. Suzi Walker – Celebrity Agents, International Celebrity Agents, Personal Management & PR To TV/Radio and Sports Stars Archived 11 October 2006 at the Wayback Machine
27. Ian Walker at the English National Football Archive (subscription required)
28. "Nielsen nicks it for Spurs". BBC Sport. 22 March 1999. Retrieved 30 March 2024.

External links

• Ian Walker at Soccerbase