Ian Walker (footballer)

From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
Jump to: navigation, search

Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

<templatestyles src="Module:Infobox/styles.css"></templatestyles>

Ian Walker
Personal information
Full name Ian Michael Walker
Date of birth (1971-10-31) 31 October 1971 (age 52)
Place of birth Watford, Hertfordshire, England
Height Script error: No such module "person height".
Position(s) Goalkeeper
Team information
Current team
Shanghai East Asia (goalkeeping coach)
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
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)
Total 402 (0)
International career
1990–1993 England U21 9 (0)
1996–2004 England 4 (0)
1998 England B 1 (0)
Managerial career
2011 Bishop's Stortford
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Ian Michael Walker (born 31 October 1971) is an English former professional footballer. His former clubs include Tottenham Hotspur, Leicester City and Bolton Wanderers. Walker is the son of former Wales goalkeeper, and Norwich City and Everton manager Mike Walker. He is currently the goalkeeping coach at Chinese Super League side Shanghai East Asia.

Club career

Tottenham Hotspur

Walker was for many years the primary goalkeeper for Tottenham Hotspur, starting out with them as a trainee and having two loan spells, for Ipswich Town and Oxford United. Walker made 312 appearances for Tottenham Hotspur. Walker handed in a transfer request in September 2000 after losing his place in the first team to Neil Sullivan.[1] He played his final game for Spurs against West Ham United on 31 January 2001.[2]

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.[3] His first season at the club ended in relegation to the First Division,[4] which he felt may have ruined his dreams of an England call-up for the 2002 World Cup.[5] 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.[6]

He struggled with life in the Premier League, particularly in a match against Aston Villa at the Walkers Stadium on 31 January 2004, in which he conceded five goals in 18 minutes.[7] 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."[8] 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.[9] Despite comfortably saving Kevin Davies' shot, he lost grasp of the ball as it crawled over the goal line.[10] He did make a comeback performance in a goalless home draw against Wolves on 28 February,[11] putting up a "world-class save" to deny Kenny Miller.[12] Walker pledged to stay at Leicester despite their relegation from the Premier League in the 2003–04 season.[13] He was released from Leicester City on 6 May 2005, after the club could not afford him a new contract.[14] 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.[15]

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.[16] 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.[17]

Managerial 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.[18] On 2 January 2014, Walker became the goalkeeping coach of Shanghai East Asia, another Super League team in Shanghai.[19] On 15 May 2014, Walker signed a new contract with Shanghai East Asia, keeping him at the club until the end of 2017 season.[20]

Personal life

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.[21] After the birth of daughter Sophie in 1998, Suzi suffered Post Natal Eclampsia,[22] and is an ongoing sufferer of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis.[23] He became a father just months after the death of his mother Jackie after a long battle against cancer.[24]

In November 2006, Suzi admitted Walker had met dancer Samantha Thurman, 33,[25] from Miami on a property investment trip to Las Vegas in May.[26] In September 2007, Walker and Thurman had a son named Jaxson. They currently live in Shanghai.[27]

References

  1. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. Info on Health, Medical News, Healthy Living, Healthy Eating, Health News, Diet, Cancer, Cholesterol, Depression, Kidney, Migraine, Smoking
  23. Suzi Walker – Celebrity Agents, International Celebrity Agents, Personal Management & PR To TV/Radio and Sports Stars
  24. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  25. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.[dead link]
  26. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.[dead link]
  27. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

Script error: The function "top" does not exist.

Script error: The function "bottom" does not exist.