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 The Chinese Football Association Super League, commonly known as Chinese Super League or CSL, currently known as the China Ping An Chinese Football Association Super League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest tier of professional football in ...

side

Shanghai SIPG Shanghai Port FC (), previously named Shanghai SIPG, is a professional football club that participates in the Chinese Super League under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The team is based in Pudong, Shanghai, and their home sta ...

. As a player, he was a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting ...

who notably played in the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

for

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

and

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

. 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 Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pik ...

but all eight of his appearances came in cup competitions. He also had brief loan spells 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, the league is the oldest such competition in Association football around the wor ...

with

Oxford United Oxford United Football Club is a professional football club in the city of Oxford, England. The team plays in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The chairman is Grant Ferguson, the manager is Karl Robinson and th ...

and

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn professio ...

. Walker was capped four times by

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

, he was part of the

Euro 96 The 1996 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 96, was the 10th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by European nations and organised by UEFA. It took place in England from 8 to 30 ...

squad and would go on to be selected for

Euro 2004 The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2004, was the 12th edition of the UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football competition contested by the men's national teams of UEFA member associations. The ...

. He was also capped at U21 and B team level. Following retirement, he later became manager of non-league side

Bishop's Stortford Bishop's Stortford is a historic market town in Hertfordshire, England, just west of the M11 motorway on the county boundary with Essex, north-east of central London, and by rail from Liverpool Street station. Stortford had an estimated popu ...

, before moving to

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

as the goalkeeping coach for

Shanghai Shenhua Shanghai Shenhua F.C. () is a Chinese professional football club that participates in the Chinese Super League under license from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The term ''shen hua'' literally translates as "the Flower of Shanghai" in ...

in 2012. Two-years later he moved to rivals

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

and

Walker played in the winning 1989–90

FA Youth Cup The Football Association Youth Challenge Cup is an English football competition run by The Football Association for under-18 sides. Only those players between the age of 15 and 18 on 31 August of the current season are eligible to take part. I ...

Tottenham team overcoming

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the ...

. 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 Erik Thorstvedt (born 28 October 1962) is a Norwegian former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He won 97 caps for the Norwegian national team, and was the starter in goal at the 1994 FIFA World Cup. He played for Viking, Eik-T ...

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 The 1999 Football League Cup Final was played between Tottenham Hotspur and Leicester City, at Wembley on Sunday, 21 March 1999. Tottenham won the game, and their third League Cup, with an injury-time diving header from Allan Nielsen after a cr ...

after beating

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. He played his final game for Spurs against

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

on 31 January 2001.

Leicester City

Walker signed a four-year contract with

in July 2001 for a fee of £2.5 million, rising to £3 million depending on appearances. His first season at the club ended in relegation to the First Division, which he felt may have ruined his dreams of an England call-up for the 2002 World Cup. Walker had an impressive season with Leicester as they regained promotion to the

, earning his first England recall in six years in May 2003. 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 Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park, ...

at the

Walkers Stadium King Power Stadium (also known as the Leicester City Stadium due to UEFA sponsorship regulations and formerly known as the Walkers Stadium) is a football stadium in Leicester, England. It has been the home of Premier League club Leicester City ...

on 31 January 2004, in which he conceded five goals in 18 minutes. 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." On 10 February 2004, Walker scored a bizarre own goal in a match against

to give them a 1–1 draw at Leicester. Despite comfortably saving

Kevin Davies Kevin Cyril Davies (born 26 March 1977) is an English former professional footballer who played as a striker for Chesterfield, Southampton, Blackburn Rovers, Millwall, Bolton Wanderers and Preston North End. He managed Southport in the 2017� ...

' shot, he lost grasp of the ball as it crawled over the goal line. He did make a comeback performance in a goalless home draw against

Wolves The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly un ...

on 28 February, putting up a "world-class save" to deny Kenny Miller. Walker pledged to stay at Leicester despite their relegation from the Premier League in the 2003–04 season. He was released from Leicester City on 6 May 2005, after the club could not afford him a new contract. 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

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

n team

Lokomotiv Plovdiv PFC Lokomotiv Plovdiv ( bg, ПФК Локомотив Пловдив), commonly known as Loko Plovdiv, is a Bulgarian professional football club based in Plovdiv. Lokomotiv's home ground is the Lokomotiv Stadium which is situated in Lauta Park a ...

, which was also his debut.

International career

Walker was capped by the England national team four times, making his debut in 1996 against

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Cr ...

. His most infamous game was against

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

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 Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

. He backed up

David James Dewi, Dai, Dafydd or David James may refer to: Performers *David James (actor, born 1839) (1839–1893), English stage comic and a founder of London's Vaudeville Theatre *David James (actor, born 1967) (born 1967), Australian presenter of ABC's ''P ...

but was overtaken by others in the pecking order. 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 Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its ...

on 5 June 2004, which was also his last international.

Coaching career

On 14 March 2011, Walker was appointed as manager of

who were playing in the

Conference South The National League South, formerly Conference South, is one of the second divisions of the National League in England, immediately below the top division National League. Along with National League North, it is in the second level of the N ...

. In April 2012, Walker joined his former Bolton teammate

Nicolas Anelka Nicolas Sébastien Anelka (; born 14 March 1979) is a French professional football manager and retired player who played as a forward. As a player, he regularly featured in his country's national team, often scoring at crucial moments. Known f ...

side

and became their goalkeeping coach. On 2 January 2014, Walker became the goalkeeping coach of

Shanghai East Asia Shanghai Port FC (), previously named Shanghai SIPG, is a professional football club that participates in the Chinese Super League under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The team is based in Pudong, Shanghai, and their home s ...

, another Super League team in Shanghai. On 15 May 2014, Walker signed a new contract with Shanghai East Asia, keeping him at the club until the end of 2017 season. 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. In the 2018 season Walker was the goalkeeper coach when

won their first league title ever.

Personal life

Walker is the son of Mike Walker who was also a goalkeeper and managed

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the 20 ...

and Everton. Walker attended

Great Cornard Upper School Thomas Gainsborough School, formerly Great Cornard Upper School, is a secondary school and sixth form in the village of Great Cornard, part of the town of Sudbury in the English county of Suffolk that educates approximately 1,400 pupils. It was ...

. He and his former

Page Three Page 3, or Page Three, was a British newspaper convention of publishing a large image of a topless female glamour model (known as a Page 3 girl) on the third page of mainstream red-top tabloids. '' The Sun'' introduced the feature, publishi ...

wife Suzi lived in a mock-Tudor mansion in

Cobham, Surrey Cobham () is a large village in the Borough of Elmbridge in Surrey, England, centred south-west of London and northeast of Guildford on the River Mole. It has a commercial/services High Street, a significant number of primary and private ...

, as featured on ''

MTV Cribs ''MTV Cribs'' (also known as ''Cribs'') is an American documentary television show that originated on MTV and features tours of the private homes of celebrities. It originally aired from 2000 to 2010. In 2017, MTV produced short-form episodes o ...

''. After the birth of daughter Sophie in 1998, Suzi suffered Post Natal

Eclampsia Eclampsia is the onset of seizures (convulsions) in a woman with pre-eclampsia. Pre-eclampsia is one of the hypertensive disorders of pregnancy that presents with three main features: new onset of high blood pressure, large amounts of protein in ...

, and is an ongoing sufferer of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis.Suzi Walker – Celebrity Agents, International Celebrity Agents, Personal Management & PR To TV/Radio and Sports Stars
He became a father just months after the death of his mother Jackie after a long battle against cancer.

Career statistics

Club

International

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Walker, Ian 1971 births Living people Sportspeople from Watford English footballers English people of Welsh descent England under-21 international footballers England B international footballers England international footballers Association football goalkeepers Tottenham Hotspur F.C. players Oxford United F.C. players Ipswich Town F.C. players Leicester City F.C. players Bolton Wanderers F.C. players Premier League players English Football League players UEFA Euro 1996 players UEFA Euro 2004 players English football managers Bishop's Stortford F.C. managers National League (English football) managers Shanghai Port F.C. non-playing staff Association football goalkeeping coaches Shanghai Shenhua F.C. non-playing staff English expatriate sportspeople in China Expatriate footballers in China