Robert Wright "Roy" Walker (born 1957) is a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

and former player. His most recent job was as manager of

NIFL Premiership The NIFL Premiership, known as the Sports Direct Premiership for sponsorship purposes, and Irish Premiership colloquially, is a professional association football league which operates as the highest division of the Northern Ireland Football L ...

side Ballymena United.

Playing career

Born to a working-class family in east

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

, Walker began his career with Torrin Boys youth club, before moving to

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club is a professional association football, football club from Luton, Bedfordshire, England. The club currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Nicknamed "The Hatters", L ...

in England. He returned to Northern Ireland to play for

Ards Ards (or ARDS, ARDs) may refer to: Medical * ARDS, Acute respiratory distress syndrome * ARDs, age-related diseases Places * Ards Peninsula, Northern Ireland ** Ards (territory), several historical territorial divisions on the Ards Peninsula ...

, Glenavon, and

Portadown Portadown ( ) is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The town is based on the River Bann in the north of the county, about southwest of Belfast. It is in the Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council area and had a population ...

. He finished his playing career with

Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and at times directed by the Papacy during the Middle Ages. The most prominent of these were the campaigns to the Holy Land aimed at reclaiming Jerusalem and its surrounding ...

. Walker is also a

Born-again Christian To be born again, or to experience the new birth, is a phrase, particularly in evangelical Christianity, that refers to a "spiritual rebirth", or a regeneration of the human spirit. In contrast to one's physical birth, being "born again" is d ...

Managerial career

Crusaders F.C.

He later became player-manager of Crusaders, in 1989. Walker was a player with Crusaders and was appointed manager in 1989. Walker brought huge success to the North Belfast club by winning the Irish League in 1995 and 1997, also winning the Gold Cup in 1996, the Ulster Cup in 1994, the County Antrim Shield in 1992, and the Stena Line Trophy in 1997, the same year he won the league. Walker had a very good number of players who would become Crusaders legends. Kirk Hunter was a fan favourite along with future manager of Crusaders Stephen Baxter. Other players included Sid Burrows, Glenn Dunlop, Kevin McKeown, Glenn Hunter, and future

Glentoran Glentoran Football Club is a professional football club based in East Belfast, Northern Ireland, that plays in the NIFL Premiership. The club was founded in 1882 and has since won more than 130 major honours. They are one of three Northern Iris ...

pair

Darren Lockhart Darren Lockhart (born 12 November 1973) is a Northern Irish football manager and former player. Playing career Born in Belfast, Lockhart began his professional career with Crusaders after playing at semi-professional level with H&W Welders and ...

and Chris Morgan. Walker stunned not only Crusaders fans but the whole Irish League by resigning from the club in 1998. He later became manager of Glenavon.

Glenavon F.C.

Walker became manager of the Lurgan Blues hoping to bring success as he did with Crusaders. He did bring a little success to Glenavon by winning the local Mid-Ulster Cup in 1999. Walker resigned in 2000. After leaving Glenavon on 31 July 2000 he became a pundit for

BBC Radio Ulster BBC Radio Ulster is a Northern Ireland, Northern Irish national radio station owned and operated by BBC Northern Ireland, a division of the BBC. It was established on New Year's Day 1975, replacing what had been an opt-out of BBC Radio 4. Acc ...

Glentoran

After becoming a co-commentator for Northern Ireland's local radio show BBC Radio Ulster for Sportsound (the football show to cover all games and bring the final scores) Walker showed a huge interest in becoming new Glentoran manager after the sacking of Paul Miller. In May 2007 Millar was sacked as manager of Glentoran, and Walker finally realised his dream of being appointed Glens manager on 24 May. However, Walker had informed the Glentoran board before his appointment that he did not have the relevant UEFA "A" coaching badge to compete in Europe, the board informed him that this was not an issue and he was therefore Glentoran manager. Less than 48 hours later, it appeared that this was a problem for Glentoran and Walker was informed by then Glentoran Director For Football Tom Dick, that Alan McDonald (at the time Glentoran 1st team Coach) had been appointed caretaker manager. Roy Walker was not fired as Glentoran manager, and the resulting days became a media circus at the club, with some directors resigning. On 29 May, Alan McDonald was appointed Glentoran manager. Roy Walker then issued a statement in the ''Belfast Telegraph'', informing the fans of the entire situation, and revealing that he believed he was still Glentoran manager. He also revealed that he had been offered a place on the Glentoran board, but McDonald refused to be part of the club if Walker assumed that position. No board member issued a statement at that time, leaving many Glentoran fans unsure of the situation. The board later released a statement saying that Walker was considering a place on the Glentoran board.

Ballymena United

After failing for the Uefa badges as Glentoran, Walker was appointed new manager of Ballymena United. Walker has come close to a few cup finals but losing in the quarter-finals and knock out stages. Walker is currently still with the club. On 20 May 2008, Walker was announced as the new manager of Ballymena United, following another convoluted managerial situation. After the resignation of previous manager Tommy Wright, Ballymena had initially announced Wright's assistant Jim Grattan as his successor until the appointment was vetoed by Grattan's full-time employers, the Irish Football Association. Walker didn't win any trophies with the Sky Blues but brought the best out of players who didn't really get opportunities at former clubs, Gary McCutcheon and Gavin Taggart were two of those players who soon became key players at the club. Allan Jenkins, Dwayne Nelson and Wayne Drummond were also players who became key players. In the 2011/12 season, Walker resigned as manager after the Sky Blues lost to his former club Crusaders in the

Irish League Cup The Northern Ireland Football League Cup (known as the BetMcLean Cup for sponsorship purposes, and commonly known as the Irish League Cup) is a national football knock-out cup competition in Northern Ireland open to all member clubs of the ...

semi-final on 13 December 2011.

After Ballymena United

Walker is currently among the possible contenders to be new manager of East Belfast giants

. Walker applied for the job on 1 February 2012. Walker lost to former

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manager Eddie Patterson.

Honours

Crusaders * Irish League (2): 1994/95, 1996/97 * Gold Cup (1): 1995–96 *

Ulster Cup The Ulster Cup was an annual football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football' ...

(1): 1993/94 *

County Antrim Shield The County Antrim & District Football Association Senior Shield (more commonly known as the County Antrim Shield) is a football competition in Northern Ireland. The competition is open to senior teams who are members of the North East Ulster F ...

(1): 1991–92 * Stena Line Trophy (1): 1996/97 Glenavon *

Mid-Ulster Cup The Mid-Ulster Cup is a senior football competition in Northern Ireland run by the Mid-Ulster Football Association (founded 2 April 1887). The competition has historically featured teams based in County Armagh, east County Tyrone, and west Co ...

(1): 1998/99 Individual * Northern Ireland Football Writers Manager of the Year – 1997

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Walker, Roy 1957 births Living people Association footballers from Belfast Men's association footballers from Northern Ireland Men's association football central defenders Ards F.C. players Luton Town F.C. players Crusaders F.C. players Association football managers from Northern Ireland Crusaders F.C. managers Glenavon F.C. managers Glentoran F.C. managers Ballymena United F.C. managers Glenavon F.C. players Portadown F.C. players NIFL Premiership players NIFL Premiership managers Men's association football player-managers