Thomas James Walker (born 12 December 1995) is an English professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who plays as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

for Radcliffe. Walker started his career at

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club ( ) is a professional association football, football club based in Horwich, Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in EFL League One, League One, the third level of the Englis ...

, and made his first team debut in January 2015. He joined Bury on loan in August 2016, and was released from Bolton at the end of the 2016–17 season. He has since played for Stockport County and

F.C. United of Manchester Football Club United of Manchester, more commonly known as FC United, is a semi-professional association football, football club based in Moston, Manchester, Moston, Manchester, England, that competes in the , the seventh tier of the English ...

Career

Walker joined the

academy An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

at the age of nine, and made his

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, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

debut ten years later when manager

Neil Lennon Neil Francis Lennon (born 25 June 1971) is a Northern Irish professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. He currently manages Scottish Championship club Dunfermline Athletic. During his playing career he represe ...

sent him on as a late substitute for

Eiður Guðjohnsen Eiður Smári Guðjohnsen (transliterated as Eidur Smari Gudjohnsen; born 15 September 1978) is an Icelandic professional football coach and former player who played as a forward. Eiður saw his greatest success in England and Spain with Chels ...

in a 1–1 draw with

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league system. Leeds United have won the League Championship th ...

at the

Macron Stadium The Toughsheet Community Stadium is a Association football, football stadium in Horwich near Bolton, Greater Manchester, England. It is the home ground of Bolton Wanderers F.C., Bolton Wanderers Football Club, with an all-seated capacity of 28, ...

on 10 January 2015. He scored his first senior goal for the "Trotters" in a 1–1 draw with local rivals

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, they have p ...

on 21 March. He ended the 2014–15 season with one goal in 11

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

matches, and signed his first professional contract in May 2015. He featured a further eight times across the 2015–16 relegation campaign. On 31 August 2016, Walker joined

EFL League One The English Football League One, known as Sky Bet League One for sponsorship reasons, or simply League One, is a professional association football league in England. EFL League One is the second-highest division of the English Football League an ...

rivals Bury on a season-long loan. Manager David Flitcroft revealed how Walker had been on his way to join Leyton Orient on loan when the pair spoke over the phone, Walker was convinced to instead join Bury and he left his car in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

and took a train to

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

to sign with Bury. He scored his first goal for the "Shakers" in a 2–1 defeat at Bradford City in an

EFL Trophy The English Football League Trophy, officially known as the Vertu Motors, Vertu Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is an annual English association football, football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL League Two and ...

match on 4 October. He did not feature for four months before he was introduced as a half-time substitute in a 2–1 defeat at Oxford United on 28 March; after the game manager Lee Clark said "Tom has got lots of ability. He just needs to learn the other side of the game". He made 15 appearances at Gigg Lane across the 2016–17 campaign, but made just one league start. He was released by Bolton manager Phil Parkinson in May 2017. Walker had undergone a trial at Port Vale in July 2017 but subsequently was not offered a deal by manager Michael Brown. On 25 August 2017, he moved to Stockport County on a short-term deal following a successful trial spell with The Hatters. He left Stockport on 6 October 2017 after his short-term deal had ended to sign for FC United of Manchester. On 4 January 2018 Salford City confirmed that they had agreed a deal to sign Walker. In October 2019 he joined Stockport County on loan until January 2020. He returned to Salford in January 2020 on the expiry of his loan period. The following day he joined AFC Fylde on a permanent, two-and-a-half-year contract. He joined newly promoted League Two side Harrogate Town in August 2020 after they triggered a release clause in his contract. On 30 November 2020, Walker joined

National League National League often refers to: *National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada *National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...

side Notts County on loan until 3 January 2021, with manager Neal Ardley revealing he had already tried to sign him on two occasions but missing out. On 12 February 2021, he rejoined Stockport on another loan deal. On 17 July 2021, Walker returned to National League side Stockport, this time on a permanent deal, signing a one-year deal with the club. In October 2021, Walker joined

side

Altrincham Altrincham ( , locally ) is a market town in Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, south of the River Mersey. It is southwest of Manchester, southwest of Sale, Greater Manchester, Sale and east of Warrington. At the 2021 United Kingdom ce ...

on a one-month loan deal. In January 2022, Walker returned to AFC Fylde on loan until the end of the season. On 30 June 2022, Walker agreed to return to AFC Fylde on a permanent basis. In September 2023, he joined

Buxton Buxton is a spa town in the High Peak, Derbyshire, Borough of High Peak, Derbyshire, in the East Midlands region of England. It is England's highest market town, sited at some above sea level.Alston, Cumbria also claims this, but lacks a regu ...

on an initial four-month loan deal. He departed Fylde at the end of the 2023–24 season. On 16 May 2024, Walker joined newly promoted National League North club Radcliffe on a one-year deal with the option for a further year.

Career statistics

Honours

Salford City *

play-offs:

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Walker, Tom Living people 1995 births Footballers from Salford English men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Bolton Wanderers F.C. players Bury F.C. players Stockport County F.C. players F.C. United of Manchester players Salford City F.C. players AFC Fylde players Harrogate Town A.F.C. players Notts County F.C. players Altrincham F.C. players Buxton F.C. players Radcliffe F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players 21st-century English sportsmen