John Thomas Walley (born 27 February 1945) is a Welsh former

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 played as a

wing half In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

Playing career

Walley was born in

Caernarfon Caernarfon (; ) is a List of place names with royal patronage in the United Kingdom, royal town, Community (Wales), community and port in Gwynedd, Wales. It has a population of 9,852 (with Caeathro). It lies along the A487 road, on the easter ...

and educated at Ysgol Segontium, named after the town's Roman fort. At the age of 14, he underwent a neck operation which prevented him playing football for almost three years. In March 1963, he joined Caernarfon Town playing in the Welsh League (North); after only a handful of games, he briefly joined

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in the North East Wales, north-east of Wales. It lies between the Cambrian Mountains, Welsh mountains and the lower River Dee, Wales, Dee Valley, near the England–Wales border, borde ...

in the spring of 1964, but returned to Caernarfon in August, before (on the recommendation of his elder brother

Ernie Ernie is a masculine given name, frequently a short form (hypocorism) of Ernest, Ernald, Ernesto, or Verner. It may refer to: People * Ernie Accorsi (born 1941), American football executive * Ernie Adams (disambiguation) * Ernie Afaganis ...

, who was a former Spurs player) joining English side

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

in December 1964 for a fee of £1,000. He played for Arsenal 18 times—4 of those appearances as a substitute—and scored once, as well as playing for the Wales under-23 national team, before transferring to

Watford Watford () is a town and non-metropolitan district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of Central London, on the banks of the River Colne, Hertfordshire, River Colne. Initially a smal ...

in March 1967 for £9,500. During the first of two periods Walley would spend at

Vicarage Road Vicarage Road is a stadium in Watford, England, and is the home stadium of EFL Championship, Championship club Watford F.C., Watford. An all-seater stadium, its current capacity is 22,200. History It has been the home of Watford since 1922, w ...

as a player, he earned his sole

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. The origin of the word "cap" comes from the Old French word "chapeau" which means "head co ...

for the

Wales national football team The Wales national football team () represents Wales in international Association football, football. It is controlled by the Football Association of Wales (FAW), the governing body for football in Wales. They have been a member of FIFA since ...

; a 3–1 defeat to

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

Vetch Field The Vetch Field was a football stadium in Swansea, Wales, and was the home ground of Swansea City A.F.C. from the club’s founding until 2005. Following its closure, the club relocated to a newly constructed stadium, originally named the Libert ...

, Swansea on 21 April 1971. After making over 200

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 ...

appearances for Watford, he was sold to

Orient The Orient is a term referring to the East in relation to Europe, traditionally comprising anything belonging to the Eastern world. It is the antonym of the term ''Occident'', which refers to the Western world. In English, it is largely a meto ...

at the end of 1971 for £22,500. After 157 league games and 6 goals, Orient sold Walley back to Watford for £3,000 at the end of 1975–76. His second period at the club was dogged by injury, and Walley managed only 13 further league games before retiring in 1977.

Coaching career

Upon his retirement from playing, Walley became the youth coach at Watford in August 1977. In his early years, players such as Kenny Jackett and Nigel Callaghan progressed to the first team. Under his management, Watford won the

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. It ...

in 1982. Players in that side included future

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

international

John Barnes John Charles Bryan Barnes (born 7 November 1963) is a former professional football player and manager. Often considered one of the greatest England players of all time and one of Liverpool's greatest ever players, Barnes currently works as an ...

, future Watford captain, Player of the Season and one-club man Nigel Gibbs, and 1984 FA Cup Finalist Neil Price.Jones p. 287 They again reached the final in 1985. Walley was promoted to first-team coach in 1988 by manager Steve Harrison. When Harrison moved to

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Poplar, north of Greenwich and Deptford, east of ...

in 1990, Walley joined him as a youth coach, and in his first full season Walley lifted the FA Youth Cup for the second time in 1991. Just as he did at Watford, he followed this with a second final three years later. Walley left Millwall to join Arsenal in 1996, serving under Bruce Rioch and

Arsène Wenger Arsène Charles Ernest Wenger (born 22 October 1949) is a French former association football, football Manager (association football), manager and football player, player who is currently serving as FIFA's Chief of Global Football Development. ...

. In 1996, he was appointed manager of the Wales under-21 team by

Bobby Gould Robert Alfred Gould (born 12 June 1946) is an English former footballer and manager. Early life Robert Alfred Gould was born in Wyken, Coventry, Warwickshire on Wednesday, 12 June 1946. He is the son of Henry Gould and Helen McKellar Gould ...

Personal life

Walley, whose first language is Welsh, was born in the town of

, in

Gwynedd Gwynedd () is a county in the north-west of Wales. It borders Anglesey across the Menai Strait to the north, Conwy, Denbighshire, and Powys to the east, Ceredigion over the Dyfi estuary to the south, and the Irish Sea to the west. The ci ...

, north west Wales. His older brother

was also a professional footballer and coach. Ernie briefly managed Crystal Palace in 1980, and coached Watford's reserves while Walley was a first team coach at the club. He now lives in the Nascot area of

, Hertfordshire.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Walley, Tom Welsh men's footballers Wrexham A.F.C. players Caernarfon Town F.C. players Arsenal F.C. players Leyton Orient F.C. players Watford F.C. players Watford F.C. non-playing staff Arsenal F.C. non-playing staff Wales men's international footballers Wales men's under-23 international footballers Wales national football team non-playing staff English Football League players Sportspeople from Caernarfon Footballers from Gwynedd 1945 births Living people Men's association football wing halves