Des Walker was born in London in 1965. A product of the Nottingham Forest youth system, he made his debut under the management of the one and only Brian Clough, in a season when Forest finished Third in the old First Division.
Walker’s time at Forest was a successful period, and he won two League Cup trophies during his time at the club. His performances in his time in Nottingham were enough to earn him his reputation as a hard-tackling centre half who took no prisoners, and he was called up to the England squad, representing them at Italia 90 and Euro 92 in Sweden.
It was indeed a Swede, Sven-Goran Eriksson, who took Des to his Sampdoria side, where he incurred an injury and lasted just one season before making his return to English football with Sheffield Wednesday.
His time at Wednesday saw him win over 300 caps, and although they started positively by finishing 7th in the Premier League, they were eventually relegated, and when they almost got relegated a second successive time, Walker was among those to leave the club.
Des then spent time training with Burton Albion and played a couple of games in America, turning out for New York Metro Stars. But when he eventually settled again it was an incredible return to Nottingham Forest for a second spell.
Forest were struggling at the time, and Walker proved a steadying influence in central defence. He made a further 60 appearances for the club before retiring aged 38.
In his career, he was famed for his incredible timing of a tackle, and inspired the famous terrace chant “you’ll never beat Des Walker”. He holds an incredible feat of having scored just one goal in over 700 appearances for club and country.
Des, The North Stand salutes you!
