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'You'll never beat Des Walker' was the chant from the terraces and it was true. For maybe five seasons he was the finest English central defender since Bobby Moore.
Blessed with electrifying pace, he could start five yards behind a striker, put on the after-burners, accelerate past him and rob him of the ball.
Des in full flight hunting down a striker was a thing of beauty because not only could he out-pace them, he could tackle hard, fairly and precisely as well. Not for him the pointless Razor Ruddock or Vinnie Jones style brutality, he didn't need to do that, though he was hard enough to if he wanted, no, he was the ultimate sophisticated defender for whom the art of defence was all about positioning, organisation and keeping a cool head; a cool head that was topped with a classic 3 Feet High And Rising, De La Soul style hair cut.
He was never really high profile, in fact he shunned press to the extent that 'You'll Never Beat Des Walker' was adapted to 'You'll Never Meet Des Walker.'
He never sought the limelight off the pitch, even though Roy Keane called him 'a world class playboy'. There's no doubt the fella liked a drink and if his MySpace page is anything to go by he's got an excellent sense of humour, claiming to be writing a 20 volume biography of Garibaldi!
At his peak Des Walker was simply magnificent; the best of the best. He only retired a few seasons ago and yet now seems almost forgotten. He deserves to be remembered him again and hailed as England's best centre half of the modern era.
A Hackney lad, it all started at Forest for Des in 1982 having been rejected by his boyhood club Spurs. Initially Brian Clough deployed him as a full back. It was understandable as he wasn't the big meat and potatoes type centre half so common at the time, he was fast and athletic. But he struggled to keep a place in the side as a full back especially in competition with England man Viv Anderson.
So it wasn't until Chris Fairclough was injured in 1985-86 season that he got his chance at centre half. But when he did, he took it with both hands and immediately made it his own. He quickly became a fixture.
That Forest side was great to watch, with restless and dynamic Walker sweeping it all up at the back and allowing the likes of Neil Webb and the young Nigel Clough to be creative going forward. His pace and powers of recovery also allowed left-back Stuart Pearce to bomb on. Easily the fastest defender in professional football for at least five years, he was like a gazelle on amphetamines, effortlessly gliding across the turf.
However, Forest, though good to watch, only finished 8th for the following two seasons. By the late 80s it was an even better side. Clough was especially fantastic knocking in 22 goals in the 1988-89 season, a season marred by the FA Cup semi-final against Liverpool which ended in such tragedy at Hillsborough. They won the Simod Cup that year though, and with the addition of Lee Chapman they achieved a consecutive 3rd place finish and won the League Cup, a trophy they defended successfully the following year.
Forest were always high profile thanks to Cloughie being at the helm and Walker's exemplary form did not go unnoticed by England manager Bobby Robson. After the hideous 1988 Euros during which our defence was slow and lumbering, he was brought into the side and quickly became a fixture playing alongside blood and guts type defenders such as Tony Adams, Mark Wright and Terry Butcher and it was with the latter two that he enjoyed such success in a back three at the 1990 World Cup.
With Walker's pace and tackling ability, no cause was ever lost. He was probably our player of that tournament but was over-shadowed by the Gazza hysteria. If you get chance to watch the 0-0 draw with Holland again, you'll see Des keep Marco Van Basten - possibly the best striker on earth at the time - totally subdued. Des dominated him and didn't give him an inch of room to move. It was an absolute master class.
Because English clubs were banned from Europe he hadn't had a chance to perform outside of these shores. When the ban was lifted, he missed out again as Forest reached the 1991 FA Cup final, a final they lost thanks to a Des Walker own goal. He didn't score them often but when he did he saved them for big occasions! Years later he would score an OG that led to Forest's defeat in a Championship play-off semi-final with Sheffield United.
He was good enough to be an Italian defender and so it was not a big surprise when Sampdoria paid £1.5 million for him in 1992, even though it appeared a relatively small amount of money for a man of his class.
However, it was a frustrating season for him because manager Sven Goran Eriksson played him as a left back, like Clough back in 1982, thinking his pace would useful in a wide position. He enjoyed his season there - mainly because he loved Italian food and wine - but it didn't suit him on the pitch and his form was affected.
Consequently, after just one season he came back to England, signing for Sheffield Wednesday. Proof of how highly valued he was came with the £2.7 million fee.
He quickly became a favourite with the South Yorkshire fans. He was still an England regular but had started to suffer niggling and recurring injuries which kept him out and eventually reduced his pace. He lost none of his positional sense though and none of his tackling qualities. And frankly, a slightly less fast Des Walker was still a match for most players.
Internationally, he had been our best defender under Graham Taylor but his loss of central defensive role in Italy and the fact that he was repeatedly asked to tidy up the messes left by inferior players around him in a declining Wednesday side meant his performances were not as consistent as they had been. His last England game was the 7-1 beating of San Marino.
He played more games for Wednesday than he had for Forest, turning out 309 times in nine years but rejoined Forest in 2002 for a couple of seasons. He partnered the young and then highly thought of Michael Dawson and came close to getting promotion.
After his all-star testimonial game in 2005 he infamously ended up spending a night in jail after a riotous dinner and party. In a generous gesture, most of the money raised went to the Danielle Beccan Memorial Trust, an anti-gun crime campaign.
Des wasn't the typical big lunk English centre half; he wasn't a spit and snot type defender. He wasn't even that big really at 5 ft 11, but it just didn't matter. He had the biggest leap you've ever seen, and could stop the biggest and hardest players with his speed and accurate tackling.
If he was 21 today he'd be the best in the Premier League. Even in the 1980s he was a 21st Century defender. He was ahead of his time. Today he would be a £30 million man, and would still walk into the England side. Rio, Terry and the rest have their qualities and their fans but frankly, they're no Des Walker.
The fans were right. For a few glorious seasons, you really couldn't beat him.
http://football365.com/john_nicholson/0,17033,8746_4649278,00.html
Excellent player. Though probably not as good as John Nicholson makes out. Like he said though completely different to most of our defenders at the time - Adams, Butcher, Wright, Pallister etc.
Blessed with electrifying pace, he could start five yards behind a striker, put on the after-burners, accelerate past him and rob him of the ball.
Des in full flight hunting down a striker was a thing of beauty because not only could he out-pace them, he could tackle hard, fairly and precisely as well. Not for him the pointless Razor Ruddock or Vinnie Jones style brutality, he didn't need to do that, though he was hard enough to if he wanted, no, he was the ultimate sophisticated defender for whom the art of defence was all about positioning, organisation and keeping a cool head; a cool head that was topped with a classic 3 Feet High And Rising, De La Soul style hair cut.
He was never really high profile, in fact he shunned press to the extent that 'You'll Never Beat Des Walker' was adapted to 'You'll Never Meet Des Walker.'
He never sought the limelight off the pitch, even though Roy Keane called him 'a world class playboy'. There's no doubt the fella liked a drink and if his MySpace page is anything to go by he's got an excellent sense of humour, claiming to be writing a 20 volume biography of Garibaldi!
At his peak Des Walker was simply magnificent; the best of the best. He only retired a few seasons ago and yet now seems almost forgotten. He deserves to be remembered him again and hailed as England's best centre half of the modern era.
A Hackney lad, it all started at Forest for Des in 1982 having been rejected by his boyhood club Spurs. Initially Brian Clough deployed him as a full back. It was understandable as he wasn't the big meat and potatoes type centre half so common at the time, he was fast and athletic. But he struggled to keep a place in the side as a full back especially in competition with England man Viv Anderson.
So it wasn't until Chris Fairclough was injured in 1985-86 season that he got his chance at centre half. But when he did, he took it with both hands and immediately made it his own. He quickly became a fixture.
That Forest side was great to watch, with restless and dynamic Walker sweeping it all up at the back and allowing the likes of Neil Webb and the young Nigel Clough to be creative going forward. His pace and powers of recovery also allowed left-back Stuart Pearce to bomb on. Easily the fastest defender in professional football for at least five years, he was like a gazelle on amphetamines, effortlessly gliding across the turf.
However, Forest, though good to watch, only finished 8th for the following two seasons. By the late 80s it was an even better side. Clough was especially fantastic knocking in 22 goals in the 1988-89 season, a season marred by the FA Cup semi-final against Liverpool which ended in such tragedy at Hillsborough. They won the Simod Cup that year though, and with the addition of Lee Chapman they achieved a consecutive 3rd place finish and won the League Cup, a trophy they defended successfully the following year.
Forest were always high profile thanks to Cloughie being at the helm and Walker's exemplary form did not go unnoticed by England manager Bobby Robson. After the hideous 1988 Euros during which our defence was slow and lumbering, he was brought into the side and quickly became a fixture playing alongside blood and guts type defenders such as Tony Adams, Mark Wright and Terry Butcher and it was with the latter two that he enjoyed such success in a back three at the 1990 World Cup.
With Walker's pace and tackling ability, no cause was ever lost. He was probably our player of that tournament but was over-shadowed by the Gazza hysteria. If you get chance to watch the 0-0 draw with Holland again, you'll see Des keep Marco Van Basten - possibly the best striker on earth at the time - totally subdued. Des dominated him and didn't give him an inch of room to move. It was an absolute master class.
Because English clubs were banned from Europe he hadn't had a chance to perform outside of these shores. When the ban was lifted, he missed out again as Forest reached the 1991 FA Cup final, a final they lost thanks to a Des Walker own goal. He didn't score them often but when he did he saved them for big occasions! Years later he would score an OG that led to Forest's defeat in a Championship play-off semi-final with Sheffield United.
He was good enough to be an Italian defender and so it was not a big surprise when Sampdoria paid £1.5 million for him in 1992, even though it appeared a relatively small amount of money for a man of his class.
However, it was a frustrating season for him because manager Sven Goran Eriksson played him as a left back, like Clough back in 1982, thinking his pace would useful in a wide position. He enjoyed his season there - mainly because he loved Italian food and wine - but it didn't suit him on the pitch and his form was affected.
Consequently, after just one season he came back to England, signing for Sheffield Wednesday. Proof of how highly valued he was came with the £2.7 million fee.
He quickly became a favourite with the South Yorkshire fans. He was still an England regular but had started to suffer niggling and recurring injuries which kept him out and eventually reduced his pace. He lost none of his positional sense though and none of his tackling qualities. And frankly, a slightly less fast Des Walker was still a match for most players.
Internationally, he had been our best defender under Graham Taylor but his loss of central defensive role in Italy and the fact that he was repeatedly asked to tidy up the messes left by inferior players around him in a declining Wednesday side meant his performances were not as consistent as they had been. His last England game was the 7-1 beating of San Marino.
He played more games for Wednesday than he had for Forest, turning out 309 times in nine years but rejoined Forest in 2002 for a couple of seasons. He partnered the young and then highly thought of Michael Dawson and came close to getting promotion.
After his all-star testimonial game in 2005 he infamously ended up spending a night in jail after a riotous dinner and party. In a generous gesture, most of the money raised went to the Danielle Beccan Memorial Trust, an anti-gun crime campaign.
Des wasn't the typical big lunk English centre half; he wasn't a spit and snot type defender. He wasn't even that big really at 5 ft 11, but it just didn't matter. He had the biggest leap you've ever seen, and could stop the biggest and hardest players with his speed and accurate tackling.
If he was 21 today he'd be the best in the Premier League. Even in the 1980s he was a 21st Century defender. He was ahead of his time. Today he would be a £30 million man, and would still walk into the England side. Rio, Terry and the rest have their qualities and their fans but frankly, they're no Des Walker.
The fans were right. For a few glorious seasons, you really couldn't beat him.
http://football365.com/john_nicholson/0,17033,8746_4649278,00.html
Excellent player. Though probably not as good as John Nicholson makes out. Like he said though completely different to most of our defenders at the time - Adams, Butcher, Wright, Pallister etc.
