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Andy Walker (footballer, born 1965)

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Andy Walker
Personal information
Full name Andrew Francis Walker[1]
Date of birth (1965-04-06) 6 April 1965 (age 59)
Place of birth Glasgow, Scotland
Height 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)[2]
Position(s) Striker
Youth career
Cathkin United
EK YM
Baillieston[3]
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1984–1987 Motherwell 77 (17)
1987–1991 Celtic 108 (30)
1991 → Newcastle United (loan) 2 (0)
1991–1994 Bolton Wanderers 67 (44)
1994–1996 Celtic 42 (9)
1996–1998 Sheffield United 52 (20)
1998 → Hibernian (loan) 8 (3)
1998 → Raith Rovers (loan) 7 (2)
1998–1999 Ayr United 33 (15)
1999 Carlisle United 3 (0)
1999 Partick Thistle 4 (0)
1999 Kilwinning Rangers[3]
1999 Isernia
2000 Alloa Athletic 8 (3)
International career
1987 Scotland U21 1 (1)
1988–1994 Scotland 3 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Andrew Francis Walker (born 6 April 1965) is a Scottish former professional footballer, who played as a striker for several clubs in Scotland and England, including Motherwell, Celtic, Bolton Wanderers, Sheffield United, and Ayr United. He also made three full international appearances for Scotland. Since retiring as a player, Walker has become a television pundit.

Playing career

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Walker was born in Glasgow. He started his professional career with Motherwell in 1984,[4] helping the club to gain promotion before moving to Celtic in the summer of 1987 for a fee of £350,000.[4] His first season at Celtic Park was hugely successful, as the Bhoys won the double in 1987–88, their centenary season, and Walker himself earned a first Scotland cap against Colombia.[4][5] The following three seasons were less fruitful however and by 1991–92 Walker was out of the first team picture.

After loan spells with Newcastle United and Bolton Wanderers, he joined the Burnden Park side permanently in 1992. At Bolton, Walker returned to his form of 1988, establishing a prolific partnership with John McGinlay[6] as the Lancashire side earned promotion to the First Division in 1992–93. That same season, he famously scored at Anfield to help the Trotters knock holders Liverpool out of the FA Cup.[7] Walker continued in the same vein the following season until sustaining a serious knee injury against Swansea City.

Upon his recovery, Walker was the subject of a surprise bid from Celtic and he returned to Glasgow in 1994. 1994–95 was a mixed season for Walker. On the positive side, he won a Scotland recall and earned his third (and last) cap in October, while his Celtic side won the Scottish Cup in May 1995.[8] In between these events though were the negatives, as the Hoops struggled in the League and suffered a shock defeat by Raith Rovers in the League Cup final.[9] Due to the arrival of Andreas Thom in the summer of 1995, Walker was again deemed surplus to requirements at Parkhead and joined Sheffield United for £500,000 in early 1996. Walker's time in the Steel City was relatively productive; his goals tally a respectable 24.

Nevertheless, Walker was again to quickly fall from favour, and after brief loan spells at Hibernian (where he scored in an Edinburgh Derby), and Raith Rovers in 1998, he ended his career in the lower leagues. This period encompassed short spells with Ayr United (scoring in the Ayrshire derby against former Celtic teammate Gordon Marshall),[10] Carlisle United, Partick Thistle, and Alloa Athletic.

Media career

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Since his playing retirement, Walker has worked as a pundit for STV on their Scotsport highlights programme, which he became the main presenter of, alongside Grant Stott, due to Jim Delahunt's departure. The programme was axed in May 2008, due to increasing competition from BBC Scotland's Sportscene. Walker is also writing a column for the Glasgow-based Sunday Mail newspaper.

In 2007/08, Walker began presenting STV's coverage of the UEFA Champions League, as well the station's UEFA Cup matches, taking over from Jim White.

Walker now regularly features on Sky Sports as a color commentator for Scottish Premiership and Cup games. During the 2015–16 season, Celtic captain Scott Brown criticised Walker, labelling him a "poor man's Gary Neville" in May 2016.[11][12]

In 2021, Walker was prohibited from entering both Ibrox Stadium and Celtic Park after he commented live on-air about Rangers' finances and criticized Celtic's decision to send their squad to Dubai for a winter training camp, which resulted in two players testing positive for coronavirus and others being forced into self-isolation.[13]

Honours

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Individual

References

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  1. ^ "Andy Walker". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 19 February 2017.
  2. ^ "Andy Walker". motherwellnet.com. Retrieved 25 September 2024.
  3. ^ a b Walker, Andy (5 December 1999). "Front line". Sunday Herald. Archived from the original on 28 March 2015. Retrieved 1 December 2017 – via HighBeam Research.
  4. ^ a b c "Made in Motherwell: Andy Walker". Motherwell F.C. 19 April 2017. Retrieved 1 December 2017.
  5. ^ "McAvennie and Miller fully enjoyed their Celtic heyday". BBC Sport. 14 January 2016. Retrieved 1 December 2017.
  6. ^ "Countdown to a Bolton Wanderers legend: John McGinlay's top 50 at 50". The Bolton News. 8 April 2014. Retrieved 1 December 2017.
  7. ^ "The day Bolton Wanderers humbled the mighty Liverpool in FA Cup replay at Anfield". The Daily Telegraph. 23 January 2015. Retrieved 1 December 2017.
  8. ^ "Celtic's compensation". The Independent. 27 May 1995. Archived from the original on 7 May 2022. Retrieved 1 December 2017.
  9. ^ Holme, Chris (28 November 1994). "Celtic's final despair is joy of the Rovers". The Herald. Glasgow. Retrieved 1 December 2017.
  10. ^ "Ayrshire Derby: Ayr United's Andy Walker scored the most famous penalty ever seen at Somerset Park to seal legendary 3-0 Scottish Cup win". Daily Record. 13 July 2017. Retrieved 1 December 2017.
  11. ^ "Brown labels Andy Walker a poor man's Gary Neville and reveals he is finished for the season". The Herald.
  12. ^ "Scott Brown slams Sky pundit Andy Walker for Deila comments". The Herald.
  13. ^ Sky Sports commentator Andy Walker 'banned' by both Celtic and Rangers Craig Fowler, The Scotsman (3 May 2021)
  14. ^ Lynch. The Official P.F.A. Footballers Heroes. p. 149.
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