“You’ll never beat Des Walker”, England’s first Black centre-half

 “You’ll never beat Des Walker.”

So goes the chant that often rang around the City Ground. In his prime, Des Walker quietly became one of the great English centre-halves of his era.

Though born in London, Walker made his breakthrough 150 miles north in Nottingham. Released by Tottenham Hotspur’s academy, Des was picked up by Nottingham Forest at the age of 16: within two years, Brian Clough had handed him his first-team debut.

Though his footballing ability was arguably limited compared to the modern-day centre-half, Des possessed key qualities that made for a top-class defender in the late eighties and early nineties: namely, pace, timing and tackling technique. Few could get beyond Des in a foot race, and his ability to execute a sliding challenge with precision was second to none.

At Forest, he soon grew into his role alongside Paul Hart, Terry Wilson and, later, fellow club legend Steve Chettle. By the age of 26, he’d won two League Cups, two Full Members’ Cups, and been named in the PFA’s Team of the Year four seasons in a row.

Unsurprisingly, his performances also made him a staple within the England setup. He missed out on Euro 88 but was an integral part of Bobby Robson’s back three at Italia ’90, lining up alongside Terry Butcher with Mark Wright in the sweeper role.

Des played every minute of the tournament as England finished fourth, establishing himself on the world stage. He was one of the few Three Lions players to come out of Euro 92 with any great credit, earning himself a big-money move to the continent.

At Sampdoria, Des was deployed out of position at left-back by future England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson, and was expected to be part of I Blucerchiati’s passing game – not one of Des’ strong suits. Though he played almost every game that campaign, Walker returned to England with Sheffield Wednesday after just one year.

During this season, Walker’s legacy would become entwined with one incident in a World Cup ’94 qualification fixture. In a rare turn of events, the defender was outpaced by an attacker, in this case Netherlands winger Marc Overmars. Walker hauled him to the floor, conceding a late penalty that Peter Van Vossen duly converted. The Dutch left Wembley with a draw, which ultimately proved crucial six months later.

Thereafter, Walker’s confidence and assuredness deserted him on the international stage. Though he remained Graham Taylor’s first choice for the rest of the doomed qualification campaign, and was called up by Taylor’s successor Terry Venables, he never added to his 59 caps.

Des was just 27 years old at this point, and continued to perform at a high and consistent level in the Premier League. Very rarely injured, he only missed ten league games in seven top-flight campaigns, and remained with the Owls for a year when they were relegated to the First Division. He saw out his career back at Forest, spending three more seasons at the City Ground.

Domestically, Des made juts over 800 professional appearances across two decades, scoring just the one goal: a late equaliser against Luton Town in 1992. Ironically, he did score another, more significant goal, albeit in his own net.

Forest were deadlocked against Spurs in the 1991 FA Cup Final when, at the start of extra time, Walker beat Spurs counterpart Gary Mabbutt to the ball, only to inadvertently steer a header into the top corner.

As unassuming off the pitch as he was on it, the centre-half is rarely seen in the media and is a largely unheralded member of that Italia ’90 squad, with more attention lavished on headline-grabbers like Gazza, Platt and Lineker.

His performances were described by one journalist as reminiscent of Bobby Moore; another claimed he was the most gifted English defender of his generation. Lineker himself said that while Des “wasn’t the greatest footballer in the world”, he was still one of the best defenders he’d played alongside.

Since Des took up his post in the heart of defence, England has been blessed with future generations of Black centre-halves – Sol Campbell, Rio Ferdinand and Ledley King, to name but a few – but this unassuming Forest legend was the first.

It is worth remembering that, around the late eighties and early nineties, attackers could seldom beat Des Walker.