Steve Walford

Stephen Joseph Walford (born 5 January 1958) is an English former footballer and manager. Walford played as a defender for clubs such as Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal, Norwich City, West Ham United and West Bromwich Albion altogether.[1]

Steve Walford
Personal information
Full name Stephen Joseph Walford
Date of birth (1958-01-05) 5 January 1958
Place of birth Highgate, England
Position(s) Defender
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1975–1977 Tottenham Hotspur 2 (0)
1977–1981 Arsenal 77 (3)
1981–1983 Norwich City 93 (2)
1983–1989 West Ham United 115 (2)
1987 → Huddersfield Town (loan) 12 (0)
1988 → Gillingham (loan) 4 (0)
1989 → West Bromwich Albion (loan) 4 (0)
1989 Lai Sun ? (?)
– Wycombe Wanderers ? (?)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

After his playing career, Walford has worked as a coach, often assisting Martin O'Neill.

Early life

Walford was born in Highgate, London.

Playing career

Walford began playing as a centre half. He started his footballing career at Tottenham Hotspur in 1974. At Spurs he made only two appearances before being signed in 1977 by Arsenal to play under former Spurs manager Terry Neill in a deal worth £25,000. Walford went on to play as a substitute in Arsenal's victorious 1979 FA Cup Final side. All in all he made 98 appearances and scored four goals for the Gunners altogether. In 1981, he moved to Norwich City for £175,000. Whilst with Norwich he helped the club avoid relegation and thereafter saw them being promoted to the First Division.[1]

After 108 appearances for Norwich, Walford moved on to West Ham United in 1983 for a fee of £160,000; he played 115 times for the Hammers over the next four years. Towards the end of his West Ham career, he had loan spells at Huddersfield Town, Gillingham and West Bromwich Albion. He moved abroad to play for Lai Sun of Hong Kong in 1989 before returning to England to play for Wycombe Wanderers under Martin O'Neill the following year.

Coaching career

After a brief spell at Wealdstone, Walford returned to Wycombe to become O'Neill's assistant, who he previously worked alongside at Norwich City, Leicester City, Celtic, Aston Villa and Sunderland.[2] On 5 November 2013 O'Neill became manager of the Republic of Ireland national football team and so Walford joined up with his coaching staff. Walford left the Ireland coaching staff in late 2018 for personal reasons.[3]

On 18 September 2015, he returned to club football after being appointed as the Assistant Manager to Neil Lennon at Bolton Wanderers, replacing Johan Mjallby who left for personal reasons.[4] He lasted just seven months in his role at Bolton and on 14 April 2016 left the club along with Garry Parker following the club's relegation from the Championship.[5]

Honours

Player
Arsenal[1]

Coach
Leicester
Celtic


Republic of Ireland

UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying Play-offs [96]

Further reading
  • Canary Citizens by Mark Davage, John Eastwood, Kevin Platt, published by Jarrold Publishing, (2001), ISBN 0-7117-2020-7

References
  1. "Steve Walford: Profile". Arsenal.com. Archived from the original on 6 March 2009. Retrieved 15 January 2017.
  2. "O'Neill appoints Walford as first team coach". Sunderland AFC. 6 December 2011. Archived from the original on 7 December 2011. Retrieved 6 December 2011.
  3. https://www.irishmirror.ie/sport/soccer/soccer-news/steve-walford-quits-ireland-coaching-13619482
  4. "Steve Walford appointed Bolton Wanderers assistant manager". Bolton Wanderers FC. 18 September 2015. Retrieved 18 September 2015.
  5. "Steve Walford and Garry Parker depart". Bolton Wanderers FC. 14 April 2016.
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