Clive WALKER

When Clive Walker streaked past Liverpool's Joey Jones and sent a spectacular shot flashing beyond the grasp of Ray Clemence to give Chelsea the lead in an FA Cup third round clash in January 1978, it seemed to confirm that the Blues had finally unearthed a gem to capture the hearts of their long-suffering supporters. Having begun the decade with outstanding triumphs in both domestic and European competitions, by the time the lightning-fast left winger made his debut at Burnley in April 1977, he was playing for a team in Division Two, albeit one on the brink of a return to the top-flight at the second time of asking. The 19-year-old youth-team product had initially caught the eye of almost 17, 000 Chelsea supporters during a match played as a tribute to one of his predecessors on the left wing, the late Peter Houseman, and was soon making his mark in competitive football. Two goals in a 3-1 triumph at Wolves preceded the Cup clash with Liverpool, in which he scored twice and gave the experienced Jones such difficulties that he was never selected again for the Reds. Walker's brace helped Chelsea to a 4-2 victory over the European champions, and he was again on target in the next round, one of six scorers as the Blues ran riot against Burnley.

With his reputation beginning to burgeon, the player who had by now been saddled with the nickname 'Flash' - not in tribute to his astonishing turn of pace, but rather to a bizarre aberration that had seen him briefly upgraded from the back to the front pages of the tabloid press - continued his fine Cup form when he harried Orient's Bill Roffey into conceding an own goal to give Chelsea the lead in a fifth round replay, but, typical of Chelsea at that time, they capitulated in the second half to the lowly East Londoners on a truly depressing night at Stamford Bridge. Walker, however, had reason to be pleased with his efforts as he supplemented his FA Cup goals tally with seven league strikes from 23 appearances. Having finished their first season back in Division One in 16th place, the following campaign was nothing short of an unmitigated disaster. Not surprisingly, in a season where the Blues accrued a miserly 20 points from their 42 games, finishing in bottom place, there were few highlights, but the match against Bolton Wanderers at Stamford Bridge in October 1978 was certainly one. The Blues trailed the Trotters 3-0 when, with twenty minutes remaining, manager Ken Shellito called Walker from the bench and sent him into action. Buoyed by the arrival of their blond talisman, Chelsea embarked on an incredible comeback which saw Walker score an equalising goal with just three minutes remaining, before the substitute's cross from the left in the final minute was converted past his own goalkeeper by Sam Allardyce, to give the Blues an incredible victory. A magnificent strike followed against Norwich City a fortnight later, but just 23 starts and four goals for the young winger throughout the campaign, gave an indication of the inconsistency that would plague his game for the remainder of his time at the Bridge. Injured as the Blues began the 1979/80 season back in Division Two, the erratic Walker was unable to secure a regular place in the starting line-up until early winter. Manager Shellito had been replaced midway through the previous season by Danny Blanchflower, and the Irishman - working as a journalist when he got the call from Stamford Bridge - relinquished his position just five games into the 79/80 campaign.

The latest incumbent in the ever-revolving manager's hot-seat, Geoff Hurst, almost immediately converted Walker from the flanks into a marauding striker, and the youngster responded by scoring two of Chelsea's seven in a ten-goal thriller at Orient, and another brace as the Blues won by the odd goal in five at Notts County in November. In January, he almost single-handedly destroyed top-of-the-table Newcastle, capping a memorable individual performance with a magnificent solo effort as the Geordies lost top spot to Hurst's men courtesy of a 4-0 mauling, but just 48 hours later, Football League newcomers Wigan Athletic sent Chelsea crashing out of the FA Cup on a freezing night in West London. Walker, rampant against the Magpies, had a dreadful night which included missing a sitter from two yards. The inconsistency of his performances for the Blues was never better illustrated than within that 48-hour period. Chelsea eventually missed out on promotion by the narrowest of margins that year - on goal difference - although 13 goals from 36 appearances was a respectable return for Clive, and he would take that form into the following campaign. (Kelvin Barker)

 Playing in attack alongside target man Colin Lee, Clive raced into double figures by November, as Hurst's young side soared into the promotion picture on the back of a run of ten wins and one draw from twelve games at the start of the 1980/81 season. When they travelled to Notts County in November, they sat just one point behind leaders West Ham, but after drawing 1-1 at Meadow Lane, they then embarked on a bizarre six-month period in which they scored in just three of their remaining 22 league matches - Clive finding the net just once in that time. Incredibly, John Bumstead's goal in the aforementioned clash with Notts County in November was the last one Chelsea would score away from home that season! Hurst was removed from office just prior to the end of that term, to be replaced by the experienced John Neal in time for the 1981/82 season. Neal redeployed Walker back onto the wings, and ironically he enjoyed his most prolific season in front of goal. Seventeen strikes in all competitions including a fine header as Kevin Keegan's Southampton were eliminated from the League Cup, a brace in a 4-3 win at Charlton, and a magnificent hat-trick to earn a 3-3 draw at Grimsby. There was a sense of déjà vu when Liverpool - again arriving as European champions - visited Stamford Bridge for an FA Cup clash in February (see photo above, Clive getting the better of a tussle with Reds defender Mark Lawrenson) and were dispatched once more, Walker setting up the second goal in a 2-0 win, but it was again a season punctuated by disappointments and embarrassments: despite beating top sides such as Liverpool and Southampton, the Blues somehow contrived to lose 6-0 and 4-1 in their league clashes with Rotherham, and were again humbled by Wigan Athletic, this time in the League Cup.

Clive Walker and Chelsea Football Club had clearly fallen out of love by the time the 1982/83 season began, and the winger was amongst a cluster of players who became disillusioned. Looking dispirited and regularly disinterested, Clive failed to find the net until late December, when his equalising goal at Loftus Road helped the Blues to a shock victory over table-topping QPR. That win, however, did little to mask the festering ill-feeling behind the scenes at Chelsea, as Neal brought in his own men in an attempt to inject some professionalism into some of his less committed players. Paul Canoville joined Walker on the flanks, and when the two men shared three goals as Carlisle were beaten 4-2 in March, it seemed that the Blues' season would peter out into another mid-table finish. Not so. Failure to secure a win in any of their next nine matches saw Chelsea fall into the Division Two relegation zone with just two games remaining. Relegation was unthinkable - it is a widely-held belief that, with the club's financial position perilous, relegation would have heralded the end for a club that little more than a decade earlier had been crowned 'Cup Kings of Europe'. Chelsea travelled to Bolton for a match that was a six-pointer in the truest sense of the phrase, both teams needing a win to effectively send the other down, with a draw of little use to either side. Chelsea needed a hero like never before, and he appeared in the shape of Clive Walker, whose spectacular long-range volley with just fifteen minutes remaining was surely the most important goal in Chelsea's history. However, Chelsea weren't in that position by chance, and Clive was one of a number of players who had disappointed with both his performances and his attitude throughout that miserable campaign.

As John Neal revamped his squad to great effect in the summer of 1983, and moved a number of his under-achievers out of the club, Clive's goal at Bolton earned him a stay of execution. To his credit, he responded well, and followed up an opening day goal in a 5-0 rout of Derby County, with sizeable contributions in wins at Gillingham - in the League Cup - and at Brighton. A week after victory on the South Coast, Walker scored a memorable winner against Cambridge United at the Bridge, and another seven days later scored with a brave header at Sheffield Wednesday, getting knocked out by Wednesday's keeper in the process. That would prove to be his last goal for the club. The following weekend - and, ironically, in the middle of his most consistent spell of form in years - Clive had his jaw broken in a collision with a Middlesbrough defender. John Neal had a youngster called Pat Nevin waiting in the wings, and once the little Scottish magician was in place, there was no way back for Clive. He left for Sunderland in the summer of 1984, joining the Roker Park club for £70, 000, and causing a riot when he scored the goals at Stamford Bridge that took his new club to the 1985 League Cup Final at the expense of his former employers. Clive Walker being Clive Walker, he then missed a penalty in the Final as Sunderland lost to Norwich! (Kelvin Barker)