|
A descendant of the famous Walker's shortbread family, Nicky Walker
joined Rangers from Motherwell in December 1983. He was one of Jock
Wallace's first signings following the manager's return to the Ibrox
helm for a second spell in charge. Wallace had been Nicky's manager at
each of his previous two clubs, Motherwell and Leicester City.Walker
began his career with Elgin City before earning a shot at the big time
when he signed for Leicester City at the age of seventeen. Homesickness
meant that he failed to make the grade at Filbert Street, and he
returned north in 1981 to sign for Motherwell.
When he arrived at
Ibrox, Walker had to compete with experienced custodians Peter McCloy
and Jim Stewart for the number one jersey, and initially he found
first-team opportunities limited. He made his debut in a 2-0 win against
Hibernian in a Premier Division match at Easter Road on 27 December
1983, but it was one of just eleven appearances that he made in the
1983/84 season, as Rangers once again trailed in the wake of Celtic,
Aberdeen and Dundee United, finishing fourth in the league. They did,
however, win the Scottish League Cup, but Nicky did not play in the
Final.
With Jim Stewart transferred to St Mirren in the close
season, Walker vied for the gloves with McCloy in 1984/85, making a
total of twenty appearances and keeping ten clean sheets, but Rangers
once again endured a doleful campaign. They finished fourth in the
league for a second successive season, although they did adorn the Ibrox
sideboard with some silverware in the shape of the League Cup. Walker
missed out on a winners' medal again, though, as McCloy was the man
between the sticks when Dundee United were defeated by one goal to nil
in the final at Hampden.
Nicky eventually made the goalkeeping
position his own in the 1985/86 season, playing in all but two of
Rangers' thirty-six league fixtures. Alas, 85/86 proved to be one of the
worst campaigns in the club's history. Jock Wallace's side won just
thirteen matches in the Premier Division and failed to average at least a
point per game for the first time in their history. Walker kept just
ten clean sheets, as Rangers plummeted even further into crisis.
The
expensive acquisition of Chris Woods as part of the Graeme
Souness-inspired revolution in the summer of 1986 saw Walker relegated
to the role of understudy once again, and he made just two first-team
appearances as Rangers won the Premier Division Championship in Souness'
first season in charge. Nicky remained as Woods' deputy for another two
seasons, and he claimed a Scottish League Cup winners' medal in 1987
when he deputised for the Englishman who missed the match against
Aberdeen through suspension following his dismissal in a tempestuous Old
Firm match a week earlier. The match was a classic, with the teams
sharing six goals before Rangers claimed the trophy by winning a penalty
shoot-out 5-3.
After a loan spell at Dunfermline, Walker left
Rangers in the summer of 1989 after making ninety-five appearances for
the club. He joined Hearts for a fee of £125, 000, and gained
international recognition during his time in Edinburgh when he won the
first of two caps for Scotland against Germany at his old stomping
ground, Ibrox, in 1993. (Alistair Aird, Author of Ally McCoist - Portrait of a Hero)
1981–1982 Leicester City 6 (0)
1982–1983 Motherwell 30 (0)
1983–1990 Rangers 75 (0)
1987–1988 Dunfermline Athletic (loan) 1 (0)
1990–1994 Heart of Midlothian 50 (0)
1991–1992 Burnley (loan) 6 (0)
1994–1996 Partick Thistle 53 (0)
1996–1997 Aberdeen 19 (0)
1997–2001 Ross County 112 (0)
2001–2002 Inverness Caledonian Thistle 27 (0)
|