John Walker was a Scottish

Scotland national football team

The Scotland national football team represents Scotland in international football and is controlled by the Scottish Football Association. Scotland are the joint oldest national football team in the world, alongside England, whom they played in the world's first international football match in 1872...

 international footballer who played for Liverpool Football Club in the late-19th and early-20th centuries, helping them to a Football League Championship

Football League Championship

The Football League Championship is the highest division of The Football League and second-highest division overall in the English football league system after the Premier League...

.

Life and playing career

Born in Coatbridge

Coatbridge

Coatbridge is a town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, about east of Glasgow city centre, set in the central Lowlands. The town, with neighbouring Airdrie, is part of the Greater Glasgow urban area. The first settlement of the area stretches back to the Stone Age era...

, North Lanarkshire

North Lanarkshire

North Lanarkshire is one of 32 council areas in Scotland. It borders onto the northeast of the City of Glasgow and contains much of Glasgow's suburbs and commuter towns and villages. It also borders Stirling, Falkirk, East Dunbartonshire, West Lothian and South Lanarkshire...

, Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

, Walker played for Armadale FC and Hearts

Heart of Midlothian F.C.

Heart of Midlothian Football Club are a Scottish professional football club based in Gorgie, in the west of Edinburgh. They currently play in the Scottish Premier League and are one of the two principal clubs in the city, the other being Hibernian...

 before being signed by Liverpool manager Tom Watson

Tom Watson (football)

Tom Watson was an English football manager who managed Sunderland A.F.C. and Liverpool F.C. around the turn of the 20th century....

 along with Tom Robertson

Tom Robertson

Thomas "Tom" Robertson was a Scottish international footballer who played for Liverpool in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, helping them to a Football League Championship.-Life and playing career:...

 for £350 on the 30 March 1898. Making his debut in a Football League Division One fixture on the 11 April 1898. Walker only missed 2 games during his first full season scoring 12 goals in 38 games a descent return for an inside forward. John was a regular member of the Anfield

Anfield

Anfield is an association football stadium in the district of Anfield, Liverpool, England, with a seating capacity of 45,522. It has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since their formation in 1892 and was originally the home of Everton F.C. from 1884 to 1892, before they moved to Goodison Park...

 clubs first League Championship

Championship

Championship is a term used in sport to refer to various forms of competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion.- Title match system :...

 win in 1901. He went on to play another 18 times for the Reds before joining Rangers

Rangers F.C.

Rangers Football Club are an association football club based in Glasgow, Scotland, who play in the Scottish Premier League. The club are nicknamed the Gers, Teddy Bears and the Light Blues, and the fans are known to each other as bluenoses...

 in 1902. Walker played 8 times for Scotland making his debut in a British Championship

British Championship

The British Championship is the most prestigious ice hockey cup competition in the United Kingdom, and also the longest established ice hockey competition. It has been run under various formats and titles since 1930 and contested annually since 1966...

 match on the 30 March 1895 against Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland national football team

The Northern Ireland national football team represents Northern Ireland in international association football. Before 1921 all of Ireland was represented by a single side, the Ireland national football team, organised by the Irish Football Association...

, he had a debut to remember scoring twice in the 3-1 victory at Celtic Park

Celtic Park

Celtic Park is a football stadium in the Parkhead area of Glasgow, which is the home ground of Celtic FC. Celtic Park, an all-seater stadium with a capacity of 60,832, is the largest football stadium in Scotland and the sixth-largest stadium in the United Kingdom, after Murrayfield, Old Trafford,...

, Glasgow

Glasgow

Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...

. John also went on to play for Morton.

Career details

As a player:

• Liverpool FC (1898–1902): 120 appearances, 31 goals - Football League Championship winner's medal (1901)
• Scotland (1895–1904): 5 appearances, 3 Goals

External links

• Profile at LFCHistory.net