Mick Walker

[countygump]

Talking of ''ex Magpies''.

[upthemaggies]

The rumour was that Walker told Pavis to F-off in front of the players, as a climax to a discussion about Kuhl, and that's why he was sacked. No idea how true or not that is but it is the sort of question I'd like to see posed to him by Paul Mace.

Mick was the last Notts manager to sit in (or stand against) the old Main Stand dug-outs and I think we can take it as read that we were not so well prepared for the 1994/95 season as a result of building the DPS. Behind the scenes it was said to be chaos. We ended up panic buying Nigel Jemson about or month into the campaign.

Some of the best memories I have of Notts were under Walker, but I think it stands to reason that he was probably not going to be a long term solution at that level (we did struggle away in particular) and that appointing Slade was the bigger mistake. Kendall arriving in the October rather than January might have made all the difference. Finishing 7th had flattered us in 1994 but we should never have been bottom four with that squad in 95 either.

I hope he is well. His contribution to Notts prior to being appointed as manager is enormous and it sounds as though people need reminding about that.

[nw6pie]

The rumour was that Walker told Pavis to F-off in front of the players, as a climax to a discussion about Kuhl, and that's why he was sacked. No idea how true or not that is but it is the sort of question I'd like to see posed to him by Paul Mace.

Mick was the last Notts manager to sit in (or stand against) the old Main Stand dug-outs and I think we can take it as read that we were not so well prepared for the 1994/95 season as a result of building the DPS. Behind the scenes it was said to be chaos. We ended up panic buying Nigel Jemson about or month into the campaign.

Some of the best memories I have of Notts were under Walker, but I think it stands to reason that he was probably not going to be a long term solution at that level (we did struggle away in particular) and that appointing Slade was the bigger mistake. Kendall arriving in the October rather than January might have made all the difference. Finishing 7th had flattered us in 1994 but we should never have been bottom four with that squad in 95 either.

I hope he is well. His contribution to Notts prior to being appointed as manager is enormous and it sounds as though people need reminding about that.

I didn't realise Mick Walker was now over 80 (born in Belper in 1940).

I agree with you that the behind-the-scenes situation must have been pretty turbulent when he was in charge at Notts.

I imagine this was the time when the penny dropped for Derek Pavis that he'd taken the club as far as he could and the crowds weren't suddenly going to start turning up even though we had, in effect, a brand new stadium. Ironically, it was Walker's earlier work with the youth team that had helped bring through the likes of Tommy Johnson and Mark Draper, which helped keep the club afloat at that time.

We did play some great football at Meadow Lane during his time in charge (the 4-1 drubbings of Derby and Leicester stand out, along with victories over the likes of West Ham, Sunderland and some team from across the river). I also have very fond memories of being in the home end at Selhurst Park with a Palace-supporting mate when we finally broke our (I think) 29-game streak without an away win with a 2-1 victory.

It'd be nice if the club did something for him in January 2023, which will be the 30th anniversary of his time taking charge.

And talking of anniversaries, this coming January will be 25 years since Big Sam became our manager. Despite the way it ended, it would still be great if the club did something to celebrate his time with us - maybe for the 25th anniversary of the championship win in 1997-98.

[tied_up_in_notts]

The rumour was that Walker told Pavis to F-off in front of the players, as a climax to a discussion about Kuhl, and that's why he was sacked.

Yes the story at the time was that an enraged Pavis went into the Notts dressing room at half-time that game where Kuhl was sent off, and told Kuhl that he would never play for Notts County again. Walker apparently made it clear that HE was in charge of team selection, not Pavis, and told him in front of the whole team to f off from the dressing-room. His hours were numbered from that moment on.

[cjpieman]

Hang on just a minute. We ended the previous season in 7th. The following season walker decided to change it all, we had played with mcswegan and Lund up front and devlin and Agana out wide. The latter being a revelation in that role. The night we stepped out at Barnsley there was no Lund or agana i believe and I remember looking at our formation (with kuhl playing) and scratching my head. We went 1 down and kuhl got sent off. The response from other magpies sat in the stand with me was utter derision at walker at half time. Second half he had reverted to the previous seasons team….albeit 1 short and we totally outplayed Barnsley with Lund getting an equaliser. The following day walker was sacked. What followed was a shambles of a season. But if only walker had started that season as he ended the previous one I think Notts would have been top 3. In fact I remember reading a pre season thing where different pundits all had us play off contenders at least.
Sorry but mick walker brought it all on himself and paid the price. And yes Notts have never been the same since.

[WarsopPie]

Hang on just a minute. We ended the previous season in 7th. The following season walker decided to change it all, we had played with mcswegan and Lund up front and devlin and Agana out wide. The latter being a revelation in that role. The night we stepped out at Barnsley there was no Lund or agana i believe and I remember looking at our formation (with kuhl playing) and scratching my head. We went 1 down and kuhl got sent off. The response from other magpies sat in the stand with me was utter derision at walker at half time. Second half he had reverted to the previous seasons team….albeit 1 short and we totally outplayed Barnsley with Lund getting an equaliser. The following day walker was sacked. What followed was a shambles of a season. But if only walker had started that season as he ended the previous one I think Notts would have been top 3. In fact I remember reading a pre season thing where different pundits all had us play off contenders at least.
Sorry but mick walker brought it all on himself and paid the price. And yes Notts have never been the same since.

Dangerous Tony was awful mate Sheffield United had our pants down with that transfer.

[upthemaggies]

Walker had only won one of his last 13 league games, curiously the same as Warnock but with one extra draw (Barnwell got the chop with 1 win in 14).

Walker's overall PPG of 1.40 is very good for that level though, equal to Sirrel's 2nd spell as manager in that division. At home he's got one of the very best records ever, 2.11 PPG, only Jimmy McMullan has done better of those who've managed more than 10 home league games. Away however he's way down the list, below McP, Mills, Thordarsson and Lloyd with 0.71 PPG.

[60YearsAPie]

Mick Walker's only full season in charge is one I remember fondly. We had some great performances against all the local and Midland teams in Division One that season. Wolves stopped us getting a clean sweep.

1-0 W WBA
4-1 W Derby Co
2-0 W Stoke
2-1 W Birmingham
2-1 W Forest
4-1 W Leicester
0-2 L Wolves

Wasn't Slade Walker's assistant, utm, and was originally promoted to caretaker?

[upthemaggies]

Mick Walker's only full season in charge is one I remember fondly. We had some great performances against all the local and Midland teams in Division One that season. Wolves stopped us getting a clean sweep.

1-0 W WBA
4-1 W Derby Co
2-0 W Stoke
2-1 W Birmingham
2-1 W Forest
4-1 W Leicester
0-2 L Wolves

Wasn't Slade Walker's assistant, utm, and was originally promoted to caretaker?

Yep, it was the League Cup win against Spurs that got Slade the job full time despite him managing only 3 draws and 3 defeats in his 6 league games up to that point. Silly silly decision, but we'd already slipped to bottom spot and 7 points adrift of safety, so he'd done a fair bit of damage that first month alone.
Slade's PPG was actually worse than I posted earlier, it was 0.72 (I'd mixed his PPG up with that of Wayne Jones who took charge briefly late in the same season). Slade lost 5 league games on the trot before he was sacked. His away PPG was 0.13. (Won 0 Drew 1 Lost 7)
He proved himself to be a decent manager in the long run at other clubs, but for us, only Gary Brazil in his 2nd spell and Charlie Jones (1934) did worse.

Incredible really to think that our destiny might have changed course on that Kuhl incident alone, but that's life isn't it. A chance meeting with somebody you end up having your family with, or a chance car accident can be life changing.

[Ex_Southwell_Magpie]

Biggest issue I thought we had was that we lost Draper to Leicester in the summer and he was not adequately replaced (although he was virtually irreplaceable on our budget), also the signing of Jemson was a disaster and he was never going to be accepted by the fans and don't forget our world cup star defender.

It was an awful season and we thoroughly deserved to go down, but I blame Murphy more for our current state as we were looking good for promotion the next season until he systematically sold or released our better players and replaced them with poorer, cheaper models. If we had stuck with the same players, I believe we would have gone up automatically with Swindon.