Rest in Peace Mick Walker

[jackal2]

RIP Mick - a good servant of the club, a nice guy and a very decent coach.

That's Mick Walker in a nutshell for me. In fact I'd say far more than a 'decent' coach. He was an outstanding, world class coach in terms of youth development, proven by the conveyor belt of talent he nurtured and delivered to the first team.

After all the brilliant work he did developing young players, he earned his shot at being first team manager and started well, but sadly it didn't work out in the end, ultimately leading to his departure from the club in difficult circumstances.

Part of me wishes Mick had stayed doing what he did best (in my opinion) with youth development, because he probably would have been with us for many more years producing even more talent, whereas in the 'top' job there's usually nowhere left to go but the exit door if it doesn't work out. As such, we lost a gifted coach and long-time club servant, without the fanfare he deserved for his youth development work.

That said, I think this thread demonstrates that anybody who knows the history of Notts County, in particular the Sirrel and Warnock eras, appreciates the importance of Mick Walker's role in it.

RIP

[upthemaggies]

Part of me wishes Mick had stayed doing what he did best (in my opinion) with youth development, because he probably would have been with us for many more years producing even more talent, whereas in the 'top' job there's usually nowhere left to go but the exit door if it doesn't work out.

Yes, I agree, but by that time Walker had been promoted to reserve team manager (Russell Slade was overseeing the youth set up) and Walker was ambitious enough to make it very clear to Pavis that he wanted the manager's job permanently the moment Warnock left, so he probably would have soon looked elsewhere had we brought somebody else in. Neil actually mentioned in an interview straight after he was sacked (in a semi-joking manner) that Walker had long been after his job, which was likely true. It's difficult though to imagine anybody else getting better results for the rest of that season than Walker did to keep us up on the final day. Longer term, maybe an experienced number 2 was needed or, better still, the club not being hugely distracted by building a new main stand until we'd got back up to the top flight. The CEO Neal Hook was sacked within 9 months of that stand being opened.

"Hindsight is a wonderful thing" (DP)

[PedroTheFisherman66]

RIP. He Got notts playing some of the best football I've ever seen down the lane !!!..😥