Edmonton lad Jimmy Walker joined Spurs as an apprentice in 1963, and the tenacious and talented right-back/defender would spend a good number of years with Spurs during the 1960s. Walker was associated with Spurs as a player from 1963 until 1968, and the player who was a fine athlete, would make many an appearance for the Youth team and also for the A team, as well as making some appearances for the reserves. Tough tackling and difficult to play against, Walker would leave football all together after he left Spurs, as he would work in the scrap metal business. I recently had the great pleasure of talking to Jimmy about his time at Spurs. He is a top man!

What are your earliest footballing memories? 

Jimmy: So when I was about six or seven I was living in a little street in London which had a fence at the bottom of a cinema (The Granada), where you could kick a ball. The plastic ball had just come out, and I could lift it off of the floor, unlike the old leather balls, as they were solid. So I can remember kicking the ball up against the fence for hours, and there was only one car on the street (Mr Adams’) so I have to apologise for the ball hitting his car on occasions! At my school to start off with I played in goal, but I don’t think that we won a game for about two years, as the other school teams that we were playing were two years older than us. Eventually after I started playing outfield, I was selected for one of the Edmonton Schoolboys’ teams, which was when I first started to think that I must have been an alright player. I would also play for a Sunday morning team at Walthamstow, which was where I first met Dennis Bond, who I used to play against. And Dennis was a class player.

What are your earliest memories of your time at Spurs? And how did you come about joining the club?

Jimmy: I’d been training with Edmonton Schoolboys at Spurs on a Tuesday night, even though Spurs didn’t take the training. So we used to have to train under the stands, but there were a lot of iron poles under the stand, which made it difficult to play football. However, just the thought of going to Spurs for training was great, and at that time they could get all of the top players. After a little while I was invited to go to Spurs for training with the schoolboy footballers, and the Spurs player Tony Marchi used to train us. His dad used to have an ice cream stall on Edmonton Green, and Tony was a recently nice man. Eventually we got to play/train in the five-a-side ball court, but before that I had been going to train with West Ham United as a schoolboy. It was nice to train with West Ham, as well. Dickie Walker (Spurs’ chief-scout) was the one who had actually first recommended me to Spurs, and what a character he was.

Did you have any footballing heroes/inspirations and if so who were they?

Jimmy: At the time it was Dennis Law. I think that he was released by Huddersfield when he was 14 because they thought that he was too small. But I used to love him as player when he used to play against Spurs. However, I mainly used to go to Spurs back then to watch the reserves play and you used to get around 8,000 people watching those games. Playing for the Spurs reserves then was Johnny Brooks and Tommy Harmer, and Tommy was a player who I used to like watching. I didn’t go to a lot of first division Spurs games then, but my dad did used to take me when he wasn’t working.

Who were your greatest influences at Spurs?

Jimmy: I’ll be honest with you, as I don’t think that I really got coached at Spurs during my time there, but Eddie Baily was probably the best coach there. You never used to see a ball, and you used to run all around the stands and down to the north stand. Most of the first team used to be split up into groups to train with us, and Jimmy Greaves when I was there, he never ever, ever used to train. You’d be on the cinder track at the ground and Eddie Baily would be blowing whistles and holding sprints and relays, but Jimmy used to be standing in the stands watching everyone. Eddie Baily used to get really annoyed and start blowing his whistle! He once asked Greavsie to do three laps of the track, but he ended up running from corner flag to corner flag. Then afterwards he’d go straight into the ball court and go in goal! However, on Saturday he was amazing, which was why he always got away with not training. I couldn’t get away with that! When we used to go to Feyenoord with the youth team and to other international tournaments, I think that Feyenoord had about 14 training pitches outside the stadium. The players who were there all used to watch us training, and I used to wonder why because we didn’t do anything interesting. But they were watching us because we didn’t have a football. 

The Feyenoord players would do ten laps, the same as us, but they had a ball at their feet, because that made sense. At the time I think that Jimmy Pearce was the best player out of all of us in the youth team, and as far as I know Feyenoord came in and contacted Spurs wanting to buy Jimmy Pearce. He was 17 at the time. And on those proper pitches out at the Feyenoord tournament, he was great and I used to think wow! As that was my mate. Jim was someone to watch on the pitch, and back then Jimmy was very small before they started building him up and building him up. And in the end I thought that they built him up too much, but he did well before his injury. 

Could you describe to me what type of player you were? And what positions you played in during your time at Spurs?

Jimmy: I could run for ever, even though I used to come last in all of the sprints. But I did win all of the cross-country races five years in a row when I was at school. I used to play mainly at right-half and I used to get up and down the flank, but when I joined Spurs they put me at right full-back, and I didn’t like to have someone running at me at all, and you were told to take players out of the game. I marked Trevor Brooking loads of times when he was at West Ham, and I used to let him know that I was in the game in the first seconds of the match, as that’s how it was then. But playing at full-back wasn’t for me, and I can remember playing for the Spurs A team in the Metropolitan League, and that was the worse league in the world as it was full of old professionals, whereas we were trying to make something of ourselves. However, those old professionals weren’t having any of that, and you didn’t get near them. As a full-back I used to just hit two balls, the long one forward or the long cross-field ball, but if I started to go forward then they just used to start shouting at me from the sidelines. Brian Parkinson was the best player who I’ve ever seen with the ball and if you gave him the ball then he could go past a player four times! But Johnny Wallis used to tell him to get rid of the ball, but when we went abroad with the youth team Brian was just great. 

Another really good player was the right-back Joe Kinnear, who apart from Jimmy Robertson, he was the fastest player at the club. Steve Perryman arrived at the club not long before I left Spurs, and you just knew that he was going to make it at the club, as he had the ability and was just too good.

Were there any players at Spurs who you would watch closely to try and improve your game or look to learn from?

Jimmy: I used to try and mould myself in my head on Dave Mackay, and I could tackle, but Dave Mackay was a really good player with the ball, and he could hit the ball all over the place. In my first week at Spurs as an apprentice I went into the ball court, and I don’t know how but I was put in Dave’s five-a-side team, and so it started and I was doing alright, and then this big wing-half (Freddie Sharpe) had left a gap along the wall. So I thought that I’d go along the wall, but as I went past him he just hit me, and so I hit the wall. I finished up on my back looking at the lights on the ceiling, so did he knock me out? I think he did! I can remember him standing over me when Mackay grabbed him and ended up hitting him! So I thought that that will do me and Mackay, you’re my man. When Dave broke his leg later on, I played with him for a year in the A team. He was never going to be the same player again, but he just wanted to be as good as he could, because that was a badly broken leg. So he played all of the time during that year playing for the Spurs A team. It was very competitive in that ball court, and I think that Mike England and Phil Beal used to argue all of the time in there, as did Terry Venables and Dave Mackay. But I was lucky, as I was always on Dave’s side. You didn’t want to play against Dave Mackay as he was the hardest thing that I have ever hit on a football pitch, as he was like hitting a brick wall! 

Dave Mackay was one of the few first team players who would speak to you, and he was a nice guy. As was John White, and if you were cleaning the dressing room in the afternoons, then all of a sudden a bucket of water went over you. And it was him, as he was always messing around and having a laugh. He actually used to pick me up in the mornings when I was an apprentice, as he lived in a building up at Church Street with his wife. He was a Scottish international then, who was playing for the Spurs first team. 

What was your time at the Lilywhites like on the whole?

Jimmy: For me it was a bit strange. I remember playing at Brentford in the FA Youth Cup, and Bill Nicholson wasn’t there. In that game I had probably the best game that I’ve ever had at Spurs, and I don’t know how or why but I was playing as a sweeper and I just swept up everything in that game, even though we lost. Anyway, Bill Nicholson came in the dressing room asking what had happened to the captain Terry Reardon, who said that we were all basically not good in that particular game, and that he was sorry. But Bill Nicholson said that if we were no good in that game, then why’ve I had Arsenal on the phone wanting to buy Jimmy Walker! At that moment in time I felt a million dollars, and I thought get me out of here! Because I’d have rather Spurs said that they didn’t want me, rather than carrying the skips around. I didn’t play a game for six weeks after that, even though I trained every single day. But when it came to checking the team-sheet on the Saturday, written next to my name was skip-man, and that went on for six weeks. I should have gone in there straight away and said that I wanted to go to Arsenal. But Keith Weller went through all of that when he went to Millwall, which was hard for Keith.

I can remember making an appointment to see Bill Nicholson to see if I could have my wage of £18 a week raised to £20 a week as a professional, because I was married at the time. As I went there I saw Keith Weller there sitting down, and he asked me what I was doing there and so I told him why, and then Keith told me that he wanted another £5. He had already probably played quite a lot of games in the first team, and you could see that Keith was a class player. I eventually spoke to Bill Nicholson at his desk and explained to him that I wanted another £2 a week. He said that my timing wasn’t good and that I couldn’t head a ball, and to be honest if I could have got under the door then I would have. So eventually he said no, and he was right, but I just wish that he’d have sacked me. As I was coming out of the office I said to Keith that he didn’t have a chance of getting an extra £5 a week, but Keith was good enough to say that he wanted to go on the transfer list. Bill Nicholson wanted for the club to get £30,000 for Keith’s transfer which was a lot of money, but after a tribunal it went down to £17,000 and so off he went to Millwall, and he finished up being a great, great footballer, which was what he was, and he deserved it. 

Bill Nicholson did however, give me three World Cup final tickets in 1966. Me, Jimmy Pearce and Terry Reardon all going. Eddie Baily did give me some good advice though as a coach, and another story is that he must have been the only assistant manager, when were at the youth tournament at Feyenoord, to have the police called to carry him out! As he was getting so worked up on the sidelines, as he was smoking his cigar. We were playing a German side and Keith Weller got hit quite bad by one of the players, and so Baily got so angry that he said something like that’s it, go and kick all of the opposing players’ legs! I was behind Joe Kinnear on the pitch, who was at right-half, and I think that Roger Hoy was playing then, and you didn’t have to tell him twice! So everyone on the pitch was just kicking each other, and I’d never seen anything like it in my life on a football pitch. I think that they could have taken the ball off the pitch, and no one would have taken any notice. I can still now see the police pulling Eddie Baily out of the ground. Another story was when I was sent off in a youth team game against QPR, and I was actually the first professional footballer for Spurs to be sent off for 30 years. Frank Sibley, who was someone who I’d known as a youngster, I’d kicked him up in the air on the pitch, and then as he came back down I kicked him again! The referee came up to me, took my name and said that I had to go off the pitch.

As I was sent off I asked the referee to tell me where to go, as in my life I’d never seen anybody sent off. So anyway the referee said that he was sending me off the pitch, and as I was walking off Eddie Baily was there with a big cigar, walking up and down, and he asked me what I was doing? So I explained to him what had happened, and he ended up asking the referee the same thing that I had. I think that that same afternoon Cliff Jones got sent off for Spurs. I made the back pages of one of the big newspapers, and my dad was so proud that I’d made the newspaper. On another topic I can remember that Eddie Baily was still so good with a football, even then. I can also remember Bill Nicholson taking us out to do running out near Cuffley, in pre-season. There were no mobile phones then, and I remember us calling for Bobby Smith to be collected, and as he was in the car going past you, he’d wave at us. That was one of the good memories of my days at Spurs.

What was the greatest moment of your footballing career?

Jimmy: I’d probably have to say that Brentford game. We’d won a few tournaments abroad, but to be honest I was never in it, as I was always on the outside looking in. I did try and I’d run up and down the pitch. When I see Jimmy Pearce again I’m going to ask him about Johan Cruyff, because I’m sure that I came up again Johan Cruyff in a youth tournament against Ajax. I can remember Eddie Baily saying that Ajax had this young player on the wing, who was already in the first team. Jimmy Pearce, me and I think Joe Kinnear all had to double up on him as he came past, but he was so quick with the ball. Somehow we beat Ajax 1-0 in that game, I don’t know how! The time/year before that year’s Dutch tournament, which we won, we also got to the final of another tournament. This final finished 1-1, and so after the referee sounded his whistle for full-time, I just thought that we would share the trophy and that was it, and that we’d be able to have a free day. Sid Tickridge was the coach at that tournament, and he said to us that the final was going to penalties. He told us that both teams would take six penalties each, with the one who got the most winning the trophy.

After Sid had asked people to take the penalties and the first couple of players had agreed to take one, he was struggling to find any other players. So I said that I would take one, to which he told me that this was serious! Eventually he put John Pratt’s name on the list, and he hit this ball which I think they are still looking for! Stuart Skeet was in goal for Spurs, and he faced the first penalty against this Dutch side, but the player taking it hit it over the bar. Skeetsy, who was something else and a real character, came up to the player who was lying on the floor distraught and crying, and started clapping! He had annoyed all of the crowd by doing that, and after that I think that he’d let the next five penalties in.

Could you talk me through some of your favourite memories or ones which stand out from your time in the Spurs Youth side, A team and the reserves?

Jimmy: We played in this game against Bury Town for the A team in the Metropolitan League, with Joe Kinnear at wing-half and me at full-back. We came up against this winger who was as fast as a greyhound, and I couldn’t get near him in that match. Joe Kinnear was laughing at me, and I as the full-back was one v one with him. If you thought that you’d go higher up the pitch to get tight to him when he had the ball, then someone would shout to me to get back, as he was so quick. My time in the youth team was good in the first couple of years when I was captain, but there was no progress for me to be honest, before I got into the famous A team. Had I have stayed with West Ham then I think that I could have made it as a professional footballer. Going back in time, I remember shortly after Bill Nicholson had won the double with Spurs he had phoned my parents up to say that he wanted to come around to say that he wanted to meet my mum and dad. I can remember my mum and dad doing the front room up to get ready for him arriving. There were no cars in my street then, and I can remember Bill Nicholson arriving outside my house in a black Austin Westminster car. 

Bill Nicholson came into the house with a big box of chocolates and a bunch of flowers. My dad was quite a shy man who never said a lot, but my mum could talk. Anyway he came in the front room and I was sitting in there with my mum and dad and he was saying that he wanted to sign me as an apprentice. I could see my mate knocking on the window as if to signal if I wanted to go out. I said yes, got up and said see you later. I can still see Bill Nicholson’s face looking at me in disbelief. From there I don’t think that we ever got back on level tracks to be honest, but I didn’t think anything of it. I had some good times with some good lads at Spurs though like Tony Want, Joe Kinnear and Neil Johnson. Neil was like the most powerful player that I’ve ever seen. He was from Grimsby and while us as teammates used to go out and wear our suits, Neil would turn up wearing a green Beatles suit. But he didn’t care! And Neil did well for himself at Spurs, and played for the first team. You could never outrun, outmuscle or out-tackle him. 

When I used to play against Arsenal’s John Radford, I used to do alright against him, and he was a big, strong player. I didn’t get the ball off him, but he didn’t get the ball much either. John Pratt did really well at Spurs and he never stopped running, and Johnny Wallis nicknamed him lungs, which was written on his slippers. I don’t want to repeat myself, but there was another game, this time in I think the Southern Junior Floodlit Cup. I didn’t even play this game as I was the one who had to pick all of the rubbish off the floor and put it in a skip. Bill Nicholson came in after the game, I didn’t even know what the score was, but he started moaning and having a go at me, basically saying that I’d had a bad game. But I didn’t even answer him as I was just gobsmacked, as I hadn’t even played. Terry Reardon told Bill that I hadn’t even played, but he didn’t apologise to me after that. We just never got on. 

Who was the toughest player that you ever came up against?

Jimmy: For me as a player it has to be Billy Bonds, when I played against Charlton Athletic in a youth tournament in Holland, as he was a big and strong player. But also there was a player at Millwall who was a boxer called Adams, and he was really tough. Millwall was a really difficult place to go in them days, and there used to be lots of dockers in the crowd. In one game against Millwall, Terry Naylor said that his shoulder was playing up, so he asked me if I could go over to the other side of the pitch to take the throw-ins. Well my back was covered in spit from the fans as I was taking the throw-ins! 

Were there any players at Spurs who you were particularly close to?

Jimmy: Me, Jimmy Pearce and Steve Pitt were like the three stooges. John Pratt was also another good friend, even though he didn’t join full-time until 18.

Could you talk me through your career after you left the Lilywhites?

Jimmy: At the end of I think the 1967/68 season Bill Nicholson told me that he wouldn’t be signing me on for another season and so I went into the scrap metal business with my brothers, and I never really kicked a ball again (I did get an offer from Enfield at one time). I did play for a Sunday morning side for a mate, for a while though. 

What would your advice be to the young Spurs players of today as they look to rise up through the ranks at the club?

Jimmy: Well I’ve always thought that you’ve really got to stand out when you’re having a trial. But really I don’t think that I was that good to advise people, but I did have some good times at Spurs.

After all these years how do you look back on your time at the Lilywhites and is Spurs a club that you still hold close to your heart?

Jimmy: I really think that I went down to Tottenham first of all for my dad, to be honest. I did want to be a footballer, but I did do it for my dad as well. I do think that I would have been better staying with West Ham, as I enjoyed it more there than at Tottenham, as it didn’t really work for me. I think that I gave up at Spurs in the end.