Timing is everything, and Billy Walker certainly had great timing. Had he been born a few years earlier he would have lost his youth and maybe his life to the First World War. Instead in 1920, aged just 22, he helped Aston Villa claim the first post-war FA Cup. He didnt score that day, but by the time he hung up his boots thirteen years later he had racked up almost 250 Villa goals a record which still stands. Walker was only two years into management at Sheffield Wednesday when he masterminded what remains their last FA Cup triumph. Moving to Nottingham Forest in 1939 it took Walker somewhat longer to train his sights on Wembley. He would have to wait 20 years before completing his hat-trick in 1959, retiring a year later. Brian Clough never laid hands on the FA Cup, but Billy Walker was once, twice, three times a winner.
