Talks to goalkeeper Jimmy Having played for 85 minutes, I wasn’t going to miss the party just because I was badly injured... Walker about his champagne moment
WEST HAM physio John Green was adamant that goalkeeper Jimmy Walker should not return to the Millennium Stadium pitch.
He knew the knee injury Walker had suffered late in the 2005 Championship play-off final victory over Preston was a bad one.
And never mind that his team-mates were celebrating with their fans, the keeper was to wait for them to come to him.
Green knew Walker well, though, and probably realised straightaway that his attempts to lay down the law would be futile.
Walker revealed: “I said, ‘John, I don’t care what’s happening, I’ve just played 85 minutes of that game, I’m going out there one way or the other’.
“So he wrapped me up in the biggest bandage in the world and I went out with big Ludek Miklosko, who’d come in to see me.
“I was hobbling round and, to be fair to Ludo, he said, ‘Jump on’.
“West Ham fans still say that him carrying me around the pitch is one of their iconic moments and when you think of everything that’s happened at the club...”
Walker hadn’t trained since the semi-final victory over Ipswich after suffering a groin injury, but convinced manager Alan Pardew he could play.
He added: “For as long as I could remember, I’d told people I’d play in the Prem and now I had the chance to prove it by going up with a massive club and – I know it’s cheesy – but one I’d fallen in love with.
“So I thought, ‘I’m not leaving this to anyone else, I’m taking care of the game’.
“I thought if I played well, I’d have a chance of starting in the Prem or at least to be challenging the No.1.
Excellent
“After a few minutes, with my first kick, the groin felt like it had come off the bone.
“But there was no way I was letting a goal in that day. I knew if we got one, we’d win and the lads in front of me were excellent.”
So was Walker, but as the final whistle neared his afternoon soured.
He said: “Preston got a free-kick on the halfway line and launched it in there and I was coming for it, catching it and was going to sit down on it, waste a bit of time.
“I probably had a bit of adrenaline because I was never known for coming for crosses and I was higher than I’ve ever been. As I landed, I don’t know what happened, it was the most painful thing I’ve experienced.
“It just felt like my right leg had exploded, but, just as quickly, I couldn’t feel any pain.
“I even winked to a couple of lads trying to play it down. John came on and I told him, ‘I’m fine’, but he said, ‘Lay back, you’re done’.”
Green knew immediately it was a bad one.
Walker added: “Later, there was talk of me not flying back because they didn’t want the knee to swell up, but
I wanted to be with the lads. John said I could go to the party, but to keep my leg up – I don’t think he was too happy at 11pm when he looked at the dancefloor and saw my crutches making Irons signs as I sang some Robbie Williams.
Ripped
“But that was something I needed to do. In the end, it wasn’t just the cruciate, every bit of my knee had gone, the cartilage had to be ripped out, the lateral ligaments had gone, the ACL which we knew, the medial had gone and was slightly on the posterior.”
Credit to West Ham, they gave the out-ofcontract keeper a new deal and he finally fulfilled his dream of playing in the Premier League the following March.
“We lost 4-2 to Portsmouth, which wasn’t so great,” he said.
“But the next game against Manchester City was amazing – we won 1-0 and I was man of the match!”