Today, one of the Owls’ all-time greats Des Walker turns 50!
To celebrate the defender’s milestone birthday, we look back on the England international’s time at Hillsborough.
Back in the summer of 1993, the Owls smashed their club transfer record to bring the coveted stopper to S6, paying £2.75m for his services from Sampdoria.
Prior to his move to Serie A, Walker was widely renowned as one of the best English defenders during his time at Nottingham Forest.
Having initially been rejected by Tottenham as a youngster, Walker’s talents rose to the fore at The City Ground, where he quickly became a club favourite and racked up 346 appearances in his first spell with Forest.
He won 58 England caps while with the Tricky Trees and began to attract plenty of attention across Europe after his superb displays at the 1990 World Cup in Italy.
And so in 1992, he went on to sign for Genoa club Sampdoria, though failed to really settle with the Serie A outfit.
Less than a year later, Owls manager Trevor Francis secured the signature of the coveted defender and it proved to be an outstanding piece of business.
Walker would go on to be a rock at the heart of the Owls’ defence for the next eight seasons.
Like at The City Ground, Walker became a firm fans’ favourite with his consistent performances, pace, tackling ability and coolness under pressure endearing him massively to supporters.
Chants of ‘You’ll Never Beat Des Walker’ were often heard around the grounds all over the country from Wednesdayites!
The defender was named as the SWFC Player of the Year in his final season before leaving the club upon the expiry of his contract in 2001.
He made a total of 362 appearances for the Owls in all competitions.
Happy birthday, Des!