Style
Walker rarely missed matches but was often criticised for his inconsistent distribution. Defensively he was probably one of the best markers and timers of the tackle of all time, and incurred a remarkably low number of bookings during the first 10 years of his career despite his often dispossessing opponents with sliding challenges from all directions. Despite not being the tallest centre-half he could leap to beat the tallest forwards in the air and his pace meant even the quickest and most skillful forwards very rarely got any change from him.
At the height of his career, Forest and Owls fans frequently chanted "You'll never beat Des Walker." This was turned into "You'll never meet Des Walker" as a private joke among journalists, commenting on Walker's refusal to talk to the press at this point.
In 2007, he came out top alongside Peter Swan in a poll to find Sheffield Wednesday's two greatest ever centre backs on the website Vital Football.
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Famous quotes containing the word style:
“The difference between style and taste is never easy to define, but style tends to be centered on the social, and taste upon the individual. Style then works along axes of similarity to identify group membership, to relate to the social order; taste works within style to differentiate and construct the individual. Style speaks about social factors such as class, age, and other more flexible, less definable social formations; taste talks of the individual inflection of the social.”
—John Fiske (b. 1939)
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—William Burroughs (b. 1914)
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—Raymond Chandler (1888–1959)