Ian Walker life and biography

Ian Michael Walker (born October 31, 1971 in Watford) is an English footballer currently playing for Bolton Wanderers.

Walker was for many years the primary goalkeeper for Tottenham Hotspur, starting out with them as a trainee and having two loan spells, for Ipswich and Oxford. He transferred to Leicester City in July 2001 for £2,500,000, after the signing of goalkeeper Neil Sullivan. He had made 240 premiership appearances for Tottenham. He spent four years at Leicester before being released on May 6, 2005 and joining Bolton on a one year contract. In May 2006 Walker was rewarded for his patience in not playing a single league game by being given a further two year contract.

Walker has been capped for the England national team four times, making his debut in 1996 against Hungary. His most infamous game was against Italy in a qualification match for the 1998 World Cup where he is widely believed to have been at fault to a Gianfranco Zola strike. England lost this game to Italy 1–0 at Wembley Stadium. He backed up David James at Euro 2004 but was overtaken by others in the pecking order. Despite Walker's club Leicester suffering relegation from the Premier League, he played his first England match in seven years as a 61st minute substitute for Paul Robinson in a 6–1 win over Iceland on 5 June 2004, which was also his last international.

Personal
Walker and his former Page Three wife Suzi lived in a mock-Tudor mansion in Cobham, Surrey, as featured on MTV Cribs. After the birth of daughter Sophie in 1998, Suzi suffered Post Natal Eclampsia and is an on-going sufferer of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis.

In November 2006, Suzi admitted Walker had met dancer Samantha Thurman, 33, from Miami on a property investment trip to Las Vegas in May.

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