[Player Pics]

A hero of Celtic’s famous Centenary season Andy Walker spent two spells at Parkhead in a rollercoaster football career.

A boyhood Hoops fan the centre forward was a surprise arrival at Celtic Park in July 1987 when Billy McNeill paid Motherwell £300,000 for the player’s services.

At Fir Park Walker was certainly a decent performer but he was not an obvious choice to replace the free-scoring Brian McClair, another ex-Well man, who had recently headed south to Manchester United. However once at Paradise Walker quickly found his goal-scoring touch. He made his competitive debut in the opening league match of the season and he bagged a brace as Celtic won 4-0 at Morton on August 8th.

Frank McAvennie arrived at Parkhead in the autumn and Walker quickly established an excellent on-field partnership with the Scotland international.

Walker seemed to instinctively know how to be in the right place at the right time. He was good in the air, possessed a thunderous shot and always seemed to find space in the most crowded of penalty areas. He was not just a goal scorer though, and he demonstrated excellent strength and awareness as he linked with his midfield players and strike partner.

With Walker and McAvennie in full flow Celtic were capable of scoring against any team and at any time. Both men were hard workers on the pitch and their tireless running coupled with natural scoring instincts meant that more often than not opposition defences were given the most torrid of times.

Walker’s goals were a huge factor in Celtic’s march to the league and Scottish Cup double in his debut season and by the summer of 1988 things were looking rosy for club and player. But as so often is the case in football the dream quickly developed into a nightmare. A stale Celtic and a seemingly jaded Walker struggled to recapture the form of 1987-88 and by the turn of the decade the player was sliding out of the first team picture at a club riddled by a lack of ambition and quality

Consequently the out of sorts Walker, looking a shadow of the Centenary season hero, was sold to Bolton Wanderers in February 1992.

It was to be a great move for Walker. Plying his trade in the second tier of English football the player’s confidence soon returned and his obvious attacking qualities made him a standout performer. The goals again began to flow and it wasn’t too long before Andy was again attracting the plaudits.

As part of a Bolton side making a habit of giant killing cup perfromances Walker was hailed as the best striker in England outside of the top flight. Certainly his renassaince had been noted in Glasgow and in the summer of 1994 Walker returned to Celtic under freedom of contract - but he would not make the impact he did first time around.

Having hung up his boots Walker is now a successful media pundit in Scotland.