A former Tottenham Hotspur youth player has denied a strange rumour about why he left North London.
Des Walker was on the books with Tottenham as a teenager before making the move to Nottingham Forest as a 15-year-old, making his first-team debut at 18 for the great Brian Clough towards the end of his managerial career.
Even though it was over 40 years ago that he left Spurs, however, Walker is keen to put to bed the rumour of why he left.
“Was it because I had long hair? No: we can definitely debunk that one!”
Wikipedia has a reputation for its occasional dubious reliability – and Walker's own page has a “citation needed” note in the section detailing his early life.
“Walker was spotted playing locally in London and was signed by Forest in 1980 as an apprentice,” the entry reads, adding, “He had previously been part of the youth system at Tottenham Hotspur, but was released after a disagreement where he refused to get a haircut.”
FourFourTwo can now confirm via the man himself that this is not true.
After all these years, somebody [came] up with a justification for why it happened,” Walker tells us now, courtesy of Power Up Gaming.
“I saw that story on Wikipedia. Somebody has come up with a reason for why they let me go, and apparently that’s the best they could come up with.
“Remember, I left in 1982. Around 1981, just about everyone had long hair! So why would they have kicked me out because I had long hair? Look at Chris Waddle.”
It turned out to be for the best: Walker went on to appear 346 times for the Tricky Trees before ending his career back at the City Ground (between a spell in Italian football, notably).
So why was he released?
“They deemed that I wasn’t good enough,” Walker says. “That’s it. I went on and had my career, and now it’s up to them to decide whether they got that decision right or wrong.
“But the idea that it was because I had long hair? No, no, no. We can definitely debunk that one.”
