By Jason McKeown

Sometimes the most unassuming of signings can be your best pieces of business. When the loud, extroverted Harry Lewis made a surprise exit from Bradford City to Carlisle United in January 2024, not a huge amount was expected of his more modest-looking replacement, Sam Walker.

Here was a goalkeeper who’d just spent half a season on Charlton’s bench. Aside from a solid 2022/23 campaign at Kilmarnock, where he made 34 appearances, Walker had played only 42 times across the five seasons either side.

Selling Lewis was another stick to beat the-then beleaguered City hierarchy with, and Walker was seen as a typically cheap, ambitionless replacement – worse still, a mate of goalkeeper coach Colin Doyle, rather than a properly scouted number one.

112 consecutive league appearances later, it’s fair to say Walker proved to be anything but a substandard signing. He instantly improved a City side who had been undermined by Lewis’ deteriorating form. The Bantams gleefully banked the reported £175k from Carlisle, and never looked back.

Sam Walker proved to be a revelation. And two-and-a-half years after joining the club, he makes a surprise exit to Championship Watford with nothing but fond wishes from supporters. Walker has been part of a very special chapter in Bradford City’s history, and for that reason will be fondly remembered for many years to come.

Perhaps, like the timing of Lewis’ January 2024 departure, this is the right moment to let Walker go. He turns 35 in October, began to show some signs of decline last season, and the club has recruited the highly rated Jon McCracken on a three-year deal with an obvious eye on changing their goalkeeping guard this season. Most importantly from a human perspective, Walker’s family live in Hertfordshire and he can now spend more time with them.

Watford’s recruitment of Walker is curious, but fits a modern trend in the top two divisions especially of having a veteran goalkeeper on the books who is seemingly happy to play a back-up role, training with and pushing their younger peers. Another former City stopper, Richard O’Donnell, has been holding such a position at Derby. Indeed, Doyle himself returned to Valley Parade in 2022 knowing he wasn’t going to be number one.

Veteran keepers like O’Donnell, Doyle and now Walker can use these types of roles to start to transition to the next chapter of their career, without completely giving up playing. A Scott Carson role, if you like.

Italian stopper Federico Ravaglia has signed for Watford this summer on a six-year deal. They have Austrian International Daniel Bachmann as back up, suggesting Walker will be third choice. If Walker is turning out for Watford this season, it’s probably because something’s gone wrong. Still, if his presence is half as effective for the Hornets as it was for the Bantams, it’s a great signing for Watford.

Fair to say we’ll really miss him.

It didn’t take long for Walker to prove that his move to City in 2024 was so much more than an old pal’s act. In what was then an inconsistent Bantams team, Walker began to stabilise a backline that had been shaky and hindered by Lewis’ erratic form. Whilst Lewis’ main character energy was a major asset on his day, the reliability had gone towards the end. And so Walker’s more humble nature was quickly appreciated by City supporters.

The Bantams lost only five times when Walker turned out for them in the second half of the 2023/24 season – and four of those losses came during that infamous March 2024 collapse.

It all meant that as Graham Alexander, David Sharpe and Stephen Gent used the summer of 2024 to build what would prove to be a promotion-winning squad, they didn’t need to spend energy finding a new number one.

Walker played every minute of City’s memorable 2024/25 league campaign. And what a year he had. Some excellent saves during the opening day win over MK Dons set the tone. Only two other League Two goalkeepers achieved more clean sheets than Walker’s 16 (1 in 3). Only one club (AFC Wimbledon) conceded fewer goals than City and Walker’s 45.

And who can forget some of those standout Walker moments? Like Colchester at home in March, where Walker made an astonishing one-on-one save with the game at 2-1, paving the way for City to triumph 4-1. Or Crewe at home in early April, where Walker made an outstanding penalty save to help City achieve a 2-0 win that took them to the top of the table. Or on that cagey final day against Fleetwood, when at 0-0 in the first half Walker made a crucial save to stop the Cod Army taking the lead.

Given the pattern of that game, it’s no exaggeration to say that without Walker’s save City would not have gone up automatically.

Walker’s reward for helping City achieve promotion glory was a new deal ahead of the League One season. The much-respected EFL watcher Gab Sutton predicted City would struggle in 2025/26, chiefly citing Walker as the problem. He wasn’t a keeper anyone in the division would swap their number one for, Sutton argued. How wrong this would prove. Walker had a largely fantastic season and helped City confound expectations to finish in the play-offs. Along the way were wonder saves against Blackburn and Stockport.

It’s fair to say we did see traces of a Walker drop-off in Spring. He wasn’t making Lewis-type mistakes, but a City side that gave up very few shots on goal was suddenly conceding almost every time an opposition player mustered an effort on target. Cue the summer move for McCracken and what – up until this week – we assumed was going to be a closely contested battle between the pair for the number one spot this season.

Indeed Alexander made clear in the summer that he wanted to change the goalkeeping situation of Walker being almost guaranteed a start, no matter his form. “We’re just looking for the keeper that suits our profile who will provide that genuine competition for Sam,” he told the Telegraph & Argus in June. “Players are quite quick at understanding teammate’s qualities and I don’t think it’s a good scenario if they realise that competition isn’t really there.

“If we signed a goalkeeper, knowing that he’s never going to be as good as Sam, then it’s no good for anyone.”

Still with Walker leaving, there’s suddenly a lot of currency placed on McCracken settling in quickly and delivering. City are set to sign Cameron Dawson as replacement for Walker. The 31-year-old spent 13 years at Sheffield Wednesday and more recently spent two seasons at Rotherham United, where he struggled to win over fans. He has plenty of experience and could arguably be of similar quality to Walker.

We’ll see how that goes, but for now we can only wish Walker all the best. He was unassuming compared to Lewis’ loudness, but his personality did shine through as he became established. Walker closely resembles Gary Walsh in being a City keeper who wasn’t flashy but was incredibly effective. And given the vast upturn in City’s fortunes now compared to when he joined, Walker’s impact at Valley Parade will rightly be long celebrated.  

Categories: Opinion

Tags: BCAFC, Sam Walker