About Gary Walsh
Gary Walsh (born 21 March 1968) is an English football coach and former professional player. He played as a goalkeeper in a 21-year professional career, making 281 league and cup appearances. He was also capped twice at England U21 level. Walsh spent ten years as a backup goalkeeper at Manchester United, where he played 50 First Division and Premier League games. He kept goal in the 1985 FA Youth Cup final and was an unused substitute in the 1991 European Cup Winners' Cup final, 1991 European Super Cup, 1994 FA Charity Shield, 1994 League Cup final, 1994 FA Cup final, and the 1995 FA Cup final. He also had brief loan spells at Airdrieonians and Oldham Athletic. He joined Middlesbrough for £600,000 in August 1995 and played 44 Premier League games before a £500,000 move to Bradford City in 1997. He was named the club's Player of the Year for the 1997–98 season and helped them to win promotion out of the First Division the following campaign. He spent a brief spell in 2000 on loan at Middlesbrough and ended his career in 2006 following three years with Wigan Athletic. Following his retirement, he moved into coaching. He worked as a goalkeeping coach at Wigan Athletic, Derby County, Hartlepool United, Hull City, Aston Villa and Port Vale. For a short time in the 1987–88 season, a 19-year-old Walsh was made first-choice goalkeeper after Gary Bailey retired due to injury and Chris Turner was dropped from the team. Walsh was given a professional contract for the 1986–87 campaign, during which Ron Atkinson was sacked in favour of Alex Ferguson and made his First Division debut against Aston Villa on 13 December 1986.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.