Ronnie Wallwork

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ronnie Wallwork
Personal information
Full name	Ronald Wallwork
Date of birth	10 September, 1977
Place of birth	Manchester, England
Position	Defender, Defensive Midfielder
Club information
Current club	Barnsley (on loan from West Bromwich Albion)
Number	5
Professional clubs*
Years	Club	Apps (goals)
1997-2002 1997-1998 1998 1999 2002- 2004 2006-	Manchester United →Carlisle United (loan) →Stockport County (loan) →Royal Antwerp (loan) West Bromwich Albion →Bradford City (loan) →Barnsley (loan)	19 (0) 10 (1) 7 (0) 93(2) 7 (4) 2 (0)
National team**
1997	England U-20
* Professional club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 13:13, 1 December 2006 (UTC). ** National team caps and goals correct as of N/A.

Ronald "Ronnie" Wallwork (born 10 September 1977 in Newton Heath, Manchester) is an English professional football player, who can play as either a defender or a midfielder.

He began his career at Manchester United, however he was unable to break into the first team after 7 years at the club and did not get his contract renewed.

During a loan spell at R. Antwerp F.C., Wallwork was banned from football for life after an alleged attack on a referee. Another Manchester United Loanee, Danny Higginbotham, was banned for a year for his part in the attack. A Belgian court reduced Wallwork's sentence to a three year suspension, of which two years were probational. Higginbotham's ban was reduced to four months.

Ronnie initially fell out with former WBA boss Gary Megson, and was on the substitutes bench and the reserves for most of the time, earning him the nickname "Ronnie Wontwork" But when Megson resigned and Bryan Robson was appointed in 2005, he became an integral part of the West Brom team, the famous team in the Great Escape against relegation to The Championship. WBA's status of FA Premier League football was confirmed on the last day, as they beat Portsmouth FC, and thus being the first team able to survive when they were in last place in Christmas.

The following season was not as successful for West Bromwich Albion, but Wallwork still maintained his high standards. In the beginning of the season, Wallwork's form dipped a bit, but since has returned to his high standards in the previous year. He still kept his starting place in the team, as more midfielders came in, such as Nigel Quashie, Junichi Inamoto, Jan Kozak, Diomansy Kamara, and so on. This team though, West Bromwich Albion were not as successful as the previous year, and coupled with an improvement in form of Portsmouth FC, they were relegated to The Championship.

Although the club is relegated, Wallwork would remain a part of the West Brom team aiming to bounce back to the FA Premier League.

With Bryan Robson's dismissal and the subsequent appointment of Tony Mowbray as his successor, Wallwork's days as an Albion player seem numbered. A number of anonymous performances this season and the fact that Mowbray doesn't use a holding midfielder (Wallwork's forte) in his teams means he may be moved on when the transfer window opens in January. He joined Barnsley F.C. on loan on November 22, 2006 until January 1, 2007 though West Bromwich Albion have a recall option after 28 days.

[edit] Stabbing

This article documents a current event. Information may change rapidly as the event progresses.

On December 1, 2006 news reports broke that Wallwork was stabbed 7 times in the Sugar Lounge night club in Manchester.^[1]

He was stabbed in the hand, back and stomach. After being rushed to hospital Wallwork's condition is said to be stable and his injuries were not thought to be life-threatening. Police are investigating the stabbing, which they described as "not random".^[2]. Police later named the suspect^[3] and appealed for him to contact them. A 20-year-old man handed himself into a police station in Manchester and was arrested on 7 December ^[4].

On 10 December, Wallwork was released from hospital^[5].

During the match between Barnsley and West Brom, on 10 December 2006, live on Sky Sports, there was a "Get well soon Ronnie!" message that repeatedly popped up. On one side of the board it had the Barnsley crest, the other the West Brom crest.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Ronnie Wallwork career stats at Soccerbase

• "Wallwork life-ban dropped" (BBC News)

Barnsley F.C. - Current Squad
1 Colgan | 2 Hassell | 3 Heckingbottom | 4 Reid | 5 Wallwork | 7 Togwell | 8 Hayes | 9 Knight | 11 Howard | 12 McParland | 14 Austin | 15 Kay | 17 Wroe | 18 Reid | 19 Tonge | 20 Williams | 21 Richards | 22 Letheren | 23 Nardiello | 24 Coulson | 25 Devaney | 27 Jarman | 28 Joynes | 30 McCann | 31 Atkinson | 33 Harban | Caretaker Manager: Davey