Billy Walker, born in 1897, was only the second man to hold the title of Manager of Nottingham Forest.

He does, however, hold the record for the longest serving Forest manager with 21 years service between 1939 and 1960, a career that spanned four decades. Only Brian Clough, with 18 years service gets close to it, and in these moderns times it is unlikely that another manager will get anywhere near it.

Billy Walker brought stability to the club and gave them a start on the road to glory when he won the F.A. Cup in 1959.

He had a great footballing pedigree, coming from a footballing family he started his career as an amatuer with Aston Villa in 1914 before turning professional in 1919. He went on to become an England international and won an F.A. Cup winners medal as a player with Villa.

He retired from playing in 1933, having made 531 League and Cup appearances for Villa and went into management with Sheffield Wednesday. He lead the Owls to an F.A. Cup win in 1935, but after this initial success things started to turn and two seasons later Wednesday were relegated and performing poorly in the lower division.

By November 1937 Wednesday were languishing in 21st place in Division 2 and following a defeat at Barnsley he decided to resign and take a break from football.

Walker was an intelligent man and loved listening to the ideas of other coaches, he absorbed information like a sponge. He spent time talking to the coaches of the Austrian Wunderteam and adopted their ideas.

He didn't stay out of football for long and soon found himself at the helm of Chelmsford City, a non-league club. He remained at Chelmsford until February 1939 when he again resigned.

Forest approached him a month later and he accepted the job. He came to the City Ground with big plans for the future, but within six months of arriving his long term plans had to be put on indefinite hold as the world found itself plunged into war once again.

The Second World War ended in 1945 and Walker began the task of rebuilding his Forest side, though things looked a little shaky to start with and the club was relegated to the Third Division (South) in 1949.

Walker began to mould his side, getting them to play in the style he wanted, and the rewards started to come. The club won promotion to Division Two in the 1950-51 season and then promotion to Division One in 1956-57.

The F.A. Cup arrived at the end of the 1958-59 season, when Forest beat Luton Town 2-1 in front of 100,000 people at Wembley Stadium.

Forest struggled in the 1959-60 season but managed to avoid relegation, finishing in 20th place. Billy Walker was now 63 years old and feeling the strain. He announced his retirement and the club rewarded him for his service by appointing him to the club committee.

Over the next three years Walker's health deteriorated and in 1963 he suffered a stroke; 13 months later, in November 1964, he died, aged 67.