TRIBUTES have been paid to a highly successful former Newton Abbot football manager.

Brian Walker, who led Newton Spurs to numerous victories in the 1970s and 1980s, has died at the age of 79.

Brian was at the helm during the club’s most successful period, winning title after title.

He joined the club in 1973, taking on the role of second team manager.

At that time, the club had a very successful youth section, led by the late Willie Boyd.

By the summer of 1976, Brian had stepped up to manage the first team, a move which would lead to the club bringing home a host of silverware. 

It began with the Dartmouth Cup, then promotion to the premier division of the South Devon League.

By this time, the talented youth players moved up to senior level, under Brian’s leadership and success continued in what was then a very competitive league of some talented clubs.

South Devon League Championships and Herald Cup wins put the club firmly on the map of not just the South Devon football scene but countywide.

The icing on the cake came in 1985 when the club lifted the prestigious Devon Premier Cup.

Brian left management at the end of the 1986 to 1987 season.

Under his leadership, the club had an impressive track record, winning four

South Devon League Championships and runners up twice.

The list also included one Devon Premier Cup win, one as finalists, twice Herald Cup winners, three times finalists, three George Belli Cup winners, once finalists, one Dartmouth Cup win and three South Devon League Challenge Shield wins.

Brian took over as chairman soon after he stepped down from management, combining this with his new found love of golf. 

In recent years Brian would regularly be seen in the bar catching up on old times with former players and colleagues.

A club spokesman said: ‘Brian will be sorely missed by all at Newton Abbot Spurs, a man who brought enormous success and talented players to a club who at the time desperately needed a pick me up following the darker years of the early 70s.

‘The Walker era was the beginning of a long period of success for the club and a dominance of which local clubs nowadays could only dream of.

‘The respect and highest regard Brian was held in can’t be measured in words, he was a massive influence, certainly a calming one with his measured wise words on not just the footballing side of all those who came under his guidance but also a father figure in life as general to so many of that generation.

‘There aren’t many people who can leave such a deep lasting legacy on so many individuals, but Brian you were one of them and Newton Abbot Spurs AFC will forever be indebted to you and what you did for the club and those honoured to have played, socialised and worked alongside you.

‘We have lost our main man of that era.’