Premier League should be in mourning for final farewell to last genuine hardman in Kyle Walker – I thought better of him
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BLACK armbands all round at Villa Park tomorrow lunchtime. Now, there is a good chance Kyle Walker will pull off a miraculous recovery from the ‘headbutt’ that sent him plummeting to the floor last weekend. And that is something to rejoice. Even so, the Premier League should be in mourning for a final farewell to the game’s last genuine hardman.
![[Rasmus Hojlund head-to-head with Kyle Walker]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/manchester-citys-kyle-walker-squares-957690831.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
For if big, bad Kyle Walker has resorted to that kind of thing, what hope is there of football remaining an honest contact sport?. For years now, the Manchester City and England defender has enjoyed a formidable reputation as unbreakable and unshakeable.
![[Walker was slammed for his theatrics]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/kyle-walker-manchester-city-reacts-957689395_b92a18.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
Built like a Sheffield tram, faster than any joyrider on the scary Lansdowne Estate where he grew up, uncompromising in the extreme on the pitch, Walker was the closest thing to ingrained English oak. He also came across as the last bastion of sheer bs in the cosmopolitan, coiffured, cosy modern game.
![[Ian Holloway had a row with Swindon fans]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/www-youtube-com-watch-v-957624130.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
A hardened working-class boy brought up in a council flat in a place where getting to the bus stop was a daily obstacle course, dodging burnt-out cars and dope dealers. Even when his tangled love life was splattered across the front pages of this newspaper, as he juggled the balls of his professional career and his ability to father kids like Southampton ship goals, he would not be blown off course.
![[West Ham teenage keeper Oscar Fairs sadly passed away]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/image_6fe8ba.png?strip=all&w=960)
