Wally Akers

Walter William George "Wally" Akers (1917 – 1976) was an English professional footballer either side of the Second World War.

Born in West Auckland, he began his professional career with Wolverhampton Wanderers in 1934, but left the club without ever playing for the first team, and joined Newport County, where he experienced a similar spell. He finally made his debut in The Football League for Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic, where he made 15 League starts in total. After a short spell with Chelsea, in which he again played no first-team football, he joined Mansfield Town for the start of the 1939–40 season. He played three times and scored three goals before the League was abandoned due to the start of the war. After the war, he joined Gillingham of the Southern League, where he played for two seasons, scoring 20 goals in 40 games. One of his goals came in a 12–1 win over Gloucester City, which remains the club's biggest-ever win in a competitive fixture. In 1948 he moved on to Corby Town and later played for Goole Town.

In 1950 he took over as manager of Corby, and led the team to the United Counties League championship in both his first two seasons in charge. He later managed Kettering Town.