Kyle Walker: My father reduced me to tears after every game – I hated going to football with him

City right-back reveals desire to prove his tough-loving father wrong is what eventually drove him to become an elite player

Kyle Walker has revealed his father used to make him cry after every match as a child but credits that tough love for making him an elite player.
The Manchester City right-back has become one of England’s most decorated players after winning six Premier League titles, two FA Cups, four League Cups and a Champions League.
Walker, 34, has launched his own podcast You’ll Never Beat Kyle Walker, and used the opening episode to detail the effect his father, Michael, had on his career from a young age.
“I used to hate going to football with him,” said Walker. “No matter if I played good or I played bad, I’d get in the car and I’d be reduced to tears. He’d say I wouldn’t have done this right, I wouldn’t have done that right.
“He didn’t do it because he wanted to hurt me. He did it because he cared.”
The former Tottenham defender also explained that it was this tough love that saw him set out to constantly “prove his dad wrong”, which consequently made him a better “player and person”.
However, despite playing Champions League football and at major tournaments for England, Walker said he did not win over his father’s approval as a professional until success came with his move to City.
“Sometimes it was very, very tough to get in that car, my mum would be going, ‘Michael, leave him alone, he’s done well’,” Walker said.
“I could have scored three goals. But he would have said, ‘no, you should have scored six’. Only when I’ve got older in my career, he actually says ‘alright, well played son’.
“After a couple of years at City. I think he was then like ‘you know, he actually can play football’.
“I still feel that some of the things in life – where he’s taught me to be a winner – I’m trying to embed that into the boys.
“With my kids now, I don’t let them win. If I keep letting them win, when they lose, it’s going to be traumatic for them.
“We’ll play a little game in the garden or something and I’ll give it my all because I feel that it’s going to install that into them.”