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Kyle Walker explains his parenting style and admits he does not allow his children to beat him at garden football.
During his career at Manchester City, Walker has won six Premier League titles, two FA Cups, four League Cups and one Champions League.
He has also been capped 90 times by England and finished with two runners-up medals in Euro 2020 and Euro 2024, and has explained how his father helped him reach the level required to be one of the best right-backs in the world.
Speaking to the You’ll Never Beat Kyle Walker podcast he said his father “made me be the person and player that I am”.
“I used to hate going to football with him,” the City defender said.
“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.”
Walker’s journey to Manchester City has not been the most straightforward. He started his career at boyhood club Sheffield United, and earned a move to Tottenham Hotspur. But that was followed by an almost immediate return to the Blades on loan, and then further spells at QPR and Aston Villa.
After cementing his place in the Tottenham first team, Walker moved to City in 207 for £45m, and has enjoyed great success under Pep Guardiola.
Walker does not employ the same parenting style as his father, but takes some aspects of it. “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,” he added.
“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.”