As a full-back, he was unable to displace Johnny Carey or John Aston in the line-up, and was transferred to Preston North End in March 1948 in hope of gaining regular first-team football, having only played 23 games in two seasons at Old Trafford.
Walton was to remain at Deepdale for almost 13 years, during which time he played 435 competitive games, and came close to winning the Football League title and the FA Cup.
Accrington went bankrupt and were forced to resign from the Football League in March 1962, with two months of the season left to play.
Walton was approaching 37 at the time of Accrington's demise, and decided to retire from professional football, but he continued at non-league level as player-coach of Horwich RMI.
After retiring from football later in the 1960s, he ran a newsagents shop in Preston and then worked for a local electrical firm.