His spell at Barnsley was cut short when he was stabbed several times in a nightclub, suffering wounds to his hand, stomach and back, which caused him to miss more than two months of the 2006–07 season.
In March 2021, he received an 18-month suspended sentence and was ordered to complete 200 hours of unpaid work after pleading guilty to inflicting grievous bodily harm.
[3] A lifelong Manchester United supporter, he joined the club as an apprentice in April 1993, following a spell playing Sunday league football.
By the start of the 1997–98 season, he had become a regular in the Manchester United reserve team and made his senior debut on 25 October 1997, when he came on as a 64th-minute substitute for Gary Pallister in the 7–0 home win against Barnsley.
He joined Royal Antwerp on loan during the following season and helped them to reach the play-offs, but their hopes of promotion to the First Division were ended by a defeat to La Louvière.
[6] However, his spell in the United first-team was short-lived, as the signings of centre-back Laurent Blanc and central midfielder Juan Sebastián Verón made Wallwork surplus to requirements.
He made his final appearance for United on 26 January 2002, playing 61 minutes of the FA Cup Fourth Round match against Middlesbrough before being replaced by Ryan Giggs.
[20] The club was eventually relegated at the end of the campaign and Wallwork fell out of favour during 2003–04, taking part in just five league matches during the first half of the season.
[21] He attributed his new-found goalscoring form to tactical instructions from manager Bryan Robson, who told him to get forward more often, in contrast to his deeper-lying role at West Bromwich Albion.
[28][29] While Wallwork was sidelined for six weeks, his West Bromwich Albion teammates secured promotion back to the Premier League at the first attempt.
Robson referred to Wallwork as "an intelligent footballer" who could "sit, pass the ball and change the direction of a game" from central midfield.
[30] Wallwork returned to the team the following month and was ever-present throughout the second half of the season,[31] scoring his first Albion goal in a 2–0 home win over Manchester City on 22 January 2005.
[38] He remained a regular in the side during the early part of the 2006–07 season, but following the appointment of Bryan Robson's successor Tony Mowbray in October, Wallwork played just once more for the club.
Rimmer's friend, Charles Ebbrell, a 27-year-old from Denton, Greater Manchester, was given a suspended jail sentence after he admitted punching Wallwork during the attack.
[49] After returning to light training in late January,[50] Wallwork made his comeback from the stabbing on 21 February 2007, playing the full 90 minutes in a West Bromwich Albion reserve team game against Walsall.
He was also given permission by West Bromwich Albion to play in Town's FA Cup first round tie against Accrington Stanley on 10 November.
[58] He lost his place in the team to new signing Adam Bolder, and although he came on as an early substitute for Graham Kavanagh against Charlton Athletic on 12 February 2008,[59] he did not play for nearly another month until his appearance in a 2–1 victory against Queens Park Rangers.
He pleaded guilty to the offence five months later and was fined £35, ordered to pay £35 costs and a £15 victim surcharge, and was given three penalty points on his licence.
[65] In late 2010, whilst staking out the 10 Arches scrapyard in Clayton, Manchester, police on Operation Solomon who were attempting to track down a gang of armed robbers who had shot a Tesco security guard in Preston, noticed that Wallwork had his own, entirely separate, criminal enterprise.
Clarke Carlisle, then chairman of the Professional Footballers' Association, said that "Ronnie has been offered the full support of the union previously, and we will continue to be there as and when he calls upon us."