Walter John Downes (born 9 June 1961) is an English professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder.

As a footballer, Downes played the majority of his career for Wimbledon as well as shorter spells with Newport County, Sheffield United and Hayes.

[5] He is often cited as being the main instigator of the Crazy Gang spirit at the club,[6] as it rose from the Fourth to the First Division inside a decade.

[5] In 1988, he left to join his mentor and former Wimbledon manager Dave Bassett at Sheffield United, but his career for his new club was severely limited by a number of serious injuries, and also by a poor disciplinary record, getting sent off twice in his nine appearances.

However Warnock said: "I made the kicking gesture to tell the referee that Steve Sidwell's tackle on Chris Armstrong had been the worst of the game.

[7] On 14 May 2009, the club announced that they would not renew his and Kevin Dillon's contract after Reading failed to bounce back to the Premier League at the first attempt after getting knocked out of the play-offs by Burnley 3–0 on aggregate and the departure of Steve Coppell.

Then on 24 November 2010, Downes was appointed as a defensive coach at West Ham United under manager Avram Grant.

[9] In May 2011, shortly after West Ham were relegated from the Premier League, Grant was sacked however Downes kept his job and was named first team coach when new manager Sam Allardyce took over.