Walter Crickmer

{{Short description|English football manager (1899–1958)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2020}}

{{Use British English|date=January 2020}}

{{Infobox football biography

| name = Walter Crickmer

| fullname = Walter Raymond Crickmer

| birth_date = 17 December 1899

| birth_place = Wigan, Lancashire, England

| death_date = 6 February 1958 (age 58)

| death_place = Munich, Germany

| manageryears1 = 1931–1932 |managerclubs1 = Manchester United

| manageryears2 = 1937–1945 |managerclubs2 = Manchester United

}}

Walter Raymond Crickmer (17 December 1899 – 6 February 1958) was an English football club secretary and manager.

He became Manchester United club secretary in 1926.{{cite web|url=http://www.btinternet.com/~c.beirne/managers.html|title=Red Life Managers|archive-url=https://archive.today/20121015175736/http://www.btinternet.com/~c.beirne/managers.html|archive-date=15 October 2012|url-status=dead}} He twice assumed managerial responsibility: from 1 April 1931 to 1 June 1932, and then again from 1 August 1937 to 1 February 1945.

Together with club owner James W. Gibson, he was responsible for instituting the youth development system at Manchester United. After 32 years of service as club secretary, Crickmer was killed in the Munich air disaster on 6 February 1958.{{Cite news |title=Olive was ultimate club man |url=http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/sport/football/manchester_united/s/214/214068_olive_was_ultimate_club_man.html |newspaper=Manchester Evening News |date=24 May 2006 |access-date=9 December 2008 }}{{Cite news |first=Richard |last=Williams |title=Presses stopped in Manchester as Guardian man confirmed dead |url=https://www.theguardian.com/football/2008/feb/02/newsstory.manchesterunited2 |work=The Guardian |location=London |date=2 February 2008 |access-date=9 December 2008 }} He is buried at Stretford Cemetery.{{cite web | url=http://www.munich58.co.uk/graves/index.asp | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091022134102/http://www.munich58.co.uk/graves/index.asp |archive-date=22 October 2009 | title=Where Are They Buried? | website=munich58.co.uk | access-date=2 January 2020 }}

He was married to Nellie Robertson from 1921{{cite web |url=http://www.lancashirebmd.org.uk/cgi/marrind.cgi |title=Lancashire Births Marriages & Deaths |website=www.lancashirebmd.org.uk |access-date=17 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030117224740/http://www.lancashirebmd.org.uk/cgi/marrind.cgi |archive-date=17 January 2003 |url-status=dead}} until his death. She outlived him by nine years, dying in 1967. They had one daughter, Beryl, who was born in 1921.