Mike Walsh came to Carrow Road on loan from Everton in October 1982 as cover for the injured Dave Watson. He made five appearances in a yellow shirt against Sunderland, Watford, Tottenham, Aston Villa and Coventry before returning to Goodison Park. One month later, Walsh was on loan to Burnley. He travelled to the USA to rebuild his career the following summer with the Fort Lauderdale Strikers. He joined Manchester City in October 1983 but made just 4 appearances for the Maine Road side. Four months later, he joined Blackpool where he made 144 league appearances . He became manager of Bury in December 1990 and stayed there until September 1995.

Walsh began his career at Bolton and played 177 league games for them before transferring to Everton for £90,000 in August 1981. Whilst at Everton, he gained four caps for the Republic of Ireland.

After managing non-league Barrow for 6months, he headed south to become Assistant Manager to Steve McMahon at Swindon. Upon leaving Wiltshire, he acted as Sunderland's European scout under Peter Reid. This was later followed with roles coaching the Korean Under-21 side and helping out again at Swindon.

On January 29th 2003, Conference side Southport appointed him as manager replacing Phil Wilson. The contract would last until the end of the 2002/03 season. Assisting him will be Bret Harris and former Blackpool player Tony Rodwell. However this appointment was not successful and with just two victories since the New Year, Southport were relegated into the Unibond Northern Premier League. His contract was eventually terminated at the end of September 2003 when it appeared that Southport's return to the Conference was proving more of a challenge than the board expected.

Mike now runs a restaurant in Jávea, Spain