Barry John Ashby (born 21 November 1970) is an English former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as a

centre-half In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

. He played for

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...

and Gillingham during a 17-year professional career. Ashby started his career at Watford, having played for Middlesex and London schools teams. As a schoolboy he first became attached to the club in October 1985, before becoming a trainee in July 1987. He won the 1988–89

FA Youth Cup The Football Association Youth Challenge Cup is an English football competition run by The Football Association for under-18 sides. Only those players between the age of 15 and 18 on 31 August of the current season are eligible to take part. It ...

with Watford, forming a defensive partnership with

Jason Soloman Jason Rafael Soloman (born 6 October 1970) is an English retired professional footballer who played as a defender. Soloman made over 100 league appearances for a number of clubs between 1990 and 1997, before playing non-league football. Career ...

. He signed a professional contract in December 1988. Played as both a centre half and full-back by Watford, Ashby's first goal was one of seven scored against

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system and are currently managed by Mark Hughes. Th ...

in December 1989. In March 1994 Watford signed

centre-half Keith Millen for £65,000 and Ashby, who was valued at £35,000 in the exchange. Ashby went on to play 120 league games for Brentford in three years at the club, and was named player of the season in 1996–97. Ashby then signed for Gillingham. While with the club Ashby played in both the 1999 and 2000 Football League Second Division play-off finals at

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

, losing to

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

in 1999 on penalties, but achieving promotion to the second-tier for the first time in the Kent side's history in 2000 after defeating

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, ...

3–2 (after extra time). During his time at Gillingham, Ashby made over 320 appearances. He was released on 31 May 2005 after he turned down a contract extension on reduced terms. He made a return to football with

Welling United Welling United Football Club is a professional football club, based in Welling in the London Borough of Bexley, England. The club's first team play in the National League South, at the sixth tier of English football. History Welling United Foot ...

, where he linked up with his former teammates

Matt Bodkin Matthew James Bodkin (born 16 September 1983) is an English footballer, who plays as a winger for Chatham Town. Career Bodkin began his career as a trainee with Nottingham Forest, turning professional in May 2003. He failed to make the first t ...

and

Adrian Pennock Adrian Barry Pennock (born 27 March 1971) is an English former association football, footballer who played for Norwich City F.C., Norwich City, Molde FK, AFC Bournemouth, Gillingham F.C., Gillingham and Ebbsfleet United F.C., Gravesend & Northfl ...

, the latter being the Welling manager at the time. Ashby left Welling in May 2006. On 22 May 2008 Ashby was appointed first-team manager of

Margate Margate is a seaside resort, seaside town on the north coast of Kent in south-east England. The town is estimated to be 1.5 miles long, north-east of Canterbury and includes Cliftonville, Garlinge, Palm Bay, UK, Palm Bay and Westbrook, Kent, ...

, but was dismissed from his post just five months later. In November 2009 he returned to

as assistant-manager to Jamie Day, helping take the club to the 2012

Conference South The National League South, formerly Conference South, is one of the second divisions of the National League in England, immediately below the top division National League. Along with National League North, it is in the second level of the N ...

play off final, where they lost 1–0 to

Dartford Dartford is the principal town in the Borough of Dartford, Kent, England. It is located south-east of Central London and is situated adjacent to the London Borough of Bexley to its west. To its north, across the Thames estuary, is Thurrock in ...

Personal life

After retiring from football Ashby worked in sales in the City of London. Ashby's son Harrison is also a footballer, and made his Premier League debut for West Ham United on 15 December 2021.

Honours

Gillingham *

Football League Second Division play-offs The EFL League One play-offs are a series of play-off matches contested by the association football teams finishing from third to sixth in the EFL League One table and are part of the English Football League play-offs. , the play-offs comprise tw ...

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

Watford *

: 1988–89 Individual * Brentford Player of the Season: 1996–97

References

External links

* *Playfair Football Annuals 1991-92 to 2006-07 1970 births Living people Footballers from Park Royal English footballers Association football defenders Watford F.C. players Brentford F.C. players Gillingham F.C. players Welling United F.C. players English Football League players English football managers Margate F.C. managers English people of Scottish descent {{England-footy-defender-1970s-stub