Barry Silkman (born 29 June 1952) is a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

agent and former player, who played in midfield for 11 clubs including at

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 1979 and at

Leyton Orient Leyton Orient Football Club is a professional football club based in Leyton, East London, England, who compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They are the second oldest football club in London to play at a professio ...

from 1981 to 1985. He competed for 16 years. In total, he made 340 professional appearances, and scored 31 goals. In the 1990s he became an

agent Agent may refer to: Espionage, investigation, and law *, spies or intelligence officers * Law of agency, laws involving a person authorized to act on behalf of another ** Agent of record, a person with a contractual agreement with an insuranc ...

. ''Metro'' named him as the 10th-most influential agent in football in 2013.

Playing career

In 1973, to obtain him

Barnet Barnet may refer to: People *Barnet (surname) * Barnet (given name) Places United Kingdom *Chipping Barnet or High Barnet, commonly known as Barnet, one of three focal towns of the borough below. *East Barnet, a district of the borough below; an ...

offered

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * ...

what was then a record fee for a non-league player, and his earnings rose from £5 a week to £20 a week. Silkman also played for

Hereford United Hereford United Football Club was an association football club based in Hereford, England. They played at Edgar Street for their entire history. They were nicknamed 'The Whites' or 'The Lilywhites', after their predominantly white kit, or 'The ...

(1974–1976),

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building ...

(1976–1978),

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the team are competing in League One, the third tier of English football. They have played at Home Park, ...

(1978–1979),

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire, England, that competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1885, it is nicknam ...

(on loan 1979),

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 ...

(1980),

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus Ro ...

(1980–1981),

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of English football. Southend are known as ...

(1985–1986) and

Crewe Alexandra Crewe Alexandra Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, that competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' because of ...

(1986). Silkman was also a player-coach at

for 3 seasons with Frank Clark as manager. It was at Plymouth that he first came to the attention of

Malcolm Allison Malcolm Alexander Allison (5 September 1927 – 14 October 2010) was an English football player and manager. Nicknamed "Big Mal", he was one of English football's most flamboyant and intriguing characters because of his panache, fedora and ...

, who deemed him to be a suitable player to bolster Manchester City's midfield as they struggled in the First Division. In total, he made 340 professional appearances, and scored 31 goals. Silkman was a member of the gold-medal winning 45-plus Team GB at the

2009 Maccabiah Games The 18th Maccabiah Games ( he, המכביה ה-18 ישראל תשס"ט), were held in July 2009. According to the organizing committee these were the largest games held yet. These Games were the world's fifth-largest sporting event, behind the Ol ...

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

Managerial career

In November 2018, Silkman was briefly appointed manager of

Staines Town Staines Town Football Club was a semi-professional Association football, football club based in Staines-upon-Thames, Middlesex. History Early days Staines Town FC was founded in 1892 and was known under various names including ''Staines F.C ...

, before leaving the club due to

the Football Association The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the Sports governing body, governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Bailiwick of Guernsey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the ...

deeming the job to represent a conflict of interests with his work as an agent. He coached the Team GB 45-plus football squad at the

2013 Maccabiah Games The 19th Maccabiah ( he, המכביה התשע-עשרה) were held during July 18 to 30, 2013. The Games brought together 7,500 competing athletes, making it the third-largest international sporting event in the world after the Olympic Games and ...

in Israel.

Agent career

After retiring from football, Silkman became an

. ''Metro'' named him as the 10th most influential agent in football in 2013. He said: "It's not the greatest job in the world, and can be very frustrating."

Personal life

Silkman was born in

Whitechapel Whitechapel is a district in East London and the future administrative centre of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is a part of the East End of London, east of Charing Cross. Part of the historic county of Middlesex, the area formed ...

East London East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the f ...

, and brought up in the

East End of London The East End of London, often referred to within the London area simply as the East End, is the historic core of wider East London, east of the Roman and medieval walls of the City of London and north of the River Thames. It does not have uni ...

. His mother is Ginny. He is Jewish, had a bar mitzvah, and said in 2013: "I was brought up Jewish and I'm Jewish through and through." He was a student at Canon Barnett Primary and Robert Montefiore Secondary schools. Silkman has been involved in greyhound training and

greyhound racing Greyhound racing is an organized, competitive sport in which greyhounds are raced around a track. There are two forms of greyhound racing, track racing (normally around an oval track) and coursing; the latter is now banned in most countries. Tra ...

, with his dogs Half Awake, Skomal and Carlsberg Champ respectively winning the 1987

Gold Collar The Gold Collar is a greyhound racing competition held annually. It was inaugurated in 1933 at Catford Stadium. Following the closure of Catford in 2003 the competition switched to Belle Vue Stadium but only lasted until 2009 when it was discont ...

(

Catford Catford is a district in south east London, England, and the administrative centre of the London Borough of Lewisham. It is southwest of Lewisham itself, mostly in the Rushey Green (ward), Rushey Green and Catford South Ward (electoral subdiv ...

), 1988 Guineas ( Hackney) and the 1990

Cesarewitch The Cesarewitch Handicap is a flat handicap horse race in Great Britain open to horses aged three years or older. It is run at Newmarket over a distance of 2 miles and 2 furlongs (3,621 metres) ...

( Belle Vue). He is also involved in horse racing and is a presenter on ''Racing Post Greyhound TV''.

Career statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Silkman, Barry 1952 births Footballers from Stepney Living people English Jews Jewish footballers Jewish British sportspeople English footballers British sports agents Barnet F.C. players Grays Athletic F.C. players Brentford F.C. players Crewe Alexandra F.C. players Crystal Palace F.C. players Hereford United F.C. players Leyton Orient F.C. players Luton Town F.C. players Manchester City F.C. players Plymouth Argyle F.C. players Queens Park Rangers F.C. players Southend United F.C. players Wimbledon F.C. players Chelmsford City F.C. players Wycombe Wanderers F.C. players Association football midfielders English Football League players Maccabi Tel Aviv F.C. players Wingate & Finchley F.C. players Staines Town F.C. managers English expatriate sportspeople in Israel English expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Israel British greyhound racing trainers English football managers Competitors at the 2009 Maccabiah Games Maccabiah Games medalists in football Maccabiah Games gold medalists for Great Britain