Barry Henry Stobart (6 June 1938 – 28 August 2013) was an English

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 in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

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 ...

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

and

Shrewsbury Town Shrewsbury Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of English football. The club plays its home games at the New Meadow, having mo ...

during the 1960s.

Career

Stobart began his football career at Wath Wanderers, the

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

-based nursery club of

, before heading south in 1953 to join them, turning professional in 1955. With the likes of Peter Broadbent,

Dennis Wilshaw Dennis James Wilshaw (11 March 1926 – 10 May 2004) was an English international footballer. A forward, he scored 173 goals in 380 appearances in the Football League, and also scored ten goals in twelve appearances for the England national te ...

and Jimmy Murray already established in the forward line, Stobart was consigned to the reserves in his early years. He finally made his first team debut on 5 March 1960, when he scored in a 2–0 win at

Manchester United 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 City of Salford, Salford to ...

. Although he made just four league appearances before the

1960 FA Cup Final The 1960 FA Cup Final was the 79th final of the world's oldest domestic football cup competition, the FA Cup. It took place on 7 May 1960 at Wembley Stadium in London. The match was contested by Blackburn Rovers and Wolverhampton Wanderers. Wo ...

, his performance in the final league game at

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

saw him earn a surprise place in the Cup Final team, at the expense of

Bobby Mason Robert Henry Mason (born 22 March 1936) is an English former professional footballer, who played in the Football League for Wolverhampton Wanderers, where he spent the majority of his league career, and for Leyton Orient. Career Mason was sig ...

. This allowed Stobart to collect the only medal of his career, as Wolves defeated

Blackburn Blackburn () is an industrial town and the administrative centre of the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The town is north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the Ribble Valley, east of Preston and north-n ...

3–0 in the

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 ...

showpiece. Barry Stobart was given the nickname "Kangaroo Kid" due to his unique ability to jump and score many goals via headers. The following two seasons saw him only appear occasionally for the first team, and it wasn't until the 1962–63 campaign that he enjoyed a lengthy run in the side, during which he scored 14 goals. The next year saw him again largely relegated to the reserves though, and he left Molineux to join

in summer 1964. He failed to settle at

Maine Road Maine Road was a football stadium in Moss Side, Manchester, England, that was home to Manchester City F.C. from 1923 to 2003. It hosted FA Cup semi-finals, the Charity Shield, a League Cup final and England matches. Maine Road's highest atte ...

, and returned to the Midlands within months when he joined

in November 1964 for £22,000. He remained at Villa for three years, his best season coming in 1966–67 when he scored 11 times from 20 appearances. He dropped down the divisions in October 1967 to join

of the

Third Division In sport, the Third Division, also called Division 3, Division Three, or Division III, is often the third-highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Association football *Belgian Thir ...

in a £10,000 deal. After a spell with them, he moved to South Africa to play out his career with Durban Spurs. His eldest son Sean Stobart was a professional footballer a Scunthorpe United scoring on his first team debut against Rochdale FC. His youngest son Loy was later also on the professional books at Wolverhampton Wanderers during the early 1990s having signed from Nottingham Forrest on a free transfer. He also played for Cheltenham Town FC and Bidvest Witts in South Africa.

Post Football

Barry went on to coach Willenhall Town FC to an FA vase final in 1981 at Wembley and guided semi-pro footballers, John Muir, Brendan Hackett and Russell Bradley to professional careers in Football. After retirement he worked as a greengrocer and finally as a window cleaner in the

Sedgley Sedgley is a town in the north of the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, Sedgley is on the A459 road between Wolverhampt ...

area.

Vascular dementia

In 2005 it was revealed that Stobart suffered from vascular dementia. He resided in a care home from 2009 and died on 28 August 2013.Wolves mourn death of FA Cup hero Barry Stobart
expressandstar.com, August 29, 2013

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Stobart, Barry 1938 births 2013 deaths Footballers from Doncaster English men's footballers Men's association football forwards Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players Manchester City F.C. players Aston Villa F.C. players Shrewsbury Town F.C. players Addington F.C. players Durban United F.C. players English Football League players