Alfred J. Barker (1873–1940) was an English

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

manager who managed

Stoke Stoke is a common place name in the United Kingdom. Stoke may refer to: Places United Kingdom The largest city called Stoke is Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire. See below. Berkshire * Stoke Row, Berkshire Bristol * Stoke Bishop * Stok ...

between 1908 and 1914.

Career

Barker was born in Stoke-upon-Trent and became a referee for

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 ...

and was also a supporter of his local team

. He retired from officiating in 1907 and when Stoke suffered financial meltdown in 1907–08 which led to the club being

liquidated Liquidation is the process in accounting by which a company is brought to an end in Canada, United Kingdom, United States, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, and many other countries. The assets and property of the company are redistrib ...

and leaving the Football League, Barker and a number of wealthy supporters got together and bought the club back from the brink of extinction. They formed a new company re-branded Stoke Football Club (1908) Limited with Barker being appointed secretary-manager. Barker's impressive efforts led to Stoke being included for re-election but lost out to

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

and their exit from the Football League was sealed. Barker placed Stoke in the Birmingham & District League for the 1908–09 season. With Stoke wanting to gain a quick return to League football they joined the

Southern Football League The Southern League is a men's football competition featuring semi-professional clubs from the South and Midlands of England. Together with the Isthmian League and the Northern Premier League it forms levels seven and eight of the English fo ...

in 1909–10. Stoke scored 167 goals in 1910–11 as they gain promotion to the Southern League Division One and won the Birmingham & District League. However, despite much expectation being placed on the team they found that Division One was much tougher than they had expected and were relegated back to Division Two in 1912–13 and after Stoke failed to gain an instant return in 1913–14 Barker took most of the criticism from the supporters. Both Barker and chairman A. Hurst stepped down in the Summer of 1914 it was a sad way to see such key figures, responsible for saving the club, leave in such circumstances.

Managerial statistics

Honours

* Southern League Division Two champions: 1909–10 * Southern League Division Two runner-up: 1910–11 * Birmingham & District League: 1910–11

References

External links

Stoke City managers
at stokecityfc.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Barker, Alfred 1873 births 1940 deaths Sportspeople from Stoke-on-Trent English football managers Stoke City F.C. managers