John William Barker (27 February 1906 – 20 January 1982) 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 327 league games for

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 1884 ...

and won 11

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

. He later managed Derby County and

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 ...

Playing career

Derby County

Born in

Denaby Denaby is a civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster in South Yorkshire, England. It has a population of 326, increasing slightly to 329 at the 2011 Census. The only village in the parish, historically known as Denaby, is now know ...

, near

Conisbrough Conisbrough () is a town within the City of Doncaster, in South Yorkshire, England. It is roughly midway between Doncaster and Rotherham, and is built alongside the River Don at . It has a ward population (Conisbrough and Denaby) of 14,333. ...

, England, Barker was 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 ...

who played youth football with Denaby Rovers in the

Rawmarsh Rawmarsh (locally ) is a large village in the Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham, in South Yorkshire, England. Historically within the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is north-northeast from Rotherham town centre and south-southwest of Swinton. ...

League while working full-time as a miner. His career nearly finished before it had barely started after he suffered a thigh injury at the pit following a roof collapse. He joined

Midland League The Midland Football League is an English football league that was founded in 2014 by the merger of the former Midland Alliance and Midland Combination. The league has four divisions that sit at levels 9–12 of the football pyramid. History Th ...

side Denaby United for one season, before he signed for

for £200 in May 1928. He played in their great pre-

war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

team under

George Jobey George Jobey (July 1885 – 9 May 1962) was an English football player and manager. He won the league championship as a player with his hometown club Newcastle United. Career Jobey was born in 1885 in Heddon, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and played ...

when Derby were rarely outside the top six. Barker represented Derby in 327 league games but never won any silverware with the club.

England

However, his form earned Barker 11 caps for

. Barker won his first cap against

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

on 29 September 1934. His second game was the infamous

Battle of Highbury The Battle of Highbury was a football match between England and Italy that took place on 14 November 1934 at Arsenal Stadium, Highbury, London. England won 3–2 in a hotly contested and frequently violent match. Background This was Italy's firs ...

in a hotly contested and violent match against

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. Over the next two years he played nine more times both in friendlies and the

British Home Championship The British Home Championship * sco, Hame Internaitional Kemp * gd, Farpais lìg eadar-nàiseanta * cy, Pencampwriaeth y Pedair Gwlad, name=lang (historically known as the British International Championship or simply the International Champio ...

. In his final game for England he was made captain against Wales on 17 October 1936.

Managerial career

After retiring from Derby County, Barker joined the Army Physical Training Corps before being appointed

manager in May 1946 taking charge of the team's first season following World War Two. He was steering City to a high position in

Division Three (North) The Third Division North of the Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division South with clubs elected to the League or relegated from a higher division allocated to ...

when he resigned in January 1947 after just eight months in charge. His reign was the shortest in City's history at the time. He had a brief spell in charge of Irish club,

Dundalk Dundalk ( ; ga, Dún Dealgan ), meaning "the fort of Dealgan", is the county town (the administrative centre) of County Louth, Ireland. The town is on the Castletown River, which flows into Dundalk Bay on the east coast of Ireland. It is h ...

before he returned to Derby to work for Rolls-Royce. He moved to be trainer-coach at

Oldham Athletic Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is a professional football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The history of Oldham Athletic ...

in 1948. In November 1953, he returned to football management at Derby County to replace

Stuart McMillan Stuart McMillan (born 6 May 1972) is a Scottish politician serving as Convener of the Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee since 2021. A member of the Scottish National Party (SNP), he has been the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) ...

. The club had lost its international players and in 1954–55 the side were relegated to Division Three (North) for the first time in its history.

After football

Barker resigned to go back to work in Derby, as a fitter's mate at the Carriage and Wagon railway works in Derby. Barker died in 1982 just before his 76th birthday following a fight against cancer and a spinal problem.

References

External links

England career profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Barker, Jack 1906 births 1982 deaths Military personnel from Yorkshire People from Conisbrough Footballers from Doncaster English footballers Association football defenders Denaby United F.C. players Derby County F.C. players English Football League players England international footballers English football managers Bradford City A.F.C. managers Dundalk F.C. managers Derby County F.C. managers English Football League managers English Football League representative players British Army personnel of World War II Royal Army Physical Training Corps soldiers