Barry Francis Fry (born 7 April 1945) is an English former

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 ...

player and manager. A winger, Fry was an apprentice 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 ...

in his youth, and had brief spells with

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...

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 ...

and

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 ...

, before he retired prematurely due to injury. He has managed Dunstable Town, Bedford Town, Maidstone United,

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 ...

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 ...

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

and, most recently,

Peterborough United Peterborough United Football Club is an English professional football club based in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Peterborough have a long-standing ...

. Fry is currently

director of football A sporting director, or director of sport, is an executive management position in a sports club. The role is well known as a manager role for European football clubs, which are sometime also "sports clubs", offering many types of sports. The sport ...

at Peterborough.

Career

In 1974, Dunstable Town received the financial backing of Keith Cheesman. He hired a young Barry Fry as manager, and gave him money to build up a strong team; indeed in his autobiography, Fry claims that he was often given blank, signed cheques. Of note, both

Jeff Astle Jeffrey Astle (13 May 1942 – 19 January 2002) was an English professional association football, footballer who played the majority of his career as a centre-forward for West Bromwich Albion. Nicknamed "the King" by the club's fans, he played ...

and

George Best George Best (22 May 1946 – 25 November 2005) was a Northern Irish professional footballer who played as a winger, spending most of his club career at Manchester United. A highly skilful dribbler, Best is regarded as one of the greatest pla ...

were brought in to play for the team with Best playing two pre-season games to promote interest in the club. Dunstable were promoted under Fry, but he was later dismissed by Cheeseman's successor, Billy Kitt, after a poor performance in the Southern League. After spells at Hillingdon Borough and hometown club Bedford Town, in 1979 Fry became

manager for the first of two management spells covering almost thirteen seasons. In his first spell, Barnet maintained a mid-table position in the Alliance League for six seasons before Fry left in December 1985 to manage Maidstone United. He returned to Barnet in August 1986 for a further seven seasons. Three times runners-up in the

GM Vauxhall Conference The National League (named Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons) is an association football league in England consisting of three divisions, the National League, National League North, and National League South. It was called the ...

, Fry achieved his first managerial success as Champions in 1990–91. Two years later he guided them towards the new Division Two (leaving two months before the end of the season to manage

) despite being sacked eight times and reinstated each time by controversial chairman Stan Flashman, as well as being in charge of a club which was in a precarious financial state and under threat of expulsion from the Football League. Fry moved to Southend United in 1993 with the club bottom of

Division One The Football League First Division was a division of the Football League in England from 1888 until 2004. It was the top division in the English football league system from the season 1888–89 until 1991–92, a century in which the First ...

. Fry kept Southend up, but later in the year moved to

. Though Birmingham were relegated in his first season, he won the Division Two championship and the

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Leag ...

in 1994–95. During the 1995–96 season, Fry guided the Blues to the semi-finals of the

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

but was sacked after the club finished 15th in Division One. Just after leaving Birmingham, Fry became chairman-manager of

. They were relegated to Division Three in his first season at the helm but they regained their Division Two status three years later. Fry's nine-year reign as manager came to an end in May 2005 after they were relegated again, after which time he took up a role as director of football. Fry remained as chairman until September 2006 when

Darragh MacAnthony Darragh MacAnthony (born 24 March 1976) is an Irish football chairman, author and entrepreneur. Early life and education MacAnthony, the son of Austin MacAnthony, a nightclub owner, MacAnthony was educated at St Mary's College, Dublin. He moved ...

succeeded him.

Fry in popular culture

Fry starred in a documentary called ''There's Only One Barry Fry''. The programme included some of Fry's

dressing room A changing-room, locker-room, (usually in a sports, theater, or staff context) or changeroom (regional use) is a room or area designated for changing one's clothes. Changing-rooms are provided in a semi-public situation to enable people to ch ...

antics, including a row with

Mick Bodley Michael John Bodley (born 14 September 1967) is an English former professional footballer who made 258 appearances in the Football League playing for Chelsea, Northampton Town, Barnet, Southend United, Gillingham, Birmingham City and Peterbor ...

and his promise to get the Posh out of Division Two.

Personal life

In December 2018, Fry was charged by the

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

for alleged misconduct in relation to betting after claims that he placed bets on matches or competitions during the 2017–18 season, in breach of FA rules. He accepted the charges, and on 31 January 2019 he was suspended from all footballing activity for four months, with three months of those suspended for a two-year period.

Statistics

Manager

:Note: These figures include only those matches in ''Soccerbases database.

Honours

Barnet *

Football Conference The National League (named Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons) is an association football league in England consisting of three divisions, the National League, National League North, and National League South. It was called the ...

: 1990–91 * Football Conference runner-up: 1986–87, 1987–88, 1989–90 *

Conference League Cup The Conference League Cup (formerly known as the Setanta Shield for sponsorship reasons, and before that the Bob Lord Trophy) was a football competition open to clubs playing in the Football Conference. History The competition was formed for t ...

: 1988–89 Birmingham City *

Football League Second Division The Football League Second Division was the second level division in the English football league system between 1892 and 1992. Following the foundation of the FA Premier League, the Football League divisions were renumbered and the third ti ...

: 1994–95 *

: 1994–95 Peterborough United *

Football League Third Division The Football League Third Division was the third tier of the English football league system in 1920–21 and again from 1958 until 1992. When the FA Premier League was formed, the division become the fourth tier level. In 2004, following the f ...

play-off winner: 1999–2000 Individual *

Manager of the Month: September 1986, January 1987

Notes

References

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fry, Barry 1945 births Living people Sportspeople from Bedford Association football inside forwards English footballers Manchester United F.C. players Bolton Wanderers F.C. players Luton Town F.C. players Leyton Orient F.C. players Ebbsfleet United F.C. players Romford F.C. players Bedford Town F.C. players Dunstable Town F.C. players St Albans City F.C. players English Football League players English football managers Dunstable Town F.C. managers Hillingdon Borough F.C. managers Bedford Town F.C. managers Barnet F.C. managers Maidstone United F.C. (1897) managers Southend United F.C. managers Birmingham City F.C. managers Peterborough United F.C. managers National League (English football) managers English Football League managers Footballers from Bedfordshire