Richie Joseph Barker (23 November 1939 – 11 October 2020) 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 lea ...

and manager 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, it is the oldest football league in the world, and was the top-level football league in England from ...

for

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club in Derby, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. One of the 12 founder members of the English Football ...

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football, football club in Nottingham, England, which competes in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of Football in England, English football, following promotion and relegation, promotion ...

and

Peterborough United Peterborough United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third level of the English football league system. Peterborough United formed in ...

. He was also manager of

Shrewsbury Town Shrewsbury Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1886, the club were inaugur ...

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, the cl ...

, Notts County,

Ethnikos Piraeus Ethnikos Piraeus (Greek: Εθνικός Πειραιώς) is a Greek multisport club based in Piraeus. It was founded in 1923. The full name of the club is Ethnikos Omilos Filathlon Pireos/Phalirou or Ethnikos OFPF (Greek: Εθνικός Όμι� ...

(Greece),

Zamalek Zamalek ( , ''al zamalek'') is a ''qism'' (ward) within the West District (''hayy gharb'') in the Western Area of Cairo, Egypt. It is an affluent district on a man-made island which is geologically a part of the west bank of the Nile River, wit ...

(Egypt) and

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club (), commonly known as West Brom or The Albion, is a professional association football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the Englis ...

Playing career

Barker was born in

Loughborough Loughborough ( ) is a market town in the Charnwood (borough), Charnwood Borough of Leicestershire, England; it is the administrative centre of Charnwood Borough Council. At the United Kingdom 2021 census, the town's built-up area had a popula ...

and began his career with non-league

Burton Albion Burton Albion Football Club is a professional association football club in the town of Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third level of the English football league system. The club moved its home g ...

in 1960. In the summer of 1965 he played abroad in the

Eastern Canada Professional Soccer League The Eastern Canada Professional Soccer League was a soccer league in Canada. The league operated for six seasons from 1961 to 1966 across four cities in two Canadian provinces and one American state. In the 1960s, the Eastern Canada Professional ...

with Hamilton Primos. He spent seven years with the "Brewers" and scored a club record 159 goals before joining

in 1967 as one of

Brian Clough Brian Howard Clough ( ; 21 March 1935 – 20 September 2004) was an English football player and manager, primarily known for his successes as a manager with Derby County and Nottingham Forest. He is one of four managers to have won the Englis ...

's first signings. He played 31 times in 1967–68 scoring 12 goals and after scoring just twice in 14 in 1968–69 he was sold to

in December 1968. He enjoyed a far more successful career with the "Magpies" scoring 20 goals in 1969–70 and 13 in 1970–71 helping

Jimmy Sirrel James Sirrel (2 February 1922 – 25 September 2008) was a Scottish football player and manager. Born in Glasgow, Sirrel began his career with Celtic before moving to England, spending most of his playing career with Brighton & Hove Albion. ...

's side win the Fourth Division title. After falling out of favour at

Meadow Lane Meadow Lane is a football (soccer), football stadium in Nottingham, England. It is the home ground of Notts County F.C., Notts County, who have played there since it opened in 1910. The stadium was also home to Notts County Ladies F.C. from 201 ...

he ended his playing career with a season at

before moving into coaching.

Managerial career

Barker began his coaching career with

working alongside Alan Durban and once Durban left for

in February 1978 Barker took over as manager of the "Shrews". He remained at Shrewsbury for nine months before taking up the position of assistant manager to

John Barnwell John Barnwell (born 24 December 1938) is an English former football player and manager. He was the chief executive of the League Managers Association. Career Arsenal Born in Newcastle, Barnwell first played as an amateur for Whitley Bay and B ...

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club ( ), commonly referred to as Wolves, is a professional association football, football club based in Wolverhampton, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league s ...

and helped Wolves to lift the League Cup in

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a United States grain embargo against the Soviet Union, grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning Sys ...

. In the summer of 1981 Stoke manager Alan Durban left for

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...

and he recommended Barker for the job and the Stoke board duly went with his advice and appointed Barker. His time at Stoke got off to a great start as Stoke beat

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

on the opening day of the 1981–82 season. However it was a tough season for Stoke as they battled against relegation finishing just two places above the drop zone. The 1982–83 season saw Barker bring in some quality players such as George Berry, Mickey Thomas,

Sammy McIlroy Samuel Baxter McIlroy (born 2 August 1954) is a Northern Irish retired footballer who played for Manchester United, Stoke City, Manchester City, Örgryte (Sweden), Bury, VfB Mödling (Austria), Preston North End and the Northern Ireland na ...

and

Mark Chamberlain Mark Valentine Chamberlain (born 19 November 1961) is an English former international footballer. He is the younger brother of Neville Chamberlain, and the father of Beşiktaş and England international player Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Ki ...

as Stoke enjoyed a good season with a number of exciting matches. However, in the summer of 1983 Barker decided to change his tactics to be a more direct team using the

long ball In association football, a long ball is a pass attempt that moves the ball a long distance on the field via one long aerial kick from either a goalkeeper or a defender directly to an attacking player, with the ball generally bypassing the midfie ...

style of play. It did not go down well with supporters or indeed players and results were not good and Barker was sacked in December 1983. He spent a year out of the game before making a return to former club

and then managed Greek side

and Egyptian giants

with whom he helped win the

African Cup of Champions Clubs The CAF Champions League, known for sponsorship purposes as the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League and formerly the African Cup of Champions Clubs, is an annual club football competition organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) a ...

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. ** Spain and Portugal en ...

. He returned to England and became assistant manager at Luton Town before taking up the position of Assistant Manager at

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an off ...

under Ron Atkinson in 1989. He remained there until 1998 helping coach the team which won the Rumbelows league cup in 1991 and made it to both league and FA Cup finals in 1993. He latterly became Director of Football after David Pleat was appointed manager. Shortly before retirement he helped his former player

Paul Bracewell Paul William Bracewell (born 19 July 1962) is an English former professional association football, football player and manager. Bracewell played as a midfielder. He was a member of the Everton F.C., Everton side that won the League title in 19 ...

at Halifax Town. In addition, he served

as chief scout (taking over as caretaker manager for one game following the departure of

Ray Harford Raymond Thomas Harford (1 June 1945 – 9 August 2003) was an English footballer, better known for his successes as a coach and manager than as a player. He is considered to have been one of the top coaches of his generation. During his playi ...

Career statistics

Playing career

Source:

Managerial career

Honours

Player

Notts County *

Football League Fourth Division The Football League Fourth Division was the fourth-highest division in the English football league system from the 1958–59 season until the creation of the Premier League prior to the 1992–93 season. Following the creation of the Premier ...

: 1970–71

Manager

Zamalek *

Death

Barker died on 12 October 2020, at the age of 80.

References

External links

*
Interview with Ritchie Barker
at wolvesheroes.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Barker, Richie 1939 births 2020 deaths Footballers from Loughborough English men's footballers English football managers Burton Albion F.C. players Loughborough United F.C. players Matlock Town F.C. players Hamilton Steelers (1958–1967) players Derby County F.C. players Notts County F.C. players Peterborough United F.C. players Shrewsbury Town F.C. managers Stoke City F.C. managers Notts County F.C. managers West Bromwich Albion F.C. managers Sheffield Wednesday F.C. managers English Football League managers Zamalek SC managers Ethnikos Piraeus F.C. managers Men's association football forwards Eastern Canada Professional Soccer League players English Football League players