Gareth Barry

Gareth Barry (born February 23, 1981 in Hastings) is an English football player who currently is the captain of English Premier League side Aston Villa. Along with former team-mate Gareth Southgate, he was the only player to play in both final matches at the old Wembley Stadium, once for Aston Villa against Chelsea and for England against Germany, both resulting in a 1–0 loss.

Club career

Gareth Barry attended William Parker sports college in hastings with Michael Yardy (famous cricketer who plays for sussex sharks). An ex-England under-18 captain, he joined Aston Villa from Brighton and Hove Albion F.C. as a trainee in 1997 along with Michael Standing, who was considered at the time to be a much bigger talent than Barry. The move was controversial as the Brighton board demanded on £2.5 million for the two players, the club eventually received £150,000, a fraction of what the England international is worth now. He played his first match for Villa on May 2, 1998 against Sheffield Wednesday. Initially, he played as a central defender, on the left-hand side of a back three including Gareth Southgate and Ugo Ehiogu.

Barry has since become a highly versatile player. Starting as a centre-back, he then moved to the left-back position, where he excelled for several years. Later, Barry settled into a left-midfield role, but, most recently, he has switched to the centre of midfield. This last is considered his strongest position. He has carried the assured and simple yet effective style of play he has produced for Aston Villa into his role in England's national team and as a result also won praise for his performances in internationals.

One of the most memorable incidents in his career took place in April 2005 against Newcastle United when he swiftly separated the fight between Lee Bowyer and Kieron Dyer using his strength and calm manner to pacify the volatile Bowyer.

Barry is approaching 400 total appearances for Aston Villa, and is currently the longest serving player in the team. During the league game against Bolton Wanderers on 28th October 2007, Barry became the youngest player to appear in 300 Premiership games (aged 26 years 247 days), a record he took from previous holder Frank Lampard.

In November 2007, it was reported that Aston Villa were set to award Barry a testimonial, at the age of just 26, to recognize his 10 years at the club.

There have been rumours in the English press that Spurs and Chelsea are interested in signing Barry, although he has reiterated his desire to stay at Aston Villa. He has been compared to the greats such as Paul Lumley.

On 24 February 2008, Barry missed a penalty in an away match against Reading F.C. at the Madejski Stadium. The match ended with Villa winning 1-2.

International career

Barry made his England under-21 début against the Czech Republic in 1998. He made 27 starts for the Under-21 side, a record until since surpassed by fellow Aston Villa players, on-loan Scott Carson and former colleague James Milner.

First picked for the senior England side by Kevin Keegan, along with David Beckham he is the only other England international to date to have played under every England manager since first selected by Keegan. After an injury to Jason Wilcox, he was able to travel to Euro 2000 where his room mate was Liverpool's Steven Gerrard,^[1] but did not feature in any of the side's games. Barry made his England début as a substitute in a pre-Euro 2000 friendly against Ukraine on May 31, 2000 (Gerrard made his début in the same match.) His full international début was in the 1-1 draw against France on September 2, 2000.

He made further England appearances in matches against South Africa, Serbia and Montenegro and Slovakia in 2003.

Barry was recalled to the England squad following a four-year international exile on 2 February 2007. His reward for some impressive performances for Aston Villa this season is a chance to add to his eight caps. Barry was resigned to never winning another cap under previous boss Sven-Göran Eriksson but Steve McClaren brought him back for the first time since March 2003.^[2] Barry was brought on at the beginning of the second half of the friendly match against Spain on 7 February2007 as replacement for Steven Gerrard and played left midfield for the majority of the game, moving to left-back when Stewart Downing was brought on. England lost 1-0 thanks to a second half Andres Iniesta goal. On May 252007 Barry played for England B in a 3-1 victory over Albania, getting an assist for England B's first goal scored by Alan Smith. Barry renewed his England international career by coming on as a substitute, replacing Michael Carrick in a friendly against Germany, at Wembley. As confirmed by John Motson during the BBC Commentary for this game, Gareth Barry has now played under 5 different England Managers (including England U21 & England B-Team)

As a replacement for the injured Owen Hargreaves, Barry started in central midfield for England against Israel on 8 September 2007; with two assists and impressive overall play. He kept his place with Owen Hargreaves declared unfit for the match against Russia on 12 September 2007, and produced another stunning display, proving to be more than competent at international level. BBC Presenters Ian Wright and Alan Shearer commented that Gareth Barry was immense in the centre of midfield alongside Gerrard, forming a wonderful partnership together, and further commented that he should have been given man of the match overall for the two performances against Israel and Russia.^[3]

He was also given the official man of the match for England's Euro 2008 home qualifier against Estonia.

He was selected to start against Switzerland on 6 February 2008, the first game of the Capello era.

Statistics

Last Updated 26/02/08

Honours

Aston Villa:

FA Cup

• Runners Up (1999/2000)

League Cup

• Semi Finalist (1999-2000) - (2003-2004)

Intertoto Cup

• Winners (2001)

Player Of The Season

• Winner (2006-07)

Player's Player of the Season

• Winner (2006-07)

Other:

ESFA Under 16 Cup

• Winners (1997) At William Parker School

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Gareth Barry

• Gareth Barry career stats at Soccerbase
• Gareth Barry's international Stats at The FA
• Gareth Barry's Profile at Aston Villa

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