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Gareth Barry

Personal information
Full name	Gareth Robert Barry
Height	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Position(s)	Central midfielder
Team information
Current team	Man City
Number	6
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 17:23, 5 April 2009 (UTC)

Gareth Robert Barry (born 23 February 1981 in Hastings, East Sussex, England) is an English football player who plays for Manchester City after leaving Aston Villa on June 2nd.

Along with former team-mate Gareth Southgate, the pair were the only players to play in both the final club match (apart from the 2000 FA Charity Shield match) and the final international match at the old Wembley Stadium. Both matches resulted in 1-0 losses: for Aston Villa against Chelsea in the 2000 FA Cup Final and for England against Germany in a 2002 FIFA World Cup qualifier. As of 25 May 2009, he is seventh in the all-time list of Aston Villa appearances.

Club career

Aston Villa

Born in Hastings, East Sussex, Barry attended William Parker Sports College in Hastings at the same time as Sussex cricketer Michael Yardy. An ex-England under-18 captain, Barry joined Aston Villa from Brighton and Hove Albion as a trainee in 1997 along with Michael Standing. The move was controversial as the Brighton board demanded £2.5 million for the two players; the Football Association's transfer tribunal panel came up with a deal which would have seen Brighton make £2.4 million in the event of Barry and Standing making an England appearances plus sell on clauses. He played his first match for Villa on 2 May 1998 against Sheffield Wednesday. Initially, he played as a central defender, on the left-hand side of a back three alongside Gareth Southgate and Ugo Ehiogu. Barry since became a highly versatile player and captain. Starting as a centre-back, he then moved to the left-back position, then left-midfield, before establishing himself in the centre of midfield.

In April 2005, Barry intervened in a controversial incident against Newcastle United when two Newcastle United players, Lee Bowyer and Kieron Dyer, brawled with one another during the game.

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. On 5 April 2008, Barry helped to break a run of bad form, scoring in a 4–0 victory over Bolton Wanderers. He scored two goals (his first two from open play that season) and he was also credited with two assists.

As of April 2008, Barry, approaching 400 total appearances for Aston Villa, was the longest serving player in the team. During the league game against Bolton Wanderers on 28 October 2007, Barry became the youngest player to appear in 300 Premier League games (aged 26 years 247 days), replacing former record-holder Frank Lampard.

Liverpool controversy

In May 2008, Liverpool expressed an interest in Barry and offered up to £10 million which was rejected; they then made further bids for Barry, with a £13 million bid reported on 12 June 2008, which was again rejected. Liverpool refused to meet Aston Villa's valuation.

On 29 June 2008, Barry, who still had two years on his current contract, publicly criticised O'Neill in a Sunday newspaper claiming no attempt had been made to keep him at Villa Park. He said: "Villa kept saying they wanted me to stay but I have not heard from the manager for weeks" and re-iterated his desire to join Liverpool to play Champions League football. O'Neill responded, stating that he and club owner Randy Lerner gave the player numerous options and incentives to continue playing for the club. This incident led to Aston Villa officially disciplining Barry on 2 July 2008, for giving an unauthorised interview. At the same time another bid of around £15 million from Liverpool had been rejected, which was still way short of Villa's £18 million asking price. Steve Finnan had then been offered in a part-exchange in the deal but the fee Villa would have wanted in this case was understood by the BBC to be £17 million with Steve Finnan. On 31 July 2008 Villa announced that Barry would be staying at Villa after an agreed deadline on a deal had passed, however, two days later O'Neill declared the deadline redundant after a meeting with Barry who continued to express an interest in a move to Liverpool.

Continuation at Villa

However, on 14 August, Barry started for Aston Villa in a UEFA Cup tie against FH Hafnarfjordur, in which he scored in a 4–1 win. His ppearance in European competition put any move to Liverpool in serious doubt. The goal against Hafnarfjordur was Barry's first European goal since he scored a penalty in the Intertoto Cup against Celta Vigo in 2000. On 18 September 2008, Barry made his 400th appearance in a Villa shirt in the UEFA Cup away to Litex Lovech: Barry scored a penalty as Villa won the match 3–1. He scored again for Villa as they beat Ajax 2–1 in their first UEFA Cup group match on 23 October 2008. Due to the transfer saga, O'Neill had taken the captaincy away from Barry and handed it to centre-back Martin Laursen for the 2008–09 season. Following Laursen's injury, the captaincy was restored to Barry in January 2009.

On 2 June 2009, Aston Villa confirmed that Barry was in talks with Manchester City over a possible £12m move to Eastlands.

Manchester City

on 2nd June 2009 he joined Manchester City for a fee of around 12 million

International career

Barry made his England under-21 debut against the Czech Republic in 1998. He made 27 starts for the Under-21 side, a record since surpassed by fellow Aston Villa players, former on-loan goalkeeper Scott Carson and 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, but did not feature in any of the side's games. Barry made his England debut as a substitute in a pre-Euro 2000 friendly against Ukraine on 31 May 2000. His first start for England was in the 1–1 draw against France on 2 September 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. 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. Barry was brought on at the beginning of the second half of the friendly match against Spain on 7 February 2007 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 25 May 2007, Barry played for England B in a 3–1 victory over Albania, getting an assist for England'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, 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 pundits Ian Wright and Alan Shearer commented that 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.

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. He was again selected to start in England's friendly away to France on 26 March 2008. Barry scored his first international goal against Trinidad and Tobago on 1 June 2008, this completed a personal treble for Barry as he also captained England in the second half of his 20th cap.

International goals

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	1 June 2008	Port of Spain, Trinidad	Trinidad and Tobago	1–0	3–0	Friendly match

Career statistics

Correct as of 21 May 2009

Honours

Aston Villa FA Cup

• Runners-up: 2000

Intertoto Cup

• Winners: 2001

Player of the Season

• Winner: 2006–07

Personal life

Barry married his childhood sweetheart Louise in the summer of 2007. They have two children: a son, Oscar, and a daughter, Freya.

References

1. "Gareth Barry profile". Sky Sports. Retrieved 2008-04-15.
2. "Newcastle 0-3 Aston Villa". BBC Sport. Retrieved 2008-05-31.
3. "Aston Villa 4-0 Bolton". BBC Sport. Retrieved 2008-05-31.
4. ^ "Gareth Barry: Player Profile". Aston Villa F.C. Retrieved 2008-10-24.
5. "Bolton 1-1 Aston Villa". BBC Sport. Retrieved 2008-05-31.
6. "Villa reveal Liverpool Barry bid". BBC. 2008-05-02. Retrieved 2008-05-02.
7. "Villa plan last-ditch Barry talks". BBC. 2008-05-12. Retrieved 2008-05-12.
8. "Liverpool bid for Barry rejected". BBC. 2008-06-12. Retrieved 2008-06-12.
9. Gareth Barry: I want to join Liverpool, my mind is made up
10. "Villa prepared to let Barry leave". BBC. 2008-06-30. Retrieved 2008-07-01.
11. "O'Neill awaits improved Barry bid". BBC. 2008-07-03. Retrieved 2008-07-04.
12. "Barry deal back on?". Aston Villa F.C. 2008-08-02. Retrieved 2008-08-03.
13. "Barry holds talks with Man City". BBC Sport. 2009-06-02. Retrieved 2009-06-02.
14. Middle man Barry back in business under the new regime Daily Mail - 10 October 2007
15. "Barton wins first England call-up". BBC Sport. 2007-02-02. Retrieved 2007-02-02.
16. "BBC pundits on England". BBC. Retrieved 2007-09-13.
17. McKenzie, Andrew (2008-06-01). "Defoe and Barry secure England win". BBC Sport. Retrieved 2008-06-01.
18. Barry's so glad he's Mr Nobody Daily Star
19. All I want for Christmas is a trophy at Villa and our ticket to World Cup, not a lot then Sunday Mirror

External links

• Gareth Barry – FIFA competition record (archived)
• Gareth Barry at Soccerbase
• Gareth Barry's international Stats at The FA
• Gareth Barry's Profile at Aston Villa

v t e England squad – UEFA Euro 2000
1 Seaman 2 G. Neville 3 P. Neville 4 Campbell 5 Adams 6 Keown 7 Beckham 8 Scholes 9 Shearer (c) 10 Owen 11 McManaman 12 Southgate 13 Martyn 14 Ince 15 Barry 16 Gerrard 17 Wise 18 Barmby 19 Heskey 20 Phillips 21 Fowler 22 Wright Coach: Keegan

Template:Persondata

• Living people
• 1981 births
• People from Hastings
• Football (soccer) midfielders
• Football (soccer) utility players
• English footballers
• England under-21 international footballers
• England B international footballers
• England international footballers
• Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. players
• Aston Villa F.C. players
• Premier League players
• UEFA Euro 2000 players