Richie Barker (footballer, born 1975)

For other people named Richard Barker, see Richard Barker (disambiguation).

Richie Barker

Personal information
Full name	Richard Ian Barker
Date of birth	(1975-05-30) 30 May 1975
Place of birth	Sheffield, England
Height
Position(s)	Striker
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1993–1997	Sheffield Wednesday	0	(0)
1995	→ Doncaster Rovers (loan)	6	(0)
1996	→ Ards (loan)	7	(3)
1997–1998	Linfield	?	(?)
1997	→ Brighton & Hove Albion (loan)	53	(11)
1998–1999	Brighton & Hove Albion	43	(10)
1999–2001	Macclesfield Town	58	(23)
2001–2004	Rotherham United	140	(12)
2004–2007	Mansfield Town	95	(40)
2007–2009	Hartlepool United	62	(23)
2008	→ Rotherham United (loan)	12	(1)
2009	Rotherham United	1	(0)
Total		477	(123)
Managerial career
2009	Sheffield United (Youth)
2010–2011	Bury (Youth)
2011–2012	Bury
2012–2013	Crawley Town
2013–2014	Portsmouth
2014-	Milton Keynes Dons (Assistant Manager)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Richard "Richie" Ian Barker (born 30 May 1975) is an English former football player and football manager. He was most recently the manager of League Two club Portsmouth having been sacked in March 2014. He has previously managed Bury and Crawley Town.

Playing career

Born in Sheffield, Barker began his career at Sheffield Wednesday, but only played in the Intertoto Cup for the first team. He was sold by the Owls in 1997 to Northern Irish side Linfield after loan spells at Doncaster and Ards, before returning home to play for Brighton & Hove Albion. He played two seasons at Brighton, scoring 12 goals, before moving to Macclesfield on a free transfer in 1999.

At Macclesfield, Barker scored 23 goals in 58 league games. He was signed by Rotherham United in January 2001, and helped the Millers gain promotion to the Championship. He was mostly used as a substitute by Rotherham, and was allowed to move to Mansfield Town on a free transfer in November 2004.

Barker soon became a fan favourite at Field Mill, scoring 10 goals in his first season at the club. In the summer of 2005, he was named team captain, and he led by example with his professionalism and work-rate. Barker was the Stags' top scorer in 2005–06 with a career-best 23 goals, including two goals against his old club Rotherham in the FA Cup first round.

In the summer of 2006, Barker signed a contract extension with Mansfield which tied him with the club until the end of the 2008–09 season. However in January 2007 he was reluctantly forced to transfer to Hartlepool United during the January transfer window, much to the anger of the Stags fans.

He re-joined Rotherham United on 3 October 2008, on an emergency loan in January 2009. He scored on his second Millers debut in the 4–1 over Grimsby Town after coming off the bench. He his move permanent on 1 January 2009. Due to a knee injury in January 2009 he decided to hang up his boots on 29 May 2009.

Managerial career

After joining Sheffield United, being part of the Academy, Barker was named the manager of Bury's youth team from July 2010. Barker became caretaker manager of Bury in April 2011 after Alan Knill left for Scunthorpe United with eight games left in the season. Barker led Bury to six consecutive victories and promotion to League One. He was named Football League Two Manager of the Month for April 2011. This successful spell led to him being appointed as Bury's permanent manager on 1 June 2011.

Barker was appointed manager of Crawley Town on 7 August 2012.

On 27 November 2013, Crawley Town terminated Barker's contract with immediate effect. At the time of his dismissal Crawley had not won any of their last seven games, scoring just once in those games. On 9 December 2013, Portsmouth announced Barker as their new manager with Steve Coppell being appointed as director of football. Barker was sacked on 27 March 2014 after 20 games in charge.At the time of his dismissal Portsmouth had not won any of their last six games, scoring just once in those games.

On 1 April 2014 Barker was appointed Assistant Manager at MK Dons. This has initially been confirmed as being until the end of the 13/14 season. This has since been extended to a position as head of coaching for the forthcoming 2014/15 season.

Managerial statistics

As of match played 27 March 2014.

Team	Nat	From	To	Record
				G	W	D	L	Win %
Bury		31 March 2011	7 August 2012	58	22	13	23	37.93
Crawley Town		7 August 2012	27 November 2013	75	28	22	25	37.33
Portsmouth		9 December 2013	27 March 2014	20	4	8	8	20.00
Total				153	54	43	56	35.29

Honours

Player

Hartlepool

League Two: Promotion, 2006–07

Managerial

Bury

League Two: Promotion, 2010–11

External links

• Richard Barker career statistics at Soccerbase
• Vital Hartlepool Profile: Richie Barker