Barrow A.F.C.

Barrow

Full name	Barrow Association Football Club
Nickname(s)	The Bluebirds, The Ziggers (pre-1970s)
Founded	1901
Ground	Holker Street Barrow-in-Furness (Capacity: 4,256 [1] (1,000 seated))
Chairman	Brian Keen
Manager	David Bayliss and Darren Sheridan
League	Conference National
2008–09	Conference National, 20th
Home colours Away colours

Barrow A.F.C. are a football team based in the town of Barrow-in-Furness in Cumbria, England. Following recent promotion, they currently (as of the 2008–09 season) play in the Conference National.

The team are known by their fans as "The Bluebirds", owing to their blue and white kit. Attendances vary - the home record of 16,874 was set against Swansea City in the FA Cup Third Round in 1954 and the away record of 25,132, 7,000 of which were Barrow fans, was set at the Riverside Stadium against Middlesbrough in the 2009 FA cup third round tie - but during the 1990s and 2000s the average has remained consistently between 800 and 1,100. The 2007-08 average attendance was 1,084, which increased to an average of 1,590 by the end of the 2008-09 season.

Colours: White shirts, royal blue shorts, white socks.

History

Barrow AFC were founded on 16 July 1901 at the old Drill Hall (later the Palais) in the strand and played at The Strawberry Ground, Roosecote and Ainslie Street before moving to their current stadium, Holker Street, in 1909. After early years spent in the Lancashire Combination, the club became founder members of the Football League Third Division North in 1921.

Barrow remained in the lowest tier of the Football League for all but three seasons. During this time, they remained relatively obscure, only occasionally coming to national attention. Their third round FA Cup game against the then Football League champions Wolverhampton Wanderers in the 1958–59 season is particularly notable.

After finishing third in Division 4 in the 1966–67 season and gaining promotion, Barrow enjoyed their highest ever league finish in the 1967–68 season, ending up eighth in the Third Division, with the club briefly leading the table.

Barrow remained in the third flight of English football for another two season before returning to the basement in 1970. In 1972, Barrow were voted out of the Football League, in favour of Hereford United, and joined the Northern Premier League. They later became founder members of the Football Conference (then known as the Alliance Premier League), the only national division in non-league football. After this, Barrow spent periods of time in both the Football Conference and the Northern Premier League.

The Wilkie years

Barrow's league position since their election to Division Three (North) in 1922

Ray Wilkie took the manager's job at Barrow part way through the 1985-86 season when the club were struggling near the foot of the Alliance Premier league. It was too late to save the team from relegation, but on Wilkie's appointment Barrow AFC embarked on their most successful period in non-league football.

Barrow eventually won promotion back to the re-named Vauxhall Conference in 1988-1989, finishing champions of the Northern Premier. Barrow achieved two respectable finishes in the Conference - 10th in 1989-1990 and 14th the season after. Unfortunately Wilkie was forced to step down during the 1991-1992 due to health problems. That season Barrow would be relegated back to the Northern Premier League.

As well as league success, Wilkie brought glory on the cup trail. In 1988, Barrow reached the FA Trophy semi-final, losing to Enfield after a replay. The first leg at Holker Street attracted 6,002 supporters – still a non-league record for the club. The season after, Barrow reached the 1st round of the FA Cup, losing out 3–1 at Rotherham's Millmoor. In early 1991, Barrow reached the third round of the FA Cup, losing 1–0 away to Third Division high fliers Bolton Wanderers, watched by thousands of travelling supporters.

In 1990, they won non-league football's most prestigious competition, the FA Trophy, beating Leek Town 3–0 in the final at Wembley Stadium, London. Scoring the first and third goals was Kenny Gordon, a player who was not normally found on the score sheet, and who was playing his final game for his hometown club before emigrating to Australia.

Wilkie's successes can partly be attributed to getting the best out of striker Colin Cowperthwaite, who had been at the club since 1977. He scored the second goal in the FA Trophy final, but Colin had already become a legendary player at Holker Street, finishing as top scorer in each of Wilkie's five full seasons - as well as seven of the previous eight. His goalscoring exploits were coupled with a no-nonsense approach to playing the game and "Cowps" became the quintissential target man. Colin is still highly regarded at Holker Street, winning a recent poll to find Barrow supporter's favourite player in the non-league era. Cowperthwaite holds Barrow's all-time appearance record (705) and is the club's all-time leading goalscorer (282)

Recent history

Following Wilkie's departure in 1991, the club again struggled in the Conference and were back in the Northern Premier League. Following three mediocre seasons, Barrow were purchased by Stephen Vaughan, a Scouse-boxing promoter and businessman. Vaughan poured money into the club, building an all-seater stand and allowing the club to sign players of Conference-standard. The Bluebirds achieved promotion from the Northern Premier League in 1997-98, under manager Owen Brown.

However, Vaughan, who had connections with gangster Curtis Warren, was soon being investigated for money laundering. Vaughan left the club at the end of 1998, withdrawing his financial support that had been keeping it afloat. It transpired that the club's main asset, its Holker Street ground, had been transferred to Vaughan's company Vaughan Promotions whilst he was chairman. In January 1999, the club were the subject of a compulsory winding up order and a liquidator was appointed to run the club whilst trying to establish who the legal owner of the ground was. A new members' company was formed with the aim of providing financial support to the club and with the long term intention of taking over the running of the football club. In the summer of 1999 the club were thrown out of the Football Conference. After a long dispute and thanks to the support of the Football Association, Barrow were allowed entrance into the Northern Premier League for the 1999–2000 season, almost a month after it had commenced. This reduced time in which to play their fixtures led to the scheduling of Barrow v Winsford United on 30 December 1999, recognised as the last professional or semi-professional game in the United Kingdom of the millennium (assuming the year 2000 is considered to be part of the third millennium AD). Barrow managed to survive in the Northern Premier League under manager Kenny Lowe, despite having to create an almost entirely new squad. The team improved over the following few years despite remaining in administration. They twice missed out narrowly on promotion back to the Conference, finishing second and third in the 2003–04 and 2004–05 seasons respectively. The legal disputes over the ownership of Holker Street were finally resolved in August 2002 and the new members company bought the Holker St Stadium from the liquidator. In 2003, the Football Association finally allowed the 'football membership' to be transferred to the new company.

In April 2004, Barrow defeated local rivals Workington in a two-legged final in the UniBond Presidents (League) Cup. The game finished 6–6 on aggregate, Barrow winning on away goals. Following their failure to gain promotion to the Conference in 2004–05, Barrow became founder members of yet another division, this time the Conference North, which replaced the Northern Premier League underneath the Conference National.

The following two seasons Barrow showed poor form in the league, narrowly escaping relegation at the end of 2006–07. Manager Lee Turnbull, who succeeded Lowe when the latter had to give up the job for work commitments, was sacked in 2005 and replaced by Phil Wilson. Compounding this was the jailing of defender James Cotterill for an assault committed on the pitch. In a first round FA Cup game Cotterill punched Bristol Rovers striker Sean Rigg, the incident being missed by the referee but caught by the Match of the Day cameras, resulting in Cotterill being the only English player in recent history to be jailed for an offence on the pitch.^[2]

On 12 November 2007, after two years in the job, Phil Wilson was dismissed as manager. Although the sacking came two days after a good 1–1 draw in the FA Cup First Round against AFC Bournemouth, it was the club's continued poor league form which cost the manager his job. Barrow's first team affairs were shifted to players Paul Jones, David Bayliss and Darren Sheridan. Following a decent run of results, Bayliss and Sheridan were appointed as player-managers, whilst Jones became club captain. Bayliss and Sheridan led Barrow from 20th place in the league in December to fifth, ensuring a place in the play offs for promotion to the Conference National. Barrow won the semi-final against Telford United 4–0 on aggregate, before beating Stalybridge Celtic in the playoff final, held at the Pirelli Stadium, Burton upon Trent.^[3]

After an initial strong start in the Conference National, which saw Barrow top the table during the first few weeks, the club began to struggle and found themselves just above the relegation zone by January 2009. Barrow had more success in the FA Cup, beating Brentford 2-1 with goals from David Brown and Matt Henney in Round Two, their first victory over Football League opposition since their own elimination from the league in 1972. In the third round they were drawn an away tie against Middlesbrough, a Premier League team,^[4] losing 2–1, with more than 7,000 Barrow fans travelling to Boro's Riverside Stadium to watch the match. Barrow managed to retain their place in the Conference, finishing twentieth.

Players

As of 10 November 2009.

Current squad

No. Position Player 1 GK Tim Deasy 2 DF Simon Spender 4 DF Paul Jones (captain) 5 DF Phil Bolland 6 MF Robin Hulbert 7 MF Andrew Bond 8 MF Mark Boyd 9 FW Jason Walker 11 MF Carlos Logan 12 DF Mike Pearson 14 MF Darren Sheridan 15 MF Paul Rutherford

No. Position Player 16 DF Dave Bayliss 18 DF Phil Morris 20 DF Gareth Jelleyman (on loan from AFC Telford United) 21 GK Stuart Tomlinson 23 MF Craig Nelthorpe (on loan from York City) 24 MF Malvin Kamara 25 MF Marc Goodfellow (on loan from Burton Albion) 26 FW Gregg Blundell (on loan from Chester City) 27 MF Gavin Rothery (on loan from Carlisle United)

Out on loan

No. Position Player 17 DF Adam Dugdale (on loan at Hyde United)

Managers

As of 2 May, 2009. Only league matches are counted.

Name	Nat	From	To	Record
				P	W	D	L	F	A	Win %
Jacob Fletcher		July 1901	April 1904	78	33	15	30	146	135	42.31%
E. Freeland		April 1904	????	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
W. Smith		????	????	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
Alec Craig		????	May 1907	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
Roger Charnley		May 1907	????	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
Jacob Fletcher		????	September 1909	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
Jas P. Phillips		September 1909	July 1913	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
John Parker		July 1913	July 1920	114	55	16	43	232	197	48.25%
William Dickinson		July 1920	May 1922	72	37	11	24	121	82	51.39%
Jimmy Atkinson		August 1922	March 1923	30	11	4	15	44	43	36.67%
J.E. Moralee		April 1923	January 1926	112	29	18	65	121	217	25.89%
Robert Greenhalgh		January 1926	February 1926	2	0	0	2	3	7	0%
William Dickinson		February 1926	October 1927	67	12	12	43	61	182	17.91%
John S. Maconnachie		October 1927	December 1928	52	12	15	25	70	116	23.08%
Andrew Walker		January 1929	June 1930	62	16	7	39	74	142	25.81%
Thomas Miller		June 1930	November 1930	16	3	3	10	17	39	18.75%
John Commins		November 1930	May 1932	65	36	5	24	137	96	55.38%
Thomas Lowe		May 1932	April 1937	204	73	47	84	351	378	35.78%
James Y. Bissett		April 1937	December 1937	19	4	2	13	14	36	21.05%
Fred Pentland		January 1938	June 1940	84	29	23	32	146	149	34.52%
John Commins		August 1945	March 1947	54	17	10	27	71	104	31.48%
Andy Beattie		March 1947	April 1949	95	36	26	33	106	95	37.89%
Jack Hacking		May 1949	May 1955	272	96	57	119	363	421	35.29%
Joe Harvey		July 1955	June 1957	92	33	18	41	137	145	35.87%
Norman Dodgin		July 1957	May 1958	46	13	15	18	66	74	28.26%
Bill Brown		July 1958	August 1959	46	9	10	27	51	104	19.57%
Bill Rogers		August 1959	October 1959	15	3	5	7	24	37	20%
Ron Staniforth		October 1959	July 1964	213	67	61	85	312	360	31.46%
Don McEvoy		July 1964	July 1967	138	52	32	54	207	235	37.68%
Colin Appleton		August 1967	January 1969	70	32	13	25	103	90	45.71%
Fred Else		January 1969	February 1969	5	0	1	4	2	14	0%
Norman Bodell		March 1969	February 1970	46	9	11	27	38	82	19.57%
Don McEvoy		February 1970	November 1971	78	15	18	45	88	142	19.23%
Bill Rogers		November 1971	November 1971	2	0	1	1	2	3	0%
Jack Crompton		December 1971	June 1972	28	10	5	13	25	40	35.71%
Peter Kane		July 1972	June 1974	92	25	13	54	98	195	27.17%
Brian Arrowsmith		July 1974	November 1975	67	12	18	37	61	115	17.91%
Ron Yeats		December 1975	February 1977	46	15	8	23	61	90	32.61%
Alan Coglan and Billy McAdams		February 1977	July 1977	21	5	3	13	26	38	23.81%
David Hughes		July 1977	July 1977	0	0	0	0	0	0	0%
Brian McManus		July 1977	November 1979	103	31	23	49	115	161	30.10%
Micky Taylor		November 1979	May 1983	147	52	35	60	192	206	35.37%
Vic Halom		July 1983	May 1984	42	29	10	3	92	38	69.05%
Peter McDonnell		July 1984	November 1984	17	5	9	3	27	21	29.41%
Joe Wojciechowicz		November 1984	December 1984	1	0	0	1	1	3	0%
Brian Kidd		December 1984	April 1985	19	5	6	8	14	20	26.32%
John Cooke		April 1985	April 1985	3	1	0	2	3	9	33.33%
Bob Murphy		April 1985	May 1985	2	0	1	1	2	4	0%
Maurice Whittle		May 1985	October 1985	12	0	4	8	11	29	0%
David Johnson		October 1985	March 1985	16	5	2	9	13	28	31.25%
Glenn Skivington and Neil McDonald		March 1986	March 1986	4	0	0	4	4	10	0%
Ray Wilkie		March 1986	November 1991	236	93	62	81	325	311	39.41%
Neil McDonald		November 1991	December 1991	4	1	0	3	7	9	25%
John King		December 1991	May 1992	22	5	6	11	24	36	22.73%
Graham Heathcote		May 1992	December 1992	23	10	7	6	40	31	43.48%
Richard Dinnis		December 1992	October 1993	30	12	6	12	45	40	40%
Mick Cloudsdale		October 1993	June 1994	31	14	8	9	45	35	45.16%
Tony Hesketh		June 1994	March 1996	74	32	16	26	121	101	43.24%
Neil McDonald and Franny Ventre		March 1996	March 1996	2	0	0	2	3	6	0%
Mike Walsh		March 1996	October 1996	20	11	5	4	32	20	55%
Owen Brown		October 1996	January 1999	100	49	22	29	127	95	49%
Shane Westley		January 1999	July 1999	16	4	4	8	13	22	25%
Greg Challender		July 1999	August 1999	0	0	0	0	0	0	0%
Kenny Lowe		August 1999	May 2003	176	78	46	52	307	233	44.32%
Lee Turnbull		May 2003	November 2005	102	41	28	33	164	146	40.20%
Darren Edmondson		November 2005	December 2005	3	1	2	0	5	3	33.33%
Phil Wilson		December 2005	November 2007	78	20	24	34	85	100	25.64%
Darren Sheridan and David Bayliss		November 2007	Present	78	34	23	21	113	86	43.59%

Honours

1901-1920 (non league)

• Lancashire Combination Division Two - runners up (2) 1904/05, 1910/11
• Lancashire Combination Division One - champions (1) 1920/21; - runners up (1) 1913/14
• FA Cup - First Round Twice

1921-1972 (Football League)

• Division Four - Promotion (3) 1966/67
• Best league performance - 8th in Division Three 1967/68
• FA Cup - Third Round Eight Times
• League Cup - Third Round Twice
• Lancashire Senior Cup - 1954-55

1972- (non league)

• FA Trophy - winners (1) 1989/90
• Northern Premier League - champions (3) 1983/84, 1988/89, 1997/98 - runners up (1) 2002/03
• Best league performance - 8th in Alliance Premier League 1981/82
• FA Cup - Third Round 1990/91, 2008/09
• Northern Premier League Shield - winners (1) 1984/85
• Northern Premier League Challenge Cup - runners up (1) 1987/88
• Northern Premier League President's Cup - winners (2) 2001/02, 2003/04
• Northern Premier League Chairman's Cup - winners (1) 2000/01
• Lancashire Junior Cup - winners (1) 1980/81
• Cambrian^{[clarification needed]} Cup - winners (2) 1982/83, 1983/84
• Conference North Play-off winners 2008

References

External links

• Official website
• Unofficial Fans Website and Forums
• Barrow at the Football Club History Database