Barry not ready to pack bags yet
GET on your bike to get on in the game? Not Gareth Barry.
It is precisely because the West Brom midfielder climbed off his and
embraced the innovations brought in by sports science that he is still playing two months shy of his 38th birthday.
Tonight, Barry will step out at the Hawthorns to face Aston Villa, the club for whom he made his professional debut in the last millennium after coming through the Brighton youth system.
It will be the 810th appearance of a career spent almost exclusively in England’s top flight.
Barry attributes his longevity to a willingness to adapt with the game he loves.
“I’m probably lucky that my younger days were when sports science wasn’t around,” he said.
“I got away with that, but when my body needed it in my late twenties, sports science was a real big factor in the game.
“I haven’t been one of those who said, ‘I’m not doing yoga, I’m not doing ice baths, I’m not doing massages’. My attitude was to go with the changes.
“If it helps you, why not try it? The things that are out there have been good for me.
“There have been plenty of players over the years who haven’t gone with it. I remember 10 years ago, I’m doing yoga and they’re sitting on the exercise bike not even pedalling, but still taking the mickey out of me.
“I went with it, some of the other players didn’t and I like to think it has benefited me.” Barry has no imminent plans to retire, not least because he does not fancy coaching or management and because he is enjoying himself again after last season’s relegation with West Brom.
When he does step away, though, he wants it to be at, or close to, the top level of the game.
“I don’t see myself dropping any lower than the Championship. Hopefully I can help
West Brom get back into the Premier League and who knows what will happen then?” he said.
“One of my strengths has always been to take it a season at a time. I’ve always finished seasons strongly and always had the opinion that there’s no need to stop.
“Even today I’d like to think I can still get in this West Brom team, finish the season strongly and have that option at the end of the season.
“I take nothing for granted. I’m 38 in February and you can’t go on forever, but I’m still enjoying it and in a winning team. After football, I’m not too sure. That’s one of the reasons I am still going because at the moment nothing is telling me that I want to be a coach or a manager.”
That is in spite of witnessing at first hand Darren Moore’s seamless transition from coach to West Brom manager. “Darren instilled confidence in the boys straight away when he took over near the end of last season,” said Barry.
“He got everyone united and we finished the season really strongly. He deserves a lot of credit for that and for taking it into this season and starting well.
“There can be a negative feeling after relegation and the Championship can really catch you out because there are tough games straight away.
“But we’ve gone into it with a good mentality and got off to a real flier, scoring a lot of goals and playing some great football.
Recently at this club, we haven’t been playing that style of football. There are players here who haven’t been used to it, so we were expecting a longer bedding-in period.
“The way we’ve started has probably surprised a few people, but we’re still learning and we can still get better.
“If we want to get promotion, we do need to keep improving. The boys are ready for that challenge.”
The boys and their footballing father, that is.
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