Anthony Jon Barry (born 29 May 1986) is an English professional football coach and former player who is an assistant for the Portugal national team. He will become assistant manager for the England national team on 1 January 2025.
On 19 June 2008, Barry signed a two-year contract with Chester City.[8] He went on to feature in 43 of Chester's 46 league games during their relegation season from Football League Two, with his only goal being a spectacular long-range effort against Lincoln City in January 2009.[9] His contract with Chester was terminated on 11 January 2010 with immediate notice.[10] He signed for Wrexham on an 18-month deal on 16 January,[11] but left the club less than one week later after asking to be released from his contract.[12] On 24 January 2010 he signed for Conference North side Fleetwood Town, after being offered three times the amount he was paid with Wrexham.[13] This move angered Wrexham's manager, Dean Saunders. He was named in the Conference Team of the Year for the 2010–11 season after Fleetwood reached the play-off semi-finals.[14] It was announced on 7 May 2013, that Fleetwood would not be offering the midfielder a new contract, and would therefore be released.[15]
In May 2013, he joined Forest Green Rovers on a three-year deal.[16] He made his debut for the club on 10 August 2013 in an 8–0 win against Hyde at The New Lawn.[17] He scored his first goal for the club on 17 August 2013 in an away defeat against Lincoln City.[18] On 8 October 2014, having failed to make an appearance in the 2014–15 season for Forest Green, he re-joined League Two club Accrington Stanley on a 93-day loan.[19] In January 2015, the loan deal was extended until the end of the season.[20]
On 7 June 2016, Barry signed for National League side Wrexham.[21] Barry was released by Wrexham at the end of the 2016–17 season.[22]
Coaching career
Barry began his coaching career in 2015 while still playing for Accrington Stanley, where he managed the under-16 team. After retiring as a player, he became the assistant coach to Paul Cook at Wigan Athletic in 2017.[23] In the summer of 2020, Barry joined Chelsea as first-team coach during the reign of Frank Lampard and remained in his position under Thomas Tuchel. In February 2021, he replaced the departed Damien Duff in Stephen Kenny's Republic of Ireland coaching team.[24]
He combined the role at Chelsea with the part-time role with the Republic of Ireland.[25][26] In February 2022, Barry left the Irish set-up to join Roberto Martinez at Belgium's coaching team. He cited coaching the world's no. 1 ranked team and the opportunity to compete at the World Cup as his motivation for leaving Ireland and joining the Belgians.[27][28] In March 2023, he had another dual role by rejoining Roberto Martinez staff at Portugal national team.[29] When Thomas Tuchel took over as Bayern Munich manager, Barry joined his coaching staff in April 2023,[30] to contribute as set-piece specialist.[31]
In October 2024, it was announced that Barry would be joining the England coaching staff as assistant manager to Thomas Tuchel starting on 1 January 2025.[32]
Career statistics
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
^ abAll Chester City players' statistics for the 2009/10 season were expunged after Chester were expelled from the Conference National for breaking league regulations[3]
^"Now Barry quits Chester". Non-League Daily. 12 January 2010. Archived from the original on 26 September 2012. Retrieved 12 January 2010.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
