Anthony Barness (born 25 February 1973) is an English former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played as a defender from 1991 until 2011. He notably played in the

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

for Chelsea,

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Charlton, south-east London, England. The team compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Their home ground is ...

and

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club ( ) is a professional association football, football club based in Horwich, Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in EFL League One, League One, the third level of the Englis ...

and in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

for

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England, which competes in the National League, the fifth level of English football. The team are known as "The Shrimpers", a reference ...

and

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. The team currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. The club has played ...

. He also played

non-League football Non-League football describes association football, football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is ...

for

Grays Athletic Grays Athletic Football Club is a football club based in Grays, Essex, England. They are currently members of the and play at Chadfields in nearby Tilbury. History The club was established as Grays Juniors in 1890, before merging with former ...

and

Lewes Lewes () is the county town of East Sussex, England. The town is the administrative centre of the wider Lewes (district), district of the same name. It lies on the River Ouse, Sussex, River Ouse at the point where the river cuts through the Sou ...

Career

Born in

Lewisham Lewisham ( ) is an area of southeast London, England, south of Charing Cross. It is the principal area of the London Borough of Lewisham, and was within the Historic counties of England, historic county of Kent until 1889. It is identified in ...

, England, Barness started out as a trainee for

. In his first spell at Charlton he scored Charlton's opening riposte after going 3–0 down at Newcastle, this strike was the goal of the match. Charlton went on to win the match 3–4 and this has been voted in the top 20 Charlton matches of all time. His potential was spotted by a youth-scouting Chelsea side in 1992 and signed for £350,000— though some have said Chelsea only signed Barness after failing to sign his teammate,

Scott Minto Scott Christopher Minto (born 6 August 1971) is an English former professional footballer and sports television pundit. As a player he was as a left back who played in the Premier League for Chelsea and West Ham United and in Portugal for B ...

. During the four years which he spent at the club however, his chances of league starts were taken away from him at every possible opportunity. Thus, after just nineteen appearances in four years, he was loaned out to

(in August 1993) and

(in February 1996). Barness left Chelsea in August 1996, and returned to Charlton Athletic for a fee of £165,000. He was an important and regular part of the Charlton team, managed by

Alan Curbishley Llewellyn Charles "Alan" Curbishley (born 8 November 1957) is an English former football player and manager. He played as a midfielder for West Ham United, Birmingham City, Aston Villa, Charlton Athletic and Brighton & Hove Albion. He became ma ...

. In his first season back at The Valley, he was a virtual ever present and a top performer in a Charlton side struggling after the sale of

Lee Bowyer Lee David Bowyer (; born 3 January 1977) is an English football manager and former professional player. As a player, he was a midfielder who featured for Charlton Athletic, Leeds United, West Ham United (two spells), Newcastle United, Birmingha ...

. Barness suddenly left the first team in 1997 being replaced by Mark Bowen at left back and occasionally

Paul Konchesky Paul Martyn Konchesky (born 15 May 1981) is an English Association football, football coach and former professional player who most recently was manager of West Ham United W.F.C., West Ham United Women of the FA WSL. During a 21-year playing ca ...

, and only made a handful of appearances from then on many at right back. Although Mark Bowen was an excellent performer for Charlton in the 97/98 season, many Charlton fans were perplexed by Anthony's replacement as he'd been a very reliable player. Alan Curbishley was quoted at the time of dropping him, that he'd been virtually ever present the previous season and appeared close to burn out. Though the fans saw a minimal drop off in form, it retains a mystery why he fell out of favour with Alan Curbishley. On the move again in 2000, he went to

on a free transfer deal and was initially a regular starter in

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

, but was soon relegated to starting only in Cup competitions – which manager

Sam Allardyce Samuel Allardyce (born 19 October 1954) is an English football manager and former professional player. Allardyce made 578 league and cup appearances in a 21-year career spent mostly in the Football League, as well as brief spells in the North ...

often left to the second team. In his second year Barness made the right-back position his own, and became a fans favourite due to his effort for the cause. Barness continued to play for the first team over the next couple of years. He was set to move on loan to

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Stratford, London, Stratford, East London, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English f ...

in February 2004 but was recalled within 24 hours after Bolton suffered an injury crisis. He then played a vital role for Bolton as they set a record for the most consecutive wins by their club. After being released by Bolton in May 2005, he joined

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

side Plymouth Argyle on a free transfer the following month. He impressed fans with solid performances throughout his first season with Argyle. He was released from his contract at Plymouth by manager

Ian Holloway Ian Scott Holloway (born 12 March 1963) is an English professional football manager, former player, media personality and television pundit who is the manager of club Swindon Town. A midfielder, he notably played in the Premier League with ...

on 30 January 2007. In February 2007, he had a trial with

Yeovil Town Yeovil Town may refer to: * Yeovil, a town in Somerset, England, with a council named Yeovil Town * Yeovil Town F.C., an English football team based in Yeovil, Somerset * Yeovil Town W.F.C., an English women's football team affiliated with Yeovil T ...

. In March 2007, Barness signed for

until the end of the season, leaving two months later. In August 2007 he signed for then

Conference South The National League South, officially Vanarama National League South, is a professional Association football league in England. National League South is the second division of the National Leagues and step 2 of the NLS and sixth-highest ti ...

side

. Since then, Barness has remained an integral part of the first team squad. He was the only first team player to remain at Lewes after the controversial sacking of Steve King and the appointment of Kevin Keehan.

Personal life

Barness retired at the end of the 2010–11 season to concentrate on his ceramic tiling business.

Honours

Charlton Athletic *

Football League First Division The Football League First Division was the top division of the Football League in England from 1888 until the end of the 1991–92 season, when its teams broke away to form the Premier League. From 1992 to 2004, the name First Division was g ...

: 1999–2000;

play-offs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

Bolton Wanderers *Football League First Division play-offs:

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

Football League Cup The English Football League Cup, often referred to as the League Cup and currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout competition in men's domestic football in England. Orga ...

runner-up: 2003–04 Lewes *

: 2007–08

Career statistics

''(as of 13 September 2006)''

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Barness, Anthony 1973 births Living people Bolton Wanderers F.C. players Charlton Athletic F.C. players Chelsea F.C. players English men's footballers Footballers from the London Borough of Lewisham People from Lewisham Middlesbrough F.C. players Plymouth Argyle F.C. players Southend United F.C. players West Ham United F.C. players Grays Athletic F.C. players Lewes F.C. players Premier League players English Football League players National League (English football) players People educated at St Joseph's Academy, Blackheath Men's association football defenders