Barry Silkman
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Barry Silkman (born 29 June 1952) is a
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
agent and former player, who played as a
midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...
for 11 clubs including at
Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...
in 1979 and at
Leyton Orient Leyton Orient Football Club, commonly referred to as Orient, is a professional association football club based in Leyton, Waltham Forest, London, England. The team compete in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. ...
from 1981 to 1985. He competed for 16 years. In total, he made 340 professional appearances, and scored 31 goals. In the 1990s he became an
agent Agent may refer to: Espionage, investigation, and law *, spies or intelligence officers * Law of agency, laws involving a person authorized to act on behalf of another ** Agent of record, a person with a contractual agreement with an insuran ...
. ''Metro'' named him as the 10th-most influential agent in football in 2013.


Playing career

In 1973, to obtain Silkman Barnet offered
Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * W ...
what was then a record fee for a non-league player, and his earnings rose from £5 a week to £20 a week. Silkman also played for
Hereford United Hereford United Football Club was an association football club based in Hereford, England. They played at Edgar Street for their entire history. They were nicknamed 'The Whites' or 'The Lilywhites', after their predominantly white kit, or 'Th ...
(1974–1976), Crystal Palace (1976–1978), Plymouth Argyle (1978–1979),
Luton Town Luton Town Football Club is a professional association football, football club from Luton, Bedfordshire, England. The club currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Nicknamed "The Hatters", L ...
(on loan 1979),
Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West (London sub region), West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the River Thames, Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has dive ...
(1980),
Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional association football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English f ...
(1980–1981), Southend United (1985–1986) and
Crewe Alexandra Crewe Alexandra Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, England. Its first team competes in League Two, the fourth level of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' ...
(1986). He was also a player-coach at
Leyton Orient Leyton Orient Football Club, commonly referred to as Orient, is a professional association football club based in Leyton, Waltham Forest, London, England. The team compete in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. ...
for three seasons with Frank Clark as manager. It was at Plymouth that Silkman first came to the attention of
Malcolm Allison Malcolm Alexander Allison (5 September 1927 – 14 October 2010) was an English football player and manager. Nicknamed "Big Mal", he was one of English football's most flamboyant and intriguing characters because of his panache, fedora a ...
, who deemed him to be a suitable player to bolster Manchester City's midfield as they struggled in the First Division. In total, he made 340 professional appearances, and scored 31 goals. Silkman was a member of the gold-medal winning 45-plus Team GB at the
2009 Maccabiah Games The 18th Maccabiah Games (), were held in July 2009. According to the organizing committee these were the largest games held yet. These Games were the world's fifth-largest sporting event, behind the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, World Poli ...
in Israel.


Managerial career

In November 2018, Silkman was briefly appointed manager of Staines Town, before leaving the club due to
the Football Association The Football Association (the FA) is the Sports governing body, governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Bailiwick of Guernsey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest footb ...
deeming the job to represent a conflict of interests with his work as an agent. He coached the Team GB 45-plus football squad at the
2013 Maccabiah Games The 19th Maccabiah () were held during July 18 to 30, 2013. The Games brought together 7,500 competing athletes, making it the third-largest international sporting event in the world after the Olympic Games and the FIFA World Cup. The Maccabiah he ...
in Israel.


Agent career

After retiring from football, Silkman became an
agent Agent may refer to: Espionage, investigation, and law *, spies or intelligence officers * Law of agency, laws involving a person authorized to act on behalf of another ** Agent of record, a person with a contractual agreement with an insuran ...
. ''Metro'' named him as the 10th most influential agent in football in 2013. He said: "It's not the greatest job in the world, and can be very frustrating."


Personal life

Silkman was born in
Whitechapel Whitechapel () is an area in London, England, and is located in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is in east London and part of the East End of London, East End. It is the location of Tower Hamlets Town Hall and therefore the borough tow ...
in
East London East London is the part of London, England, east of the ancient City of London and north of the River Thames as it begins to widen. East London developed as London Docklands, London's docklands and the primary industrial centre. The expansion of ...
, and brought up in the East End of London. His mother is Ginny. He is Jewish, had a
bar mitzvah A ''bar mitzvah'' () or ''bat mitzvah'' () is a coming of age ritual in Judaism. According to Halakha, Jewish law, before children reach a certain age, the parents are responsible for their child's actions. Once Jewish children reach that age ...
, and said in 2013: "I was brought up Jewish and I'm Jewish through and through." He was a student at Canon Barnett Primary and Robert Montefiore Secondary schools. Silkman has been involved in greyhound training and
greyhound racing Greyhound racing is an organized, competitive sport in which greyhounds are raced around an oval track. The sport originates from Hare coursing, coursing. Track racing uses an artificial lure (usually a form of windsock) that travels ahead of th ...
, with his dogs Half Awake, Skomal and Carlsberg Champ respectively winning the 1987 Gold Collar (
Catford Catford is a district in south east London, England, and the administrative centre of the London Borough of Lewisham. It is southwest of Lewisham itself, mostly in the Rushey Green (ward), Rushey Green and Catford South Ward (electoral subdivi ...
), 1988 Guineas ( Hackney) and the 1990 Cesarewitch ( Belle Vue). He is also involved in horse racing and is a presenter on ''Racing Post Greyhound TV''.


Career statistics


See also

* List of select Jewish association football (soccer) players


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Silkman, Barry 1952 births Footballers from the London Borough of Tower Hamlets People from Stepney Living people Jewish footballers Jewish English sportspeople English men's footballers British sports agents Barnet F.C. players Grays Athletic F.C. players Brentford F.C. players Crewe Alexandra F.C. players Crystal Palace F.C. players Hereford United F.C. players Leyton Orient F.C. players Luton Town F.C. players Manchester City F.C. players Plymouth Argyle F.C. players Queens Park Rangers F.C. players Southend United F.C. players Wimbledon F.C. players Chelmsford City F.C. players Wycombe Wanderers F.C. players Men's association football midfielders English Football League players Maccabi Tel Aviv F.C. players Wingate & Finchley F.C. players Staines Town F.C. managers English expatriate sportspeople in Israel English expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Israel British greyhound racing trainers English football managers Competitors at the 2009 Maccabiah Games Maccabiah Games medalists in football Maccabiah Games gold medalists for Great Britain