Christopher Andrew Barker (2 March 1980 – 1 January 2020) was an English 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 ...

who played as a defender. He represented Alfreton Town, Barnsley,

Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Dinas Caerdydd) is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1899 as R ...

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Sto ...

Colchester United Colchester United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Colchester, Essex, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1937, the club spent its earl ...

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus ...

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the team are competing in League One, the third tier of English football. They have played at Home Park ...

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of English football. Southend are known as ...

, Hereford FC and Weston Super Mare and he was player-manager of Aldershot Town for three months in 2015. His brother,

Richie Richie or Richy is a masculine given name or short form (hypocorism) of Richard. It is also a surname. First name * Richie Ashburn (1927–1997), American Major League Baseball player, member of the Hall of Fame *Richie Benaud (1930–2015), Aus ...

, is also a professional footballer.

Career

Barker was born in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

South Yorkshire South Yorkshire is a ceremonial and metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. The county has four council areas which are the cities of Doncaster and Sheffield as well as the boroughs of Barnsley and Rotherham. I ...

. He began his professional career at Barnsley in 1999, winning the club's young player of the year award in his first full season. After beating competition for his place from

Mateo Corbo Mateo Andres Corbo Sottolano (born April 21, 1976 in Montevideo) is a Uruguayan former footballer who played as a left full back. Biography Corbo played for A-League club Newcastle United Jets for the inaugural A-League season. He previously ...

, Barker was again awarded the club's young player of the year award, becoming the first player to win the award on two occasions. After appearing in over 100 games for the club, on 12 July 2002, 22-year-old Barker joined

in a deal which was thought to be worth an initial £500,000, with an extra £100,000 if Cardiff achieved promotion. After dropping down a division to sign for the club, Barker helped the team win promotion in his first year. He remained first-choice left back for the majority of the next few years, joining

on loan in August 2004 for three months only to be recalled after one, and was voted the Cardiff City supporters' player of the season in 2004–05. On 18 August 2006, Barker was signed on loan by

until January 2007. This was later extended until the end of the season. The move was not made permanent at the end of his loan spell, but he was regarded as a very popular and respected player with the fans at

Layer Road Layer Road was a Football League stadium in Colchester, England. It was only used for football matches and was the home ground of Colchester United before being replaced by the Colchester Community Stadium. The stadium held spectators and wa ...

. On 5 June 2007, Barker signed for

in a two-year deal, on a free transfer. He signed for

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 system ...

rivals

on an emergency loan deal on 9 August 2008, allowing him to make his debut later that day against

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional association football, football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Ro ...

. The transfer was made permanent two days later, with Barker signing a three-year contract for an undisclosed fee. On 5 August 2010, Barker joined

on loan for one month after being told he was surplus to requirements by Argyle manager

Peter Reid Peter Reid (born 20 June 1956) is an English football manager, pundit and former player. A defensive midfielder in his playing days, Reid enjoyed a long and successful career. He built his reputation as one of England's brightest midfield ta ...

. He signed a two-year contract with the club at the end of the month on a free transfer. On 30 April 2011, Barker was voted Southend's player of the year for the 2010–11 season. Having been vice-captain during his first season with the club, he was appointed

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

ahead of the new campaign after the departure of Craig Easton. He scored his first goal for Southend as they were defeated by

Crewe Alexandra Crewe Alexandra Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, that competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' because of ...

in the 2011–12 League Two play-offs. Barker left Southend on 9 August 2013 after his contract was terminated by mutual consent. He subsequently joined Aldershot Town the same day and made his debut for the

Conference A conference is a meeting of two or more experts to discuss and exchange opinions or new information about a particular topic. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always decisions, are the main ...

side the following day in a 1–1 draw with

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that in the 2022–23 season will compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system, following the victory in t ...

. In January 2015 Barker was appointed player-manager of Aldershot following the sacking of Andy Scott. In June 2016, Barker signed for

Hereford Hereford () is a cathedral city, civil parish and the county town of Herefordshire, England. It lies on the River Wye, approximately east of the border with Wales, south-west of Worcester and north-west of Gloucester. With a populatio ...

as a player-coach. In October 2016, he joined

National League South The National League South, formerly Conference South, is one of the second divisions of the National League in England, immediately below the top division National League. Along with National League North, it is in the second level of the N ...

side

Weston-super-Mare Weston-super-Mare, also known simply as Weston, is a seaside town in North Somerset, England. It lies by the Bristol Channel south-west of Bristol between Worlebury Hill and Bleadon Hill. It includes the suburbs of Mead Vale, Milton, Oldmi ...

as player/assistant manager to boss Scott Bartlett. Barker left Weston-super-Mare in July 2017.

Death

On 1 January 2020, Barker was found dead at his home in the

Cyncoed Cyncoed ( ); is an affluent and exclusive community in the northeast of Cardiff, the capital of Wales. With many properties in the area fetching over £1 million, Cyncoed is considered to have some of the highest property prices in the country. Cy ...

area of Cardiff at the age of 39. The cause of his death was not immediately revealed, but it was not treated as suspicious. It was later revealed that he had taken his own life.

Career statistics

:A. The "Other" column constitutes appearances and goals in the

Football League play-offs The English Football League play-offs are a series of play-off matches contested by the four association football teams finishing immediately below the automatic promotion places in the second, third and fourth tiers of the English football leag ...

and the

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Leag ...

Honours

Player

Cardiff City *2002–03 Second Division play-off winner Southend United *

runner-up:

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment ...

Individual

*2004–05 Cardiff City Player of the Year *2010–11 Southend United Player of the Year

References

General * Specific

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Barker, Chris 1980 births 2020 deaths Footballers from Sheffield English footballers Association football defenders Alfreton Town F.C. players Barnsley F.C. players Cardiff City F.C. players Stoke City F.C. players Colchester United F.C. players Queens Park Rangers F.C. players Plymouth Argyle F.C. players Southend United F.C. players Aldershot Town F.C. players Hereford F.C. players Weston-super-Mare A.F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players Aldershot Town F.C. non-playing staff English football managers Aldershot Town F.C. managers 2020 suicides Suicides in Wales