The 'Magnificent Career' of Record-Breaking Gareth Barry

 Gareth Barry considered retirement last summer, but stayed for an additional year as West Brom secured promotion. Photograph: Nick Potts/PA
Gareth Barry considered retirement last summer, but stayed for an additional year as West Brom secured promotion. Photograph: Nick Potts/PA
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The 'Magnificent Career' of Record-Breaking Gareth Barry

 Gareth Barry considered retirement last summer, but stayed for an additional year as West Brom secured promotion. Photograph: Nick Potts/PA
Gareth Barry considered retirement last summer, but stayed for an additional year as West Brom secured promotion. Photograph: Nick Potts/PA

Gareth Barry has served all four of his senior professional clubs well, and it was no surprise that each of them posted tributes when he announced his retirement on Thursday at the age of 39. All were highly complimentary, though perhaps Everton’s summed up the Premier League record holder’s 653 appearances most concisely: “Congratulations on a magnificent career.”

The midfielder’s 22 years in top-level football have certainly been that, though in addition to numerous milestones and 833 appearances in total it should not be forgotten that Barry also holds another record – no one else has collected 119 yellow cards, not to mention several dismissals.

Perhaps that is simply the midfielder’s lot these days, and as an old-fashioned ball-winner not exactly blessed with pace, Barry could scarcely avoid being late into challenges as the game sped up around him. Anyone only familiar with the later part of his career might assume he was put into the team specifically to make his muscular presence felt by putting some bite and backbone into the side, though he would not have played so regularly or clocked up so many records had he simply been a midfield enforcer.

Barry was a technically gifted player with an eye for a pass and an ability to anticipate danger. Most players would have been happy with just the Aston Villa part of his career – 365 appearances in 11 years – but towards the end of that stint Rafael Benítez tried to bring him to Liverpool and the player was keen to join. That move never happened, but had it come about Barry would probably have missed out on his most
successful period, the five years at Manchester City that brought an FA Cup win in 2011 and a league title a year later.

He was 33 when City released him yet he still went on to make 155 appearances for Everton, where he was voted player of the season in 2015-16 by both supporters and first team players. When that contract came to an end he had enough left in the locker for three years with West Brom, where typically he chose not to retire a year ago when out of the team through injury because he wanted to fight back and go out on his own terms.

Fight is a characteristic that Barry gave all his teams, including England, who handed him the first of his 53 caps way back in the Kevin Keegan era. He did not prove popular with all of the half dozen international coaches who came along after, though he retained his popularity among fans, who appreciated his desire and determined approach.

Those qualities in turn helped him outstrip Ryan Giggs and Wayne Rooney to claim the record for Premier League appearances, a record that should stand for some time given that James Milner is the only player in the top 10 still active. Milner is a similar player to Barry in many ways, indeed the pair played together at Villa and Manchester City, but even though Milner looks after himself and is five years younger, he is going to have to go some to appear in another 116 top-flight matches.

The Guardian Sport



Motorcycling-Double Dakar Winner Sunderland Chasing Round the World Record

Rallying - Dakar Rally - Prologue - Alula to Alula - Alula, Saudi Arabia - January 5, 2024 Red Bull GASGAS Factory's Sam Sunderland in action during the prologue stage REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed/File Photo
Rallying - Dakar Rally - Prologue - Alula to Alula - Alula, Saudi Arabia - January 5, 2024 Red Bull GASGAS Factory's Sam Sunderland in action during the prologue stage REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed/File Photo
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Motorcycling-Double Dakar Winner Sunderland Chasing Round the World Record

Rallying - Dakar Rally - Prologue - Alula to Alula - Alula, Saudi Arabia - January 5, 2024 Red Bull GASGAS Factory's Sam Sunderland in action during the prologue stage REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed/File Photo
Rallying - Dakar Rally - Prologue - Alula to Alula - Alula, Saudi Arabia - January 5, 2024 Red Bull GASGAS Factory's Sam Sunderland in action during the prologue stage REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed/File Photo

Double Dakar Rally motorcycle champion Sam Sunderland is gearing up to ride around the world in 19 days, a record bid that the Briton expects to be mentally more challenging than anything he has done before.

The bid, launched on Thursday, targets a record of 19 days, eight hours and 25 minutes set in 2002 by Kevin and Julia Sanders for the fastest circumnavigation of the globe by motorcycle.

To beat the feat, which is no longer recognised by Guinness World Records because of the dangers involved, the 36-year-old will have to ride 1,000 miles every day and on public roads across Europe, Türkiye and into the Middle East, Reuters reported.

A flight will take him on to the Australian outback, New Zealand and the Americas. From there, he and the Triumph Tiger 1200 go to Morocco and loop back through Europe to Britain.

What could possibly go wrong?

"I don't think you can ride around the world and cover that many miles a day without having a few hiccups along the way," Sunderland told Reuters with a grin.

"When I try and compare it to the Dakar it's going to be probably, in some sense, tougher. Not physically but mentally.

"In the Dakar you've got a heap of adrenaline, you're super focused, things are changing quite often which makes you have to react. And this is like: 'Right, those are your miles for the day, get them done'. It's more like a mental fatigue."

 

ONE DIRECTION

 

The target time excludes ocean crossings but the journey, starting in September, must go one way around the world and start and finish at the same location on the same machine.

Two antipodal points must be reached on a journey through more than 15 countries and 13 time zones. The Dakar rally covers 5,000 miles over two weeks.

"I was trying to put it into perspective for my mum the other day, and my mum lives in Poole in the south of England, and I was like 'Mum, it's like you driving up to Scotland and perhaps halfway back every day for 19 days'," said Sunderland.

"I'm on the bike for around 17 hours (a day). I set off at 5 a.m. and arrive around 10, 11 p.m. most nights. So definitely later into the day you feel that sort of mental fatigue setting in, and to stay focused and stimulated is not that easy.

"But at least I don't have dunes and mountains to deal with and other riders in the dust, and hopefully not getting lost either."

"I need to behave, let's say, I need to follow the rules of the road and be a good boy with it," said Sunderland, who announced his retirement from professional racing last year.

Sunderland will have a support crew of six travelling behind by car, for security and assistance, but the Red Bull-backed rider expects to be well ahead.

He also hopes his bid will have a positive effect.

"In the news today, it's all sort of doom and gloom in the world, with all the wars going on," he said. "And I think it's quite nice to show people that you can still get out there and experience the world for what it really is."