Frederick Barber (born 26 August 1963) is an English former footballer who played as a goalkeeper and made nearly 400 Football League appearances. His most successful stints came early in his career with Darlington and Walsall, playing in over 100 league games for each club. He spent over 15 years as goalkeeping coach at Bolton Wanderers, and has been the goalkeeping coach at Crewe Alexandra since 2015.

Playing career

Born in Ferryhill, County Durham, Barber began his career at Darlington in 1981, where he served his apprenticeship. Barber was notable for donning a mask on entering the field for most matches during his career. He made 135 Football League appearances for the club before a £50,000 move to First Division champions Everton in April 1986. In his second season with the club, Walsall were promoted to the Second Division, but then suffered successive relegations. He helped the club to promotion to the Second Division with a 1992 play-off final victory over Stockport County, but the club struggled in the second tier. Barber found himself out on loan once again at Chesterfield in February 1993, but didn't make an appearance for the club. He was then sent on loan to Colhester United, He made 10 appearances for Colchester before returning to Peterborough.

Barber was instrumental in the development of Finland goalkeeper Jussi Jääskeläinen, who joined the club in 1997, making his international debut in 1998. Barber turned Jääskeläinen into one of the Premier League's most consistent goalkeepers, then helping progress Hungary goalkeeper Ádám Bogdán who would later replace Jääskeläinen upon his exit from Bolton.

Following Bolton's relegation to the Championship in 2012, after 16 years coaching, Barber left the club. This also followed Jääskeläinen's own exit as the club looked to refresh its back-room staff once again. before being reunited with Worthington after being appointed assistant manager at League Two club York City on 4 March 2013. He left the club on 5 May 2013, going on to concentrate on his freelance goalkeeper coaching business.

In addition to Bolton, West Brom, Northern Ireland, Bury and York City, as a freelance coach, Barber has previously worked with Oman, Jamaica, Sunderland, Stoke City, Blackpool, Burnley, Bradford City, Stockport County and Rochdale. He also runs his own goalkeeping academy that has helped discover goalkeepers including Jääskeläinen, Bogdán, Ali Al-Habsi and Tomasz Kuszczak. He worked with Will Jääskeläinen, Jussi's son, meaning he worked with two generations of Jääskeläinen goalkeepers.

On 5 August 2015 he moved from Crewe to Blackpool to replace Bobby Mimms, but had a change of heart two days later and returned to Crewe.

Personal life

His son, Jonathan, also played as a goalkeeper for Bury and Hartlepool United, and is currently the goalkeeper coach for MLS side Minnesota United.

References

Infobox statistics

  • . Retrieved 6 August 2013.
  • Kidderminster Harriers:

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