Warren Barton

Football player infobox
playername = Warren Barton
fullname = Warren Dean Barton
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1969|3|19|df=y
cityofbirth = Islington
countryofbirth = England
height = height|ft=5|in=11
dateofdeath =
cityofdeath =
countryofdeath =
position = Defender
years = 1989–1990
1990–1995
1995–2001
2001–2003
2003–2004
2004
2004–2005
clubs = Maidstone United
Wimbledon
Newcastle United
Derby County
Queens Park Rangers
Wimbledon
Dagenham and Redbridge
Total
caps(goals) = 042 0(0)
180 (10)
164 0(4)
054 0(0)
003 0(0)
005 0(0)
002 0(0)
450 (14)
nationalyears = 1991–1994
1995
nationalteam = England B
England
nationalcaps(goals) = 003 0(0)
003 0(0)

Warren Dean Barton (born 19 March 1969 in Islington, London) is a former English football player.

Club career

He began his league career with Maidstone United, who swapped him with Dagenham F.C. for three players and a manager, John Still. All three players, plus Still, chose not to turn professional following the club's promotion to the football league in 1989 (Still later changed his mind and managed Peterborough United and Barnet).

It was soon clear that Barton was far too classy for the third division, although he did show signs of defensive frailties. Moving forward at speed up the flank with the ball, Barton was a constant threat to defences because, given the chance to put the ball into the box, his accuracy was unerving.

Wimbledon

Barton was transferred to Wimbledon in 1990 for £300,000, a UK record fee for a third division player at the time, one year before Maidstone went bankrupt. During his time at Wimbledon he was instrumental in keeping them in the Premiership, and quickly became one of the most highly-rated defenders in England. However, Barton had the most successful spell of his career with the Dons after they moved him into midfield, where that accurate passing provided many goals for the Crazy Gang's forwards.

Newcastle United

In 1995 he became the most expensive defender in English football when he moved to Newcastle United for £4million, joining the "The Entertainers" being assembled by Kevin Keegan. Everything looked rosy for Barton, and a few England caps followed, his classy, comfortable style on the ball earned him a reputation as a true footballing full-back. His attacking role under Keegan however meant he didn't always suit the national team and he didn't make too many more appearances for England.

With Newcastle losing out on trophies due to such a gung ho attitude Barton, for the first time in his career, found himself under fire and was moved on to Derby County. He was briefly loaned back to Wimbledon before retiring as a professional player in 2004.

International career

Barton made his debut for England in the infamous February 1995 friendly away match against the Republic of Ireland which was abandoned after only 27 minutes because of rioting extreme-right [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/323366.stm UK combat 18's hardline racism] - BBC News] political activists [ [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsO82x7G83U England supporters riot at Lansdowne] - Youtube] . Later that year, he earned his second and third against Sweden and Brazil respectively. In the latter, which proved to be his last international match, he was only a very late substitute coming on for John Scales.

Retirement

Warren Barton ended his playing days where he began, with Dagenham & Redbridge in the 2004–05 season and now coaches the side during the week, working as a TV pundit at the weekend. He also runs a travel agency.

In 2006, Warren Barton was part of ITV4's World Cup team of pundits. He presented his own comedy segment entitled 'Warren Barton Travel Agent' in which Warren provided a comical breakdown of each country taking part in the World Cup.

Barton represented Newcastle United for Sky One's "Premier League All Stars". The match took place on 26 September 2007 and finished 3–3. In the resulting penalty shootout, Barton missed his penalty to knock Newcastle out of the tournament.

Barton currently works for Fox Soccer Channel as a TV Pundit and was named as the U-18 coach at L.A. Galaxy by Director of Player Development, Trevor James.

References