We first printed a table of Barrow AFC managers' playing records since 1990, in issue 023 (Aug 95) and it was in issue 028 (Nov 96), when we last updated it. This showed that Barrow's most successful manager in that period was the then newly appointed Owen Brown, who in just five games in charge had managed three wins and one draw, closely followed in second spot by his predecessor, Mike Walsh.
A lot of water has passed under the bridge since then. Owen Brown's reign came to an end in January 1999 after his hundredth league game in charge. So how did he manage? Did he hang on to the top spot or did he become a mid-table plodder? And where does the brief tenure of Shane Westley fit in? Brown is Barrow's second longest serving manager during the life of G'EB! nudging Tony Hesketh's 96 games into third place but just falling nine games short of Ray Wilkie's record. Wilkie, of course, was a manager for much longer than that, but our table looks only at those in charge since our first issue was published in at the turn of the decade. So, how did they manage?
Owen Brown failed to hang on to the top spot due to his appalling start to the Conference season of 1998-99. Up until then, after two successful UniBond campaigns, he was level with Walsh on a ratio of .675. An interesting part of Brown's time in charge was his strange record in cup competitions. In 1997-98 he got the team to the quarter finals of the FA Trophy. Apart from that glorious moment, Barrow's cup campaigns under his management were nothing short of unmitigated disaster. In fourteen competitions Barrow were eliminated at the first attempt in eight of them, and at the second attempt in another five. That leaves one successful run, that of the 1997-98 FA Trophy, out of fourteen, a ratio of only .070.
Brown's successor, Shane Westley, was widely credited with steering Barrow to a position outside the bottom three relegation places, but actually shares the third worst record with John King. King, of course took over in similar circumstances, but failed to save the club from relegation, and is now quite an unpopular figure at Holker Street. However, King had the means to bring in new blood, while Westley took charge as the club went into liquidation and within one month almost the entire first team squad had walked out, leaving him to patch together makeshift sides from non-contract players and reserves.
But bare statistics don't tell the whole story. Remember, Wilkie, King, McDonald/Cook, Westley and 26 of Owen Brown's games were at Conference level, where the standard of opposition is higher. All the other managers were in charge of a side playing in the UniBond.
Okay Kenny, its up to you now...
Updated from issue 040 - May 1999
