In memory of Barry Whitbread - Linnets all-time great dies, aged 77

Legendary former Runcorn AFC player and manager Barry Whitbread passed away on Wednesday at the age of 77, leaving behind so many memories of his exploits at Canal Street.

Barry, front row third from left, with his Runcorn team.

Barry was a gifted centre forward who who represented England at non-league international level (with six appearances and two goals) and played a major role in the Linnets' successes in the 1970s.

He was a leading light of the Runcorn team, which won the Northern Premier League title for the first time in 1975-76. This was then the top division outside the Football League.

Barry featured in one of the best forward lines in Linnets history along with Trevor Finnigan and Barry Howard.

They were all different but complimented each other with a perfect combination of natural talent, flair and a phenomenal goalscoring ability.

Barry played for the Linnets in all three FA Trophy semi-finals of the '70s.

In the third of the ill-fated two-legged affairs, he ended up in goal due to the sickening leg injury suffered by 'keeper Grahame Lloyd against Stafford Rangers.

This was yet another blow at the penultimate stage of the competition for a team, which would have richly deserved to grace the Wembley stage.

Barry briefly returned to Runcorn in the twilight of his career to get another shot at the twin towers, adding nine appearances (5+4 sub) and two goals to a long Linnets list. The Wembley challenge of 1984-85 ended with a 3-0 defeat at Boston United in the quarter-finals.

Ironically, Runcorn finally achieved their long-time goal of reaching the hallowed turf the following season but without finding a happy ending.

Coaching duties took Barry to the United States and also Singapore, where he served as national head coach from 1995 to 1998.

At the 1998 Tiger Cup - now known as the ASEAN Championship - in Vietnam, Barry led the Lions to their first international trophy.

“His contribution to the game and to Singapore football will always be remembered and cherished,” the Football Association of Singapore said in an Instagram post late on Friday.

As Runcorn boss, Barry led the team to third place in the Conference in 1989-90 - our second-highest finish in what would become the National League.

Unsurprisingly, 'Whitty' was profiled in the Linnets Legends series of articles by former Runcorn Linnets chairman.

It charts his stellar career as a player in semi-professional football and in management and coaching.

In his Legends piece, Derek Greenwood wrote:

"Barry Whitbread will probably best be remembered as a player at Runcorn, even though he did have a spell in charge as manager between 1988 and 1990, when John King left us.

As a student, Barry had attended Lancaster University and had played for Lancaster City through the 1972/73 season.

He made himself quite a reputation as a goalscorer, having scored a hat trick on his debut for them.

He also scored the opening goal in an FA Cup second round game at Notts County, who turned the tie around to win 2-1.

This prompted interest from Runcorn who had to wait until the following season had started to finally get their man. His transfer to Canal Street was for the princely sum of £250!

Barry trained to become a teacher, although he was later to become a coach at Liverpool's Academy, after spells coaching in the States and in charge of the Singapore National Team in the 1990s! (I suspect he is the only ex-Runcorn player to have gone on to manage a National team?).

Interestingly, Barry's son Zak, was born in the USA and represented them at Under 20 level.

Zak was also part of the Liverpool reserve team (at 6′ 3″ he is a bit bigger than his dad). Whitbread Jnr played almost 200 Football League games, finishing his career with Shrewsbury in 2015/16.

More than half of those appearances, 103 in fact, were for Millwall before a switch of clubs took him to Norwich City for whom he played 44 times in the EFL.

For most of his time at Runcorn, Barry was amongst the goals and was eventually transferred to Altrincham in October 1979 making him the club's costliest player at that time.

(What with Barry Howard, Barry Whitbread, Mal Bailey to name but three, there were lots of players over the years who played for both Runcorn and Alty. The clubs even swapped managers after the 1986 FA Trophy Final!!).

In the championship winning side of 1975/76, Whitbread scored a creditable 29 goals but that season he was pipped to the "golden boot" award by Trevor Finnigan, who scored an amazing 43 goals.

One of Whitbread's memorable goals was in FA Cup replay in November 1977 when he headed the only goal in a replay against Southport to take the Linnets into the second round against Hartlepool.

Watched by a crowd of 5,156 at Canal Street, the match generated record gate receipts at that time of almost £3,500.

Yet perhaps it is a match when he played for Altrincham against the Linnets at Canal Street which most sticks in the fans' minds. Alty were winning 4-2 with 10 minutes to go and Whitbread had scored all four and yet he still ended up on the losing side, as the Linnets made a stunning comeback to score three in the last few minutes and win 5-4!

As manager, he did take Runcorn up to third in the league but he was unable to sustain the success.

So it is as a player that we remember Barry Whitbread as a Linnets Legend."

Born and raised in Manchester, Barry settled in Runcorn and stayed beyond his playing career - returning to the town with his family from his footballing travels overseas and occasionally attended games at Murdishaw.

Barry's death was announced by Kali, one of his two daughters

Our deepest condolences go to Barry's family and friends at this very sad time.

RIP Barry Whitbread. 💚 💛