Barry Silkman

Barry Silkman (born 29 June 1952) is a football agent and former player, who played as a midfielder for 11 clubs including at Manchester City in 1979 and at Leyton Orient from 1981 to 1985.[3][4][5][6] He competed for 16 years. In total, he made 340 professional appearances, and scored 31 goals. In the 1990s he became an agent.[7] Metro named him as the 10th-most influential agent in football in 2013.

Barry Silkman
Personal information
Full name Barry Silkman[1]
Date of birth (1952-06-29) 29 June 1952[1]
Place of birth Stepney,[1] England
Height 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)[2]
Position(s) Midfielder
Youth career
Queens Park Rangers
Fulham
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1971–1973 Wimbledon 56 (8)
1973–1974 Barnet ? (8)
1974–1976 Hereford United 37 (2)
1976–1978 Crystal Palace 48 (6)
1978–1979 Plymouth Argyle 14 (2)
1979 → Luton Town (loan) 3 (0)
1979–1980 Manchester City 19 (3)
1980 → Maccabi Tel Aviv (loan) 7 (1)
1980 Brentford 14 (1)
1980–1981 Queens Park Rangers 23 (2)
1981–1985 Leyton Orient 140 (14)
1985–1986 Southend United 40 (1)
1986 Crewe Alexandra 2 (0)
1986–1987 Wycombe Wanderers 6 (0)
1987 Chelmsford City 2 (0)
Wingate & Finchley
Managerial career
2018 Staines Town
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Playing career

In 1973, to obtain Silkman Barnet offered Wimbledon what was then a record fee for a non-league player, and his earnings rose from £5 a week to £20 a week.[8]

Silkman also played for Hereford United (1974–1976), Crystal Palace (1976–1978), Plymouth Argyle (1978–1979), Luton Town (on loan 1979), Brentford (1980), Queens Park Rangers (1980–1981), Southend United (1985–1986) and Crewe Alexandra (1986).[1][9] He was also a player-coach at Leyton Orient for three seasons with Frank Clark as manager.[4]

It was at Plymouth that Silkman first came to the attention of Malcolm Allison, who deemed him to be a suitable player to bolster Manchester City's midfield as they struggled in the First Division.[10]

In total, he made 340 professional appearances, and scored 31 goals.[4]

Silkman was a member of the gold-medal winning 45-plus Team GB at the 2009 Maccabiah Games in Israel.[4]

Managerial career

In November 2018, Silkman was briefly appointed manager of Staines Town, before leaving the club due to the Football Association deeming the job to represent a conflict of interests with his work as an agent.[11]

He coached the Team GB 45-plus football squad at the 2013 Maccabiah Games in Israel.[4]

Agent career

After retiring from football, Silkman became an agent.[9] Metro named him as the 10th most influential agent in football in 2013.[7] He said: "It's not the greatest job in the world, and can be very frustrating."[8]

Personal life

Silkman was born in Whitechapel in East London, and brought up in the East End of London.[8] His mother is Ginny.[12] He is Jewish, had a bar mitzvah, and said in 2013: "I was brought up Jewish and I'm Jewish through and through."[8][12][9][13]

He was a student at Canon Barnett Primary and Robert Montefiore Secondary schools.[8]

Silkman has been involved in greyhound training and greyhound racing, with his dogs Half Awake, Skomal and Carlsberg Champ respectively winning the 1987 Gold Collar (Catford), 1988 Guineas (Hackney) and the 1990 Cesarewitch (Belle Vue).[8] He is also involved in horse racing and is a presenter on Racing Post Greyhound TV.[14]

Career statistics
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League FA Cup League Cup Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Hereford United 1974–75[15] Third Division 15 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 15 1
1975–76[15] 22 1 2 0 1 0 4[lower-alpha 1] 1 29 2
Total 37 2 2 0 1 0 4 1 44 3
Plymouth Argyle 1978–79[10] Third Division 14 2 1 0 — — 15 2
Luton Town (loan) 1978–79[1] Second Division 2 0 — — — 2 0
Manchester City 1978–79[16] First Division 12 3 — — — 12 3
1979–80[17] 7 0 0 0 2 0 — 9 0
Total 19 3 0 0 2 0 — 21 3
Brentford 1980–81[18] Third Division 14 1 — 2 0 — 16 1
Queens Park Rangers 1980-81[19] Second Division 23 2 2 0 — — 25 2
Southend United 1985–86[20] Fourth Division 40 1 1 0 2 0 0 0 43 1
Wycombe Wanderers 1986–87[21] Isthmian League Premier Division 6 0 1 0 — 1[lower-alpha 2] 0 8 0
Career total 155 11 7 0 7 0 5 1 174 12
  1. Appearances in Welsh Cup
  2. Appearance in Premier Inter-League Cup

See also

References
  1. "Barry Silkman". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  2. Dunk, Peter, ed. (1987). Rothmans Football Yearbook 1987–88. London: Queen Anne Press. p. 142. ISBN 978-0-356-14354-5.
  3. "Westminster Hall - Hansard". hansard.parliament.uk.
  4. "Reference at www.thejc.com".
  5. Van Gelder, Samuel (15 March 2010). "Sport.Co.Uk Meets...Football Agent Barry Silkman". Sport.co.uk. Retrieved 16 July 2015.
  6. Parliamentary Debates (Hansard).: House of Commons official report. H.M. Stationery Office. 2005.
  7. Sanderson, Jamie (21 June 2013). "Top 10 influential football agents – from Pere Guardiola to Jorge Mendes". Metro News. Retrieved 16 July 2015.
  8. "A JEWISH TELEGRAPH NEWSPAPER". www.jewishtelegraph.com.
  9. "SILKMAN SINGING THE BLUES AFTER LEAVING MAN CITY". The Jewish Telegraph. Retrieved 16 July 2015.
  10. Scallan, Trevor. "GoS-DB Players". greensonscreen.co.uk. Retrieved 14 February 2017.
  11. Couch, Jon (3 February 2019). "Staines fear swan song". Non-League Paper. p. 2.
  12. Does Your Rabbi Know You're Here?: The Story of English Football's Forgotten Tribe. Quercus. 19 August 2014. ISBN 9781623655396.
  13. Stanford, Peter (22 September 2013). "Why are there so few British-born Jewish players in England's top flight?". The Independent. Retrieved 16 July 2015.
  14. "Barry Silkman Double O Seven Grey Horse Handicap (For Grey Horses Only)". Sporting Life. 16 August 2014. Retrieved 16 July 2015.
  15. "The Unofficial Hereford United Online Archive". Archived from the original on 10 August 2014. Retrieved 26 November 2018.
  16. "MCFC Matches By Season – Manchester City, Man City History – Bluemoon-MCFC". bluemoon-mcfc.co.uk. Retrieved 26 November 2018.
  17. "MCFC Matches By Season – Manchester City, Man City History – Bluemoon-MCFC". bluemoon-mcfc.co.uk. Retrieved 26 November 2018.
  18. Croxford, Mark; Lane, David; Waterman, Greville (2011). The Big Brentford Book of the Eighties. Sunbury, Middlesex: Legends Publishing. p. 422. ISBN 978-1906796716.
  19. "QPRnet – Seasonal Stats – Files – 1980–81". Archived from the original on 29 September 2016. Retrieved 26 November 2018.
  20. "SUFCdb | Player Profile". www.sufcdb.co.uk. Archived from the original on 27 November 2018. Retrieved 26 November 2018.
  21. "Barry Silkman – Player File from Chairboys on the Net". www.chairboys.co.uk. Retrieved 27 November 2018.
  • Barry Silkman at Post War English & Scottish Football League A–Z Player's Database
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