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BARRY SILKMAN


Barry Silkman

He are the known details of Barry Silkman's playing career as well as some interesting snippets and opinions:

Fee      Club            Terms   Date    Apps.   Sub.    Goals

-        Fulham          Amat
-        Wycombe         Amat
-        Wimbledon       Amat
-        Barnet          Cont
-        Hereford Utd    Cont    08/74   18      19      2
-        Crystal Pal.    Cont    08/76   40      8       7
£53,000  Plymouth Arg.   Cont    10/78   14      0       2
-        Luton Town      Loan    02/79   3       0       0
£75,000  Man City        Cont    03/79   see below
-        Macc. Tel Aviv  Loan    01/80   0       0       0
£5,000   Brentford       Cont    07/80   14      0       1
£20,000  QPR             Cont    10/80   22      1       2
-        Grays Athletic  Loan    -
£15,000  Leyton Orient   Cont    09/81   133     7       14
-        Southend Utd    Cont    07/85   38      2       1
-        Crewe Alex.     Non-C   09/86   1       1       0
-        Staines Town
-        Wingate and Finchley

City career:

Début: 31/03/79 vs. Ipswich Town away

                Appearances     Sub.    Goals
League          19              -       3
FA Cup          -               -       -
League Cup      2               -       -
Europe          -               -       -
Reserves        13              -       1
LSC             -               -       -
MSC             -               -       -
Other           2               -       -

Silkman was groomed by Malcolm Allison at Plymouth Argyle; MCFC paid for him in instalments as he had a knee injury. He scored on his début, a game which also saw the début of Nicky Reid. Barry did a lot of running around in forward positions but little else. He went to Israel on loan but jetted back as soon as he learned that he was eligible to be called up into the Israeli Army!

At City he was a racehorse owner and by the late 1980's he had become a successful greyhound trainer. He is also a players' agent and plays in charity games.

Note that Silkman does not get a mention in the recently published "Manchester City A-Z", which probably sums up his career at the Academy. The sad thing is he would probably make the team these days. City signed him in 1979 and he lasted for just under a season. He started the 79/80 season in the team that read:
Corrigan, Ranson, Stepanovic, Caton, Booth, Power, MacKenzie, Silkman, Robinson, Deyna, Henry. Sub: Viljoen

Silkman lasted a handful of games before the truth was realized and he went somewhere else. That was a grim team... even grimmer when you realise that his replacement was Steve Daley. From this you will have gathered that he was one of the great players brought in by Allison to replace the crap we had: Owen, Barnes, Tueart, Kidd etc. 8-(

Silkman was definitely a star, in the maverick mould, and was something of a Rodney Marsh play-a-like (socks down to his ankles, smile on his face, flamboyant etc.), and maybe City signed him after MacFarlane the clown (and his wimpy sidekick Book) hounded one of the best players (if not the best) we ever had, out of Maine Road. He did have some fantastic skills, a desire to please the crowd (something the present incumbents of the holy sky blue shirts wouldn't know anything about), and a tremendous `Jimi Hendrix' Afro.


Collated by Paul Howarth from contributions by John Maddocks, Steve Maddox, Jeremy Poynton, Dave Bennett, Tim Perry and Ashley Birch.