David Prentice: Gareth Barry nears booking ton but it's no yellow peril
"Blues are all the better for Barry’s spiky presence in front of their defence"
Everton midfielder Gareth Barry
On Saturday Gareth Barry took another step closer to claiming a Premier League record.
Only four players have made more Premier League appearances than the Blues midfielder – Ryan Giggs, Frank Lampard, David James and Gary Speed (curious that only one goalkeeper should feature in the top five) – and Barry will overtake former Everton skipper Speed before the end of the month.
But that’s not the record that Barry is closing in on.
According to the Premier League website, Barry has collected 96 yellow cards in his 532 Premier League appearances, just four shy of the all-time record holders Kevin Davies and Lee Bowyer.
This season he should comfortably become the first footballer to clock up a century of bookings in the Premier League.
Records prior to 1992 are sketchy, but given that a player usually had to commit grievous bodily harm to have his name taken in the past, it wouldn’t be a huge surprise to discover that he will become the first player in history to hit that landmark.
Yet despite that landslide of yellow cards, Barry has only been sent-off four times in his career.
That’s a relatively restrained record for a holding midfielder who has operated at the top level of the game for 16 years, and has amassed that many cautions.
Marco Materazzi managed three reds in his solitary season at Everton.
But while Materazzi was an impetuous, fiery, often rash Italian, Barry is a calculating, clinical and considered Englishman.
It’s sometimes called cynicism, but it’s a clever, calculated cynicism.
Barry is never out of control, which is why he has been able to tread a disciplinary tightrope on 92 occasions without seeing red.
The Blues very best sides have all boasted men prepared to take one for the team, men like Dennis Stevens, Jimmy Gabriel, Johnny Morrissey and Peter Reid.
Like them, Everton are all the better for Gareth Barry’s spiky presence in front of their defence.
All Time Premier League appearances:
Ryan Giggs 632
Frank Lampard 577
David James 572
Gary Speed 534
Gareth Barry 532
