Barrow AFC.net

Lots of contenders, depends how far you want to go back.
Wilkie working on a shoestring budget and winning the FA Trophy.
Daz and Dave taking Barrow from relegation fodder to promotion and FA Trophy glory.
Evatt doing something most fans thought they would never see, promotion to the football league.
Pete Wild taking Barrow from constant relegation fears to promotion to league 1 hopefuls.
Darren Edmondson a promotion.
Vic Hallom a promotion.
Rob Kelly, Phil Brown and Adrian Pennock.
Views?

Sneaking Phil Brown in there is a pretty mad shout

WillBAFC wrote: ↑Tue Oct 27, 2026 12:18 pm Sneaking Phil Brown in there is a pretty mad shout

he kept us up, but I know what you mean.

Ray Wilkie for me. We had a good team of locals and out of towners. No mercenaries. Vic Haloms team was great. Evatt got us up playing some excellent flowing football. Ray for me though.

Ray Wilkie for me.Who knows how far he might have taken us had his life not been cut tragically. Short.
The Wembley 1990 win gave the town something to shout about after years in the wilderness.
Wilkie gave the towns football fans belief again and got people talking about Barrow AFC again

You missed out Don McEvoy.
The only manager to get us promoted to Division 3 (League 1 now).
Also Colin Appleton who took us to the top of league 1, albeit only overnight after a 4-1 win at Hartlepool.
Barrow's highest ever league position.

Wilkie - around half of the team were from Barrow - the rest from West Cumbria and those he brought across from the North-East.

Very rarely - if ever - did they train together but as Cowps said they were all one big happy family and played their socks off for each other, and that was down to Ray.

So sad that he was taken so soon after the 1990 FA Trophy Final.

Evatt

Only go back so far .I'm not that old

Wilkie, phenomenal manager and genuine bloke

Daz n Dave for that massive push second half the season and the fa trophy, probably some of the best times.

Evatt did the impossible and brought football league back to us but [SwearFilter] off too soon, no real loyalty.

Murray is growing on me with his mentality and attitude..I think he will do a great job but time will tell.

Which ones changed a whole outlook of a town as well as brought success?

Doesn't that bring it down to Wilkie vs Evatt?

As someone who's Barrow 'history' doesn't include the former but have on occasion for various things asked folk of my vintage about Ray Wilkie, people seem to struggle beyond what he was like as a human being and the local aspect of many players.

Evatt will never be as loved, he and football are too transient. But he achieved the impossible and moulded a side of disparate parts to his will in a way we all thought was mad at first. And he convinced a town.

Evatt for me

32mile_cul-de-sac wrote: ↑Tue Oct 27, 2026 12:24 pm

WillBAFC wrote: ↑Tue Oct 27, 2026 12:18 pm Sneaking Phil Brown in there is a pretty mad shout

he kept us up, but I know what you mean.

Saying he kept us up is a bit of a stretch. His points per game was worse than Cooper’s. We would have stayed up if we had only gained one point under Brown as Oldham pretty much imploded upon his arrival. His record was no better than average.
He did get a great win over Forest Green who were top at the time but that was about it. Think we lost the last three or four under his brief leadership.
I wouldn’t give him more than a 5/10 at best.

Surely Don McEvoy and Colin Appleton should be on the list of Barrow’s greatest managers and John Commins Barrow boss during the 1931/ 32 season when we finished 5th in Third Division North.

FanzoneFan wrote: ↑Tue Oct 27, 2026 3:58 pm Surely Don McEvoy and Colin Appleton should be on the list of Barrow’s greatest managers and John Commins Barrow boss during the 1931/ 32 season when we finished 5th in Third Division North.

Got to be. The 2 managers during the time of easily the best Barrow team of my lifetime. Outside of those 2, Ray Wilkie, Ian Evatt and Vic Halom.

Bingley Blue wrote: ↑Tue Oct 27, 2026 3:55 pm

32mile_cul-de-sac wrote: ↑Tue Oct 27, 2026 12:24 pm
he kept us up, but I know what you mean.

Saying he kept us up is a bit of a stretch. His points per game was worse than Cooper’s. We would have stayed up if we had only gained one point under Brown as Oldham pretty much imploded upon his arrival. His record was no better than average.
He did get a great win over Forest Green who were top at the time but that was about it. Think we lost the last three or four under his brief leadership.
I wouldn’t give him more than a 5/10 at best.

Exactly what I was thinking and I honestly believe he thought he was far better than he was.

Colin Appleton; I don't know why it's being discussed any further.