Barry Fry

Barry Francis Fry (born 7 April 1945) is an English former football player and manager. An inside forward, Fry scored a goal for England Schoolboys in front of nearly 100,000 supporters at Wembley and was seen as the best player in the team.

Managerial career In 1974, Dunstable Town received the financial backing of Keith Cheesman. He hired Barry Fry as manager, and gave him money to build a strong team; indeed in his autobiography, Fry claims that he was often given blank, signed cheques. Jeff Astle and George Best were brought in to play, with Best playing two pre-season games to promote interest in the club. Dunstable was promoted under Fry, but he was dismissed by Cheeseman's successor, Billy Kitt, after poor performance in the Southern League.

After spells at Hillingdon Borough and hometown club Bedford Town, in 1979 Fry became Barnet manager for the first of two management spells covering thirteen seasons. In his first spell, Barnet maintained a mid-table position in the Alliance League for six seasons before Fry left in December 1985 to manage Maidstone United. He returned to Barnet in August 1986 for a further seven seasons. Three times runners-up in the GM Vauxhall Conference, Fry achieved his first managerial success as Champions in 1990–91. Two years later he guided them towards the new Division Two (leaving two months before the end of the season to manage Southend United) despite being sacked eight times and reinstated each time by controversial chairman Stan Flashman,

Just after leaving Birmingham, Fry became chairman-manager of Peterborough United. They were relegated to Division Three in his first season, but regained their Division Two status three years later. Fry's nine-year reign as manager came to an end in May 2005 after they were relegated again, after which time he took up a role as director of football. Fry remained as chairman until 2006 when Darragh MacAnthony succeeded him. The documentary shows how Fry signed Miguel de Souza to Peterborough from Wycombe Wanderers, and shouted "Sold to the fat bastard in the blue blazer!" when Fry and De Souza reached an agreement.

Betting controversy In December 2018, Fry was charged by the Football Association for alleged misconduct in relation to betting after claims he placed bets on matches or competitions during the 2017–18 season, in breach of FA rules. He accepted the charges, and on 31 January 2019 he was suspended from all footballing activity for four months, with three months of those suspended for a two-year period.

Managerial statistics + Managerial record by team and tenure

Peterborough United Football League Third Division play-offs: 2000

Individual Football Conference Manager of the Month: September 1986, January 1987