Barry Fry's best football moments
With one of the EFL's cult heroes coming to Wembley this weekend, what better time than to look back on some of his finest - or certainly most entertaining - moments...
The EFL is a larger-than-life league. Where else would you find 10 sides fighting for the final League Two play-off spot with five games remaining?
Where else would you find the Championship top three separated by two points - and all with a chance to break the 100-point barrier?
Where else would you find Barry Fry?
It's in the EFL, where family clubs are still able to thrive and characters, nearly as much as finances, still make the world go round.
Fry played his first professional games for Bolton as a 19-year-old in 1964, before spending most of his playing days in non-League
Fry played his first professional games for Bolton as a 19-year-old in 1964, before spending most of his playing days in non-League
Younger readers may not be so familiar with the 78-year-old but to those more seasoned in the Football League, Fry is one of its all-time cult figures.
So much so, he landed his own documentary series, There's Only One Barry Fry, in the late 1990s, and in the early 2000s cultivated another, Big Ron Manager, when he brought Ron Atkinson down to Peterborough in an ill-fated spell as a footballing consultant.
Fry has been director of football at Peterborough since 2005, when he stepped down as manager - he remained chairman until 2006, when new owner Darragh MacAnthony (left) succeeded him
Fry has been director of football at Peterborough since 2005, when he stepped down as manager - he remained chairman until 2006, when new owner Darragh MacAnthony (left) succeeded him
Fry has always been best known for his stories, and ahead of Peterborough's trip to Wembley this weekend for a Bristol Street Motors Trophy final date with Wycombe, live on Sky Sports Football on Sunday, he sat down with Sky Sports' Gary Cotterill to regale some of the best from more than 60 years in the professional game.
Watch Barry Fry: My Way on Sky Sports Football from 7pm on Friday - and get a sneak peek of some of his best stories below.
Plus watch Peterborough vs Wycombe in the Bristol Street Motors Trophy final on Sunday from 2.45pm, kick-off 4.30pm.
A deal with the Beckhams?
Shaking hands on a deal with David Beckham is something many managers dreamt of in the 1990s. Perhaps Fry got closer than most - although not for the reasons most would've expected.
Barry says: "The first day I took over at Peterborough, I got a phone call from a garage in Dunstable, saying they’d got a number plate ‘POS11'. I said if they put a dot in the middle of the 11 and made it look more like ‘POSH’, I'd buy it. It cost me £4,000!
"Late on I went to take Matthew Etherington and Simon Davies to the Man Utd training ground for Sir Alex to have a look at them, because everybody in the Country wanted them.
I said: ‘David, see that number plate? If you’re struggling for a present for Victoria I’ll sell you it.'
"I watched training and had a bit of dinner with them after, and David Beckham was outside practising his free-kicks and all of that. When he came in he was looking out the window at the car park.
"I went over to him and I said ‘David, see that number plate? If you’re struggling for a present for Victoria I’ll sell you it'.
"He turned round and said, ’Victoria doesn’t like the name Posh!’
"So I thought I’d won the lottery - but I really hadn’t."
David and Victoria Beckham's romance became one of the talking points of the late 1990s when the then-Man Utd midfielder began dating, and later married, the Spice Girl
David and Victoria Beckham's romance became one of the talking points of the late 1990s when the then-Man Utd midfielder began dating, and later married, the Spice Girl
George Best (right) turned out for Dunstable against a Man Utd XI in a friendly in 1974 - while still in his 20s!
George Best (right) turned out for Dunstable against a Man Utd XI in a friendly in 1974 - while still in his 20s!
A moustachioed Fry (bottom row, centre) alongside Best (bottom row, third left) and his Dunstable team-mates
A moustachioed Fry (bottom row, centre) alongside Best (bottom row, third left) and his Dunstable team-mates
Managing the late, great George Best
Fry's managerial history, prior to hanging up his tactics board and becoming director of football at Peterborough, took him through plenty of clubs up and down the EFL and beyond.
His CV has several promotions on it and though the top flight always just eluded him, he didn't let that stop him managing one of football's all-time greats.
How did George Best end up playing for his Dunstable Town side? When you've got the gift of the gab, anything's possible.
Barry says: "My first managerial role in 1978 was at Dunstable Town, who had finished bottom of the league eight years on the trot.
"Our first attendance at Dunstable was 34 - the next one was 43. It wasn’t a crowd increase, I made all my family come.
"So I felt I had to have a gimmick and wake the town up. One Sunday night I was visiting one of my old haunts in Manchester, a club called Slack Alice which was owned by George [Best] So I went upstairs to see him and he says, 'Baz, what are you doing here?' I said, 'I need a favour. I want you to play in two pre-season friendlies.'
"He agreed but said there might be a problem. He was still registered with Manchester United. ‘Tommy Docherty still owns my registration so you’ll have to ask him’, he said.
"So I went to the Man Utd training ground the next morning and I see Paddy Crerand, who was a player when I was at United. He said he’d take me upstairs to see Tommy.
"Paddy said, ‘Boss, this is one of our old players, Barry Fry.’ The Doc said, ‘Pleased to meet you son, what can I do for you?’
"I said, ‘ Mr Docherty, can you give me permission to play George Best in two pre-season friendlies?’
"He asked what club I was with, and when I told him he replied, ‘Dunstabubble? What makes you think Bestie will play for Dunstabubble when I can’t get him to play here at Old Trafford?'
"Paddy told him we'd been kids together and when The Doc asked who our opponents were, I said we hadn't got any yet. He said he'd bring a Man Utd XI down!
"So, can you imagine George Best starting for Dunstable Town against Man Utd? We had 10,000 there and another 5,000 in the High Street who couldn’t get in. We were on the News at Ten - and we beat them 3-2!
"Later, when my chairman got put inside, I phoned George again. He came again, he played again. We got 10,000 in the stadium and all the staff got paid."
A seven-decade Wembley love affair
Fry came through the ranks at Manchester United in the early 1960s and left without making a senior appearance - as so many others do.
That move came about after he was spotted playing a starring role for England Schoolboys, which started a nearly 70-year-long love affair with Sunday's venue, Wembley Stadium.
Barry says: "At 14 I was picked for London Schoolboys. How I got picked for London Schoolboys I’ve no idea, I was 50 miles away in Bedford.
"My teams have never lost at Wembley, and this team is a joy to be a part of. I feel like I’ve died and gone to heaven."
"Then I got picked for all the England Schoolboys’ internationals that year. In six games, I scored five goals.
"One of those goals was at Wembley in front of 95,000 people. It was always my dream. I went to Wembley for the first time when I was eight years old, when Blackpool won the Cup, the Stanley Matthews’ final in 1953.
"Ever since then I have loved Wembley. It’s my favourite ground, I just love it. I’d go and watch people play tiddlywinks there.
"This time it’ll be very special because it’s my birthday. I’m 79 on Sunday - the day of the final.
"My teams have never lost at Wembley, and this team is a joy to be a part of. I feel like I’ve died and gone to heaven."
The old Wembley Stadium held up to 100,000 before it was renovated as an all-seater stadium in 1990
The old Wembley Stadium held up to 100,000 before it was renovated as an all-seater stadium in 1990
Fry (left) got Barnet promoted back to the Football League in 1991, but left in 1993 to join Southend
Fry (left) got Barnet promoted back to the Football League in 1991, but left in 1993 to join Southend
'Gazza' played for Tottenham from 1988 to 1992, scoring 33 times in 112 games
'Gazza' played for Tottenham from 1988 to 1992, scoring 33 times in 112 games
Paul Gascoigne, the consummate gent
Fry tells a story that Paul Gascoigne nearly became Peterborough manager shortly before he took over at Kettering in 2005.
But the two go back further than that. They had crossed paths when both were based in north London, with Gazza's trademark good nature making a big impression on the then-Barnet manager.
Barry says: "I knew Gazza from my time at Barnet. He lived in the Swallow Hotel when he played at Spurs, which we used to have our pre-match meals in.
"We used to see him working out in the gym, he was as fit as a butcher’s dog.
"Anyway, there was a time we were asked to do a local charity event. We were supposed to push wheelchairs over the start line. There were cameras everywhere.
"We all started off, Gazza there too, but he just kept going. And going. And going.
"We walked all the way around Whetstone and Totteridge and beyond with him still pushing a wheelchair along.
"That’s the sort of guy he is. Absolutely brilliant."
Ivan Toney could be playing for Barnsley!
Fry was the man who negotiated Ivan Toney's signing from Newcastle, and then his sale to Brentford two years later - for a profit which could potentially reach more than £14m.
Not bad business for a player signed for £650,000. But it could've been very different had Fry not stuck to his guns with his want-away striker...
Barry says: "Our chairman Darragh MacAnthony and I had a big meeting with Ivan and his father and his agent at the time, and they were begging us to let him go to Barnsley.
I said, ‘If you want your boy to go to Barnsley and the agent agrees, you should sack the agent!'
"They were begging us and kicking up a rumpus, knocking the door down.
"I said, ‘If you want your boy to go to Barnsley and the agent agrees, you should sack the agent, because he’s miles better than that. If you let him stay here we’ll make you a millionaire,' and we did.
"Darragh was very adamant as well. We turned down Barnsley because he was far better than that. Every time I see Ivan’s old man at Brentford now I say, 'All right Mr Millionaire!'
"Ivan wants to learn. He wants to improve. He wants to be the best. I recommended him to David Gold at West Ham, but he didn’t take any notice."
Ivan Toney played scored 49 goals in 94 games for Peterborough after signing in 2018
Ivan Toney played scored 49 goals in 94 games for Peterborough after signing in 2018
Toney has gone on to net 36 Premier League goals for Brentford, and scored his first for England against Belgium in the international break
Toney has gone on to net 36 Premier League goals for Brentford, and scored his first for England against Belgium in the international break
Watch Barry Fry: My Way on Sky Sports Football from 7pm on Friday evening.
Plus watch Peterborough vs Wycombe in the Bristol Street Motors Trophy final on Sunday from 2.45pm, kick-off 4.30pm.
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