Barker unhappy with Shakers predicament (From The Bolton News)

Barker unhappy with Shakers predicament

4:00pm Thursday 7th March 2013 in Bury FC By Craig Nelson

COMPLETING the double over Bury was a sweet moment for former manager Richie Barker.

But the 37-year-old Crawley boss took no satisfaction from the Shakers’ plight – both on and off the pitch.

The West Sussex side eased to a 2-0 victory at Gigg Lane on Saturday thanks to a Jamie Proctor double, following up on a much tighter 3-2 win in the reverse fixture.

Crawley moved up to 12th in League One, while Bury, the side Barker left five days before the start of the season in favour of a move closer to his Brighton home, were left eight points from safety.

“I’m disappointed,” said Barker about Bury’s lowly place in the table, as well as their difficult financial situation, which has led to a second transfer embargo in the space of three months.

“I said before the match that after we’d beaten them I wanted Bury to go and win every game they can.

"For me, I’d like us to finish top of the league and Bury to finish second because it is a special place for me."

He added: “I don’t really know how it’s got this way (at Bury). But I knew finances were tight, they were tight when I was at Bury and they were always going to be tight.

“They are a club that are always going to have to sell players, and, probably at some point, I guess they are going to have to sell another one.”

All the talk before the match was of the hostile reception Barker was likely to receive. In the end, the Crawley boss was unfazed by a low-key response from the 2,200 Bury fans in the ground.

“I don’t think there really was one,” he said of the anticipated rough ride from the home supporters.

“There were a few shouts, but you expect that to a certain extent. I think there was a lot more made about it before the game than there actually was in the end.

“But it doesn’t really make any difference to me. The point is we’ve come here and put on a fantastic performance and I thought the players were excellent.”

And the Yorkshireman, who has been linked to jobs at Barnsley and Huddersfield since moving to be near his family last August, says he has no regrets.

“I’m certainly happy,” he said. “It’s made a massive difference to my family life. My wife and I now argue far more often than we did because it was a lot harder to argue 270 miles apart.

“It’s worked out brilliant. I now realise how much the kids annoy me as well.”