Player Of The Decade #7: Micky Barron

Our countdown of the top 10 players of the past decade continues, remember you can leave your comments and favourite moments in the comment box at the bottom of this article.

7. Micky Barron

A true Hartlepool legend takes his place at number seven in our chart. Micky Barron joined Pools on a short-term loan in September 1996 and stayed at the Vic until then turn of the year. Barron returned to the Boro hoping to break into the first team.

Pools kept tabs on the defender and signed him up in the summer of 1997 after he was deemed surplus to requirements at the Riverside. Barron was a committed defender, initially playing at centre-half before a move to right back, he captained Pools for a large part of his 11-year playing career with the club.

Not one to get forward Barron scored just 4 goals for the club. The last of which was an unlikely 30 yard effort against Wycombe in 2004 but his consistent performances and strong leadership, saw him clock up 374 games for the club.

He had a reduced role on the field in his final seasons at the club as he took on more coaching responsibilities. However he did play a major part in the club’s 23 game unbeaten run as they were promoted from League Two in 2007.

After 10 seasons at the club he was rewarded with a testimonial game against Leeds United and eventually took over the role of Youth Team coach in January 2008 following the departure of Paul Stephenson. A great leader and a committed defender he is a well respected figure at the club and is considered to be a Hartlepool manager in the making.

Our Favourite Moment
It didn’t end well for Barron, or the team for that matter, but we’ve picked the play-off final against Sheffield Wednesday as our favourite moment. In front of nearly 60,000 fans he led the team out as proud captain of the club.

We couldn’t have picked a better player to lead us out for the biggest game in the club’s history and this was a moment for him to savour after being a major part of the club’s rise from the bottom of Division 3 to the top 6 of League One.

Click here for our Player Of The Decade page where you can find out more about the other players in our countdown