Bert Barrett

Bert Barrett was a half back who played at Fulham from 1925 until 1937. Amassing over 400 appearances, he is well and truly a Fulham legend. He won 1 cap for England in 1929 against Ireland, despite the club being a Third Division side at the time.

Before Fulham
Bert was born on 3 November 1903, the third of four children and the youngest of three sons, living at 50 Ham Park Road in the West Ham area of Stratford. and grew up playing football at Park School in West Ham, before joining West Ham Boys and Fairbairn House Boys Club. It was around this time that he earned England schoolboy honours in 1917 against Scotland. He made three appearances in English Schools Shield Finals with West Ham Boys.

He joined Leytonstone in 1921 as a 17-year-old, where he continued playing until he signed professional forms for Fulham in October 1925. During this period with Leytonstone, Bert signed amateur forms with West Ham United for the 1923-24 season but failed to make any appearances for their first team.

On 6 October 1924, Bert was selected to play for the Amateurs against the Professionals in the FA Charity Shield, although ended up on the wrong side of a 3-1 scoreline. In February 1925, he signed amateur forms for Southampton and managed to make one appearance for them, ultimately failing to impress the directors and he was not kept on their books. Priot to this, throughout 1924 and 1925, Bert had gained four England amateur caps.

Fulham (1925-1937)
Fulham signed Bert, initially as an amateur, in August 1925, but his talent was clear to Andy Ducat who was then the Fulham manager, and he signed as a professional only two months later. He soon made his debut on 12 September 1925, in a 4-0 loss away at Oldham Athletic in the Second Division. He quickly became a mainstay in the side and showed his versatility by playing both sides of the half back line, and also as a left back on occasion.

Although his performances were favourable, he could not prevent Fulham from relegation to the Third Division South at the end of the 1927-28 season.

1929 was perhaps the most notable year for Bert during his whole playing career. In February of that year, he subject to interest from First Division sides Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur who both attempted to sign him though he chose to stay put at Craven Cottage. Then, from May to July he travelled to South Africa after being selected to take part in a tour organised by the FA. He represented the Professionals in the 1929 FA Charity Shield, before on 19 October, he made his one and only appearance for the England national team as he played at left half in a 3-0 win away to Ireland.

He helped Fulham to one of their most successful seasons in their history in 1931-32, as they were champions of the Third Division South, in a team which scored 111 goals in the League. The following season, Fulham came incredibly close to promotion to the first tier, as they finished in 3rd place with Bert appearing in every League game bar one.

Bert was an ever-present in the team in the 1934-35 season, but found his playing time reduced the following year when he was in and out of the team, largely being kept out by Jimmy Tomkins, though he still managed 19 League appearances.

Bert only went on to make four more appearances in 1936-37, and spent most of his time either playing for the Reserves or dealing with matters in his new position as chairman of the Professional Footballers Association. During his tenure as chairman, he notably called for the full-time employment of referees in the Football League.

After Fulham
Bert was released in May 1937 and he made the decision to retire, having spent 12 years at Craven Cottage. After he resigned from the PFA, he joined his old club Leytonstone as a coach until the outbreak of the Second World War.

He owned a newsagents/tobacconists shop in 1939 and was the secretary of a wholesale firm in Romford market after the War. He later emigrated to South Africa in 1954 and became a coach for Camps Bay in Cape Town in November 1958. Bert lived there until he passed away in December 1989, aged 86.

West Ham Boys

 * English Schools' Shield
 * Finalist (3)

Fulham

 * Third Division South
 * Champions (1): 1931-32