Everton vs Middlesbrough: Gareth Barry reflects on waterparks, Bloemfontein and joining 'the 600 club'

'England are my greatest regret', says 36-year-old Everton midfielder, proclaimed by Ronald Koeman as one of the best players he's worked with

Barry celebrating his strike against West Bromwich Albion earlier this season (Getty)

It’s nearly 20 years since an indecorous chase for Gareth Barry’s signature led the manager who signed him up to the big time at Aston Villa to throw a memorable insult at the chairman of Brighton and Hove Albion, who were very reluctant to let him go on the cheap.

Dick Knight accused Villa of being “penny-pinching hypocrites”. John Gregory responded by claiming: “Dick Knight wouldn't recognise Gareth Barry if he stood on Brighton beach wearing an Albion shirt with a ball under his arm and a seagull on his head.“ It was about as close to controversy as Barry has ever got, because a career which will on Saturday see him join Ryan Giggs and Frank Lampard in the band of player to make 600 Premier League appearances has been conducted on the quiet side.

The arguable exception was his departure from Villa seven years ago, which so frustrated the club’s fans that he wrote an open letter to the Birmingham Evening Mail insisting that he wasn’t leaving for the money. But the criticism of him was harsh. He’d given Villa 11 years of his life and felt at the time that a top four finish was probably beyond them. His judgement on that one was not so wide of the mark.

Barry is playing as well as ever, re-galvanised at Everton by a new manager, Ronald Koeman, who has described him as one of the best players he has worked with and who reiterates the point as the club prepare for this weekend’s visitors, Middlesbrough. “He is an important player for us, because he is a clever player,” Koeman says.

Sometimes it takes a Dutchman to see what is before our very eyes, because an appreciation of our own is not all that it might be in England. Barry is playing at least as well as any member of the England midfield and yet the notion of him being recalled to the ranks seems unthinkable.

“I still feel I could play and do a job in that position at that level, I would back myself to play that position as well as anyone who's English,” he says. “Being left out of the squad it really hurts, but you get into a routine and get the benefits from that rather than England. These are things you can't control, so you can't worry about them.”

It was the loss of all hope on the England front which Barry spoke of when we sat down to hear him reflect more generally on his career, soon after Manuel Pellegrini had let him leave Manchester City, three years ago.

His fight for fitness before the 2010 World Cup became as much of a national fixation as David Beckham’s and Wayne Rooney's metatarsals had been to previous England campaigns. Some of the pre-South Africa headlines included ”Barry preying on Fabio's mind“ and ”Not a prayer without crocked Barry.” He played there but was not fit, then missed the 2012 European Championships through injury and with that his moment had gone.

Barry during the early days at Aston Villa (Getty)

“I picked up [that] injury before the 2010 World Cup but I still went and played, although the timing of that injury wasn't ideal,” he reflects. “In 2012, we had just won the league with City and I was really high on confidence going into the Euros when I picked up an injury which meant I couldn't go. The lows would probably be to do with England…”

He needed every iota of fitness against Germany in Bloemfontein in the 2010 quarter final and was at the centre of a public inquisition when Mesut Özil powered past him to score that afternoon. That, he told us three years back, was the career “low point” but then, as now, he believes that a defensive midfielder lacking a forward’s pace does make that midfielder a bad player.

It’s the sport’s way of painting players in a very black-and-white way that can make someone like Barry less valued than he might be. He might not command the profile of the two players who have preceded him to 600 games and seems slightly uncomfortable after all these years to be discussing his career. Those at City who pre-dated Pellegrini knew what he brought, though.

This morning, a team was losing quite heavily at head tennis and [Koeman] wanted to know why. He doesn't want anyone losing their focus and with good reason.

&#13; <p>Gareth Barry on manager Ronald Koeman</p>&#13;

“Calmness, great passes, ball retention, vision,“ says one of those involved in signing him. City insiders who knew him across four years at the Etihad also tell of the devastation he felt when it became clear that he was moving on. The feeling among non-footballing staff was mutual. ”Desperately sad,“ is how one describes the emotion on transfer deadline day in September 2013.

His contribution in this Everton swansong has demonstrated that he did have something to offer. Barry was one of prime contributors to the initial success of Roberto Martinez, though at the age of 36 he feels no need to hide his belief that players’ discipline and “standards” slipped under the Spaniard, before he left this summer.

“If standards are slipping off the pitch it can impact on your form on the pitch and the whole team was losing that level that is expected to compete at the top end of the Premier League,” he says. “It was things like time-keeping, dress codes, training everything really.”

Koeman has restored that intensity, with a style of football balancing the offensive and defensive which more in keeping with Barry’s game. “The manager doesn't… come across as some sort of headmaster but he has been quite keen to let anybody know if they go underneath the standards expected,” he says. “For example, this morning, a team was losing quite heavily at head tennis and he wanted to know why. He doesn't want anyone losing their focus and with good reason. One team shouldn't be getting beat so heavily at anything within the club, whether it's head tennis, five-a-side or on a Saturday.”

Barry challenges Mesut Ozil during England's 4-1 defeat to Germany at the 2010 World Cup (Getty)

Barry’s nine managers have all talked about his work ethic, though what that work entails has altered inconceivably since the days at Gregory’s Villa in the late 1990s.

“Some of the pre-season training was pretty tough,” he says. “When I started my career we were running around water parks and ridiculous things like that. You used to drive in dreading pre-season back then, but now you know it's going to be pretty tough, but it's going to be probably what you need. It's going to be good for you, instead of just slogging away. It's just amazing how the game has changed from that. You wouldn't have a meeting on the opposition, now you'd have two or three. Set pieces? You'd just have a manager's meeting where maybe he'd mention a few things about the way they play. Now you’ll know literally every opposition player and what their movements are.”

Like Giggs, he has turned to yoga and thrown himself into the vigorous ‘pre-activation’ workout regimes to help extend his career to such effect that he does not feel the need to stop when his current deal runs out this summer. On the contract front, there are “no discussions yet, a few murmurings,” he says. “I know they won't be chasing me for a new contract and it would be cheeky for me to go and ask.” He does not dismiss the notion of a 40-year-old outfield Premier League player and though phone calls to his agent suggest that a new career in China or the MLS would be possible, he clearly wants to extend his Premier League career into 2017/18.

This weekend, he can pause to reflect a little on the highs and lows. City’s title-winning 3-2 win against QPR on May 13 2012 was as good as it got, he doesn’t mind admitting. “I played a lot of games for Villa, and one of my regrets is not winning a trophy there – that still hurts, and that's why the big games are important.”

There is also an apologetic response to the question of whom his toughest opponent has been down these 600 games. “I hate saying it as an Everton player but I have got to say Steven Gerrard. He always seemed to score against Aston Villa. I’d say him. It will hurt the fans but I have to be honest.”

Up ahead is the prospect of cementing the early third place Everton have taken up and, if asked, helping to coax Ross Barkley, substituted at half time in midweek, through the most torrid time in his young career. “At Villa, I had a few weeks – maybe two months – out of the team [in 2001/2] which coincided with being left out of the England squad. It will dent you. You do feel like the world is against you. He just has to keep doing the right things and you only need one moment to turn your career around, a goal; a fantastic performance.”

Barry has never knowingly worn a seagull on his head but it’s the same subtle intelligence and discipline as Giggs and Lampard which have brought him to the landmark. There are very good reasons why he’s reached this place.