Barry Hayles: The evergreen striker still loving life in front of goal

Barry Hayles went from Willesden Hawkeye to the Premier League with Fulham
John Lyons catches up with evergreen striker Barry Hayles for a special NLP feature
It was so long ago when Barry Hayles first started playing senior football that Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister, Mike Tyson was knocking out all and sundry and the Premier League hadn’t even been invented.
Yes, take a trip back to 1989 and a young Barry Hayles was starting out on the road that took him all the way to the top-flight of English football and then back home to Non-League.
As player/assistant manager for Isthmian Premier outfit Merstham this past season, he was still able to mix it with lads less than half his age. 
The evergreen striker turned 48 a few weeks ago – but doesn’t plan on hanging up the boots just yet.
It’s a long, long time since those early days at Spartan League outfit Willesden Hawkeye, but he remembers them well – and, in particular, two matches at Wembley Stadium.
“I was there for a couple of seasons and must have played at least 40 games, maybe 50,” he told The NLP.
“The highlight was playing at Wembley two years on the bounce in the Brent Cup – and we won them both.
“I notched from left-back in the first one, I think we won 4-1, and I played left-wing in the second one. For a youngster like me, those were magnificent occasions.”

Barry Hayles was spotted by England C boss Paul Fairclough
Hayles’ displays as an attacking left-back caught the eye of the Middlesex County selectors and he was called up for a match against Hertfordshire. It proved to be one of the turning points in his remarkable career.
He explained: “We lost 1-0 but afterwards the Stevenage manager Paul Fairclough spoke to myself and Phil Simpson, who I’d played with from childhood and was also at Hawkeye. He said ‘Do you want to get paid for playing or do you want to keep paying subs?’.
“We both signed for Stevenage though, to be honest, Paul wanted Phil more. I was his best mate who would come along with him.
“It was a big step up when I first went there. You were playing against a lot of experienced players and I never really had a position. I played a few games as a sweeper. I got sent off in one of them and that was the last time I played there! I also played across the midfield.”
It was at Stevenage where Hayles really started to make a name for himself, though he admits there was an element of fortune about the switch up front that ended up being so crucial to his fortunes.
“I had a two-game ban coming up and Paul didn’t have a striker for a game just before that so he put me up there,” he explained. “I scored one and had a hand in another one.
“Paul told me afterwards ‘When you come back, I’ll put you up there again’. I scored again and he said ‘we can work with this’. Who knows where my career would have gone otherwise? Paul takes the credit for it to this day!”
Stevenage won the Isthmian Premier Division in 1993-94 on their path to being one of the top Non-League clubs in the country under Fairclough’s shrewd leadership.
In fact, they went on to win the Conference in 1995-96. It should have been the crowning glory, but their dream of stepping up to the Football League was controversially scuppered when their ground didn’t come up to scratch.
“Like all the boys, I was devastated,” recalled Hayles, who comfortably topped the league’s scoring chart with 29 goals in a scintillating season.
“I was getting older – I turned 24 at the end of that season – and I was thinking that was my time to get into the League. I remember thinking ‘I’ve probably missed the boat’.”
As it turned out, Hayles didn’t have long to wait to step up. The following year Bristol Rovers manager Ian Holloway shelled out £250,000 to land the man he had waited patiently for.
Hayles said: “When we won the Conference, Ian Holloway tried to buy me, but the clubs couldn’t agree a fee.
“Then he called me later and said ‘if you’re still there next year, I’m coming back for you’. He was true to his word. He said ‘I think I can build a team around you, this will be your stepping stone’. 
“It’s quite funny, but when one club shows an interest, you get four or five more interested, too. There were bigger clubs – and there was no difference money-wise between what I was on at Stevenage and what Rovers were offering – but I liked the fact Ollie had been true to his word.
“In football terms, it’s sometimes not about the money. It’s about the level and seeing what you need to do to step up again.”
It didn’t take the speedy Hayles long to show what he could do in his first season in the Second Division (third tier). He finished as the division’s top scorer with 23 goals as Rovers reached the 1997-98 play-offs.
Just a few months into the following season, Hayles was snapped up by Rovers’ highly ambitious divisional rivals Fulham – for a whopping £2m! “That was a massive time in my career,” he reflected. “Initially, I was flabbergasted about being bought for £2m. It did take me back and I didn’t settle straightaway. 
“Once I settled, I got myself going, scored some goals and the fans appreciated me.”
And Hayles has only good words to say about the man who signed him – Kevin Keegan.
“He was brilliant for me and a brilliant man-manager – he knew players’ strengths and weaknesses,” he said.
And Hayles gives a nice example of Keegan’s generous side.
“My car was in the garage the first week I signed,” he explained. “I came into training on the train.
 “On the Tuesday after training, I said ‘can someone give me a lift to the station?’. Kevin said ‘where’s your car?’. 
“Once I’d explained, he said ‘you can have my car for the rest of the week, I’m not using it’. In the end, I had his BMW 7 Series for about four days. 
“I’d only just arrived at the club and the boys were saying ‘how come you’re driving the gaffer’s car?!” 
Hayles – who praises former Fulham boss Jean Tigana for helping evolve his game – enjoyed a highly productive six-year spell at Craven Cottage, helping the Whites to two promotions which saw them reach the Premier League. He also earned international recognition with Jamaica in that period.

Barry Hayles in action for Chesham United
Upon leaving Fulham in 2004, Hayles, who rates former Whites striker Louis Saha as the best player he ever played with (“he had it all”), stepped back into the Football League with Sheffield United, Millwall, Plymouth, Leicester and Cheltenham.
When he dipped his toe back into Non-League with Truro City at the age of 38 in 2010, most assumed it was just a swansong. Yet he’s still going strong a decade later…
His 20 league goals in his maiden season with the White Tigers helped them win the Southern Premier Division title. It also proved that his return below stairs was no gimmick.
In the past decade, he’s had three spells with Truro and also had stints at St Albans City, Arlesey, Chesham United, Windsor and, currently, Merstham. It’s perhaps those spells with Cornwall outfit Truro that best sum up his love of football.
“I had a great rapport there, got on really well with everyone and it’s a lovely place,” he said. “I thoroughly enjoyed it.
“I was travelling from Beckenham in south-east London. For a home game, I would maybe go on the Thursday and train with the boys before the game on the Saturday. For an away game, I would meet them there.”
It would be far too much time and effort for most people, but Hayles clearly has a deep-rooted desire to play the game.
“I have two older brothers, Michael and Cliff, and I used to play football every day with them when I was a kid,” he said. 
“We were very competitive and I wanted to get the better of them. 
“I’ve been lucky with injuries over the years and I’ve stayed fit. I suppose I was born to play football.”
Although it’s difficult to be exact over how many games Hayles has played in his 30-year career, it’s clearly over the 1,000 mark, while he’s notched more than 300 goals. 
“It’s just the love of playing the game at a good level and the competitiveness,” he said. “A lot of players I played with over the years said they wished they hadn’t stopped when they did. I thought I’d keep going until my legs told me otherwise. 
“This season I’ve probably started five games and made about 15 appearances from the bench. 
“We were trying to avoid me playing but there were times when I was chomping at the bit and the manager (Frank Wilson) has said ‘I’m going to unleash you!’.”
As he approaches his half-century, does it now take him much longer to recover after games?
“No, sometimes I feel fine,” he said. “It might sound strange but sometimes the less I play, the more I feel it. 
“A lot of the boys ask me how I feel after games and I say ‘I’m fine’. They can’t understand it – they say ‘I’m 30 and I’m in agony!’. My body must be a little bit different.”
As he waits to see if he will be continuing at Merstham next season, Hayles can reflect on an exceptional career in the game – and he’ll always be grateful to the part Non-League has played in it.

Barry Hayles sees a future in coaching and management 
“It’s always a platform for young players to hone their talents,” he said. “I say to the younger players ‘what are your future aspirations, do you want to play higher?’.
“Other players have their steady jobs and enjoy playing on a Saturday. It’s all about the balance of what people are looking for.”
While you get the feeling there’s still a few games left in him, Hayles is gradually making the transition to the other side of the fence.
“I love coaching and I definitely want to go the management route,” he added.
If it’s anything like his playing days, it will be well worth watching.