Gareth Barry is out of contract with the season underway but the former England midfielder has no plans to retire just yet. Adam Bate caught up with him to discuss the changes that he has seen in his long career and what is driving him on to continue…
The English football season kicked off as it always does but with a difference. There was no Gareth Barry involved this time. The man who has made more Premier League appearances than anyone else finally dropped out of the top flight to play in the Championship for West Brom last season, but now he is without a club. And still there are no plans to retire.
It already feels like Barry has been around forever. A former team-mate of current England manager Gareth Southgate, this is a player who went to a major tournament - Euro 2000 - before Chelsea boss Frank Lampard. At an age when many of his peers are embarking upon a coaching career, the 38-year-old midfielder remains focused on playing the game.
"I haven't really thought about coaching and I haven't done my badges because I don't want to take my eye off my playing career," Barry tells Sky Sports. "I think while you are still enjoying it, the motivation is there. I am still very competitive when I am out there training. The motivation comes easily for me and I have never found training hard work.
"I have found it a bit strange being out of contract and not involved when the season kicks off but that's where I am at the moment. I am working hard to get my knee right, doing rehab at West Brom. I just need to get fit. I am sure that if I do so I will be capable of doing what I have been doing for the last 20 years. Hopefully I have got one more season in me."
Barry never was the quickest, so - as the familiar theory goes - he doesn't have much pace to lose anyway. His strengths are the same as they were in his prime when he was winning 53 England caps and a Premier League title with Manchester City. He reads the game well, he makes good decisions with and without the ball, and he passes to his team-mates.
Even so, it doesn't get any easier as the years tick by. Fortunately, Barry continues to give himself every chance. "I bought into yoga at quite an early age," he explains. "I always give these things a try. If there is a chance these things will improve you then there is no point just watching other people do it. You either go with these things or you get left behind."
To illustrate the generational change that Barry has played through, last season he featured in a Football League Trophy game against Macclesfield in which all but one of his outfield colleagues were not even born when he made his professional debut. That first Aston Villa squad included characters such as Stan Collymore, Paul Merson and Mark Bosnich.
"There are so many things that have changed," says Barry. "The social media side is a big thing these days. There is so much you need to be careful of and learn about as a player.
"Professionalism is a massive one. As a kid now you are taught everything right from the start about what's good for your recovery. When I started you were pretty much learning along the way. There weren't sports scientists and three or four physios. There certainly weren't three or four masseurs getting you right for training and right again afterwards."
Few clubs have undergone a more dramatic change in that time than Manchester City, the club he joined amid some acrimony in the summer of 2009. The money was just starting to flow into the club at that time but the trophies had yet to arrive. As a result, the transfer to a team that had just finished below them in the table went down badly with Villa fans.
Barry's decision was vindicated in time.