Derby County Assistant Head Coach Richie Barker is loving life in Derbyshire after leaving Championship side Rotherham United to join Paul Warne's backroom staff.
Barker made the move with Warne after a successful five years as his number two at the Millers, along with First Team Coach Matt Hamshaw and First Team Goalkeeper Coach Andy Warrington.
After landing all three points in a 2-0 success at Cambridge United during their first game in charge on Saturday in Sky Bet League One, it’s a quick turnaround for the new management team with a midweek fixture away at Mansfield Town on Tuesday evening in the Papa Johns Trophy group stages.
Speaking to RamsTV ahead of the meeting with the Stags, Barker spoke about what has been a whirlwind two weeks, getting that first win on the board at Cambridge and returning to Mansfield - a place where he had great success as a player.
On the Cambridge win…
Well, I enjoyed the last five minutes! It was good to get started and get the win because it had been a long week. Before that, we had the three or four days where everything was getting sorted too. We had the build up to the game, but it was nice to have that and try to get our principles into the lads.
The lads did the right things and we got that away win, and that first away goal, as quickly as possible.
On the squad…
We're not daft and we know that if somebody new comes in, you do get that immediate response. Hence why, unfortunately, managers change because otherwise there would be plenty in the job for 20 years.
We're aware that you get that instant reaction. But our aim is to try and create something where it's not just instant, it becomes part of the way of life of the football club. The lads have been great.
They're a really good group. We got told by a lot of people when we first came in that they're a good group - and they are.
We are probably surprised a little bit about one or two of them when you work with them in terms of how good they are. Hopefully, with our help, we can get them back where they need to be.
On the partnership with Paul Warne…
We've known each other over 20 years, we played together from 2000 for a few years at Rotherham. We actually both went to Mansfield as players after that; he went on loan and I went permanently.
We ended up sort of keeping in touch, I suppose that was really through our wives and our children. Our wives kept in touch and have become quite good friends.
I ended up being a manager in 2011 and Paul went on to the fitness side. We always kept in contact and spoke about ideas and stuff like that.
We did our PGCE teaching degree together as well. I think Paul might still have been playing, but I had just finished with a knee injury. We both went to college and did our PGCE together for two years and we spent a lot of time doing that.
Then, around six years ago, I was assistant manager at Charlton. Paul was given the caretaker role initially at Rotherham and then the permanent role a while afterwards. He rang me and said: 'I'm going to take the role on a permanent basis, I need somebody to come and help me. Would you would you come and help?'
I had the conversation with Karl Robinson, who was very kind to allow me to go and work with my mate at my hometown club. And five and a half years later, we were still there!
On whether he thought he’d ever go into coaching…
Paul came into the game late at the age of 23.
I started studying coaching when I was about 22 or 23. Myself and Paul, on that basis, were a bit the other way around. I started as a professional as an 18-year-old and then ended up retiring at 34.
I studied my coaching badges all the way through whilst I was playing and it was something I always wanted to do.
You could always see that Paul was intelligent enough, not just about the sport science but he was and is a real people person. I think he's probably even admitted to you guys and he certainly admitted a lot of times before that management wasn't something he was particularly interested in or envisaged himself going into. It sort of fell on his doorstep and he took to it like a duck to water.
I always wanted to manage too. I obviously ended up managing myself quite early. I was 36 when I got my first role and then stepped back to become an assistant three years later. Paul obviously went the other way and we have, I think, found our niches.
On his reaction when he heard Derby County were interested…
Firstly, it was pleasing. That is not in a disrespectful way to Rotherham but it meant that our work was getting recognised elsewhere.
The first promotion came after, the club had been in the Championship for a few years. Everyone assumed we had just bounced back and almost should have to and the second time it was like: 'these guys are not bad at this'. That was the COVID-19 year too. We had people throwing out at us: 'If it hadn't been for COVID-19, you wouldn't have gone up'. We then had to do it the third time and, off the back of the win in the Papa Johns Trophy win as well, that meant Paul was starting to get recognised.
It was pleasing that we were getting some kind of external recognition. We had a lot of conversations about was it the right thing for us to do. Is it the right thing for Rotherham United? And is it the right thing for Derby County? It wasn't just about us, it was about what we were leaving behind and what we were coming in to as well.
Derby County is a massive Football Club, it's a Premier League club in size and we just felt that it was an opportunity for us to come in and make an impact.
On whether Derby County feels like home…
Everybody's made us feel very welcome, right from the start. When I say everyone, I mean the whole large number of people who work for the football club; which we're not used to so.
Does it feel like home? Yeah, we're starting to feel that way. It's bizarre to think it was only seven days ago that we walked through the door for the first time - that does feel like a very long week!
You're very nomadic, aren't you, in football? You end up moving around. I think Paul ended up being the third or fourth longest serving manager in England before we came here.
For us, it was a big thing. It's a big change for us but it's the way of the world and it's the way of certainly professional football. If you want to stay for a long time, you're a bit of a romantic I think.
On the Papa Johns Trophy…
We think the competition is important for many reasons. It gives opportunities to players who are on the fringes of the squad, which is important when you've just had a new managerial team take over.
It's important for younger players, and this football club has got a great history over the last few years of producing youn players. I'm sure a lot of them have played their first games at this level.
It's a competition that we've got an opportunity to win. I know we've got the Carabao Cup coming up in a few weeks too when we head to Liverpool. Someone's got to win it. Someone is going to get an opportunity to play at Wembley Stadium in front of what I'm sure would be a massive crowd. And it's, for some players, maybe the only opportunity they're going to get to play at Wembley.
The aim is to get out of the group stages and it can sometimes take focus away from the league, which we are definitely not. We're not going to do that. Ideally, we would we like a cup run that runs alongside it to give people opportunities and then maybe lift the trophy. That's what you start thinking about a little bit further down the line.
On whether last season’s Papa Johns Trophy victory helped league success…
Initially it helped and then, if I'm being brutally honest, became a little bit of a hindrance. It helped keep our players fit and it helped keep players motivated. It helped keep players playing at the tempo that we wanted.
When you start getting to the Quarter Finals, Semi Finals and obviously for us it was the Final, people have a greater expectation that they want you to win it when they want to initially get to Wembley because people want a day out. Then people start talking about wanting to win it.
It came at a time for us last year that we were probably having a bit of a wobble in the league. Was maybe it a part of people focusing on going to Wembley? I'm not sure. But did it help at that particular time? Probably not. It made a more congested fixture list. I think we ended up playing seven Tuesday's out of the last eight. When you're trying to win the league or get promoted, it isn't ideal.
It was a day out for us in the Final and particularly the lads who played in it and the lads who ended up winning it too. For their families, the lads who scored the goals at Wembley, it will be something I'm sure that they will never want to change and obviously that might be somebody in this football club this year.
On returning to Mansfield Town…
I've been back quite a few times. We played there a couple of times with Rotherham, and I think I went there with MK Dons too. I've not been in a competitive game as it happens so far, but it is still a very special place for me.
I don't really know that many people there now. I think the groundsman is about the only person left. I'm sure there's still a lot of fans who probably don't even remember me playing now because it was 15 years ago! It is a football club that is very special to me because it was my first club as a captain. I think I ended up scoring nearly 50 goals in two seasons or something like that and it got me kick-started again. The people were always amazing to me and amazing to my family. My wife and kids always enjoyed coming to watch me at Mansfield so it's a football club that I always look out for.
I never really wanted to leave Mansfield and I was never really allowed to tell the story of why I left, but I didn't want to go and unfortunately I was sort of made to go. I played a part, I think, in helping save the football club at that particular time which, again, just means it's a bit extra special to me.
