G.O.A.T. - Barrow

                                                              

Brian Arrowsmith was born on the 2nd of July 1940 on Walney Island, Barrow and made the most Football League appearances for the club. In doing so he gave consistently good service to his hometown club for ten seasons. First introduced to League action at right full-back, he appeared in seven matches before the close of the season and improved in every match. In the following two seasons he missed only one League encounter and played in front of another Barrow legend, Fred Else who was born in Golborne near Wigan, between 1961 and 1970.

 

The 1960 Team

  

Brian was strong and tireless in defence and was also versatile, successfully taking over the important role of centre-half from the injured Don McCalman in the Division Four promotion season, 1966-67. Although not built on the lines of most central defenders, he seemed to have little difficulty in out jumping much taller opponents in aerial encounters and blotted out many notable centre-forwards. He also tackled well and placed his clearances with precision. Brian finally departed Holker Street at the end of season 1970-71 to join Netherfield. Twelve months on, Barrow crashed out of the Football League. Returning in July 1974 as player-manager, Brian resigned managerial duties in November 1975. He pulled on a Barrow shirt for the last time in January 1977, having added a further 134 appearances to his outstanding record of service to his local club.
 

A tough but fair defender, not many opposing forwards got the better of him, and he was no respecter of reputations as his games against the First Division stars of Southampton and Leicester showed. By rights he shouldn't have had a chance against Southampton and Wales centre forward Ron Davies, but Brian kept him in check in that FA Cup Third Round

He regarded being a local lad as neither an advantage nor a handicap, but had to admit that he came in for some rough treatment from spectators at one time. "They gave me a roasting early on" he recalls, "but any footballer would be a fool to let it bother him. You can’t afford to let the crowd get on top of you or your game could suffer. I just used to laugh it off." In January 2017 former Bluebirds owner Paul Casson unveiled the Brian Arrowsmith Stand ahead of the FA Cup third-round tie against Rochdale.

Sadly Brian died from Coronavirus in April 2020 and his best friend of more than half a century, Jimmy Wright, paid tribute to his former teammate. "We met in 1958 when we were both apprentices for the soccer. He was best man at my wedding to Anita and I was best man at his to Jean. I had a lot of time for Brian, I couldn't ask for a better friend. Brian’s biggest asset was his work ethic. He put 100 per cent into everything he did."The former Evening Mail sports writer Bob Herbert said: "Brian was outstanding in defence. He would put his head and his body in places where others would not have the courage to do so."