Michael Barron

Michael Barron
Personal information
Full name Michael James Barron
Date of birth (1974-12-22) 22 December 1974
Place of birth Chester-le-Street, England
Height 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Position(s) Right-back
Youth career
?–1993 Middlesbrough
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1993–1997 Middlesbrough 3 (0)
1996Hartlepool United (loan) 16 (0)
1997–2008 Hartlepool United 309 (3)
Total 328 (3)
Managerial career
2011 Hartlepool United (Caretaker)
2012 Hartlepool United (caretaker)
2021 Blyth Spartans (caretaker)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Michael James Barron (born 22 December 1974) is a former professional footballer and coach.

Barron started his football career at Middlesbrough and made three appearances for the club. He would spend time on loan with local club Hartlepool United before signing permanently there in 1997. Early in his Hartlepool career, Barron won back-to-back Player of the Year awards in 1997–98 and 1998–99. After the club suffered three consecutive play-off defeats, Barron won his first promotion with the club from the Third Division in 2002–03. After two unsuccessful play-off campaigns in the Second Division and then subsequently League One, Hartlepool were relegated back to the fourth tier. Nevertheless, Barron won his second promotion with the club the following year. At the end of the 2007–08 season, Barron retired from football having made 374 appearances for Hartlepool, the ninth highest total in the club's history.

In his final season as a player, Barron began his coaching career at Hartlepool at youth level. He later moved into first-team roles with the club as a first-team coach, assistant manager and also as a caretaker manager on two separate occasions before leaving the club in 2013. Following this, Barron worked as a teacher before returning to coaching as assistant manager at Blyth Spartans.