BARRY HAYLES

Full Name: Barrington Edward Hayles

Born: 17 May 1972

Came from: Millwall   Went to: Leicester City

First game: 05 August 2006   Last game: 26 December 2007

Appearances: 66 (61/5)   Goals: 16

Born in Lambeth, Hayles began his football with Willesden Hawkeye and then Stevenage Borough, where he made his mark in their 1996 FA Cup run. Spotted by Ian Holloway, he signed for Bristol Rovers the following year. After scoring 38 goals in 81 games for the Pirates he moved to Fulham for a reported £2 million fee and helped the club gain promotion from Division Two to the Premiership.

After six seasons, 214 games and 57 goals for Fulham he was released on a free transfer and moved to Sheffield United in the summer of 2004, but failed to settle and after just a month of the new season, moved back to his native London to sign for Millwall. A serious knee injury kept him on the sidelines for four months in his second season at the New Den but he still amassed 60 appearances (17 goals) in his two years at Millwall before joining Holloway at Argyle in the summer of 2006.

Hayles, capped ten times by Jamaica, finished his first season at Home Park as the club's leading goalscorer, but he left at the end of 2007 to join Holloway for a third time after the manager's shock move to Leicester City. Hayles only scored twice in 30 games over a season and a half with the Foxes, which included two loan spells with Cheltenham Town before joining the Gloucestershire club full-time in July 2009.

His career in the senior game ended a year later, dropping into non-league football with Truro City, where he spent two successful seasons and helped the club win promotion to the Conference South (tier 6). He had two further spells with Truro, interspersed with a half-season at St Albans City and a season with Arlesey Town.

Still going strong at the ripe old age of 44, Hayles joined Chesham United as a player/coach, in June 2015. His two seasons with Chesham, included an emotional substitute appearance in an FA Cup victory at former club Bristol Rovers in November 2015. Moving on again, Hayles signed for Hellenic League Premier division side Windsor as a player-coach in July 2017. In two seasons with Windsor he played 60 times and scored 17 times.

He then departed for a three season spell with Isthmian League Premier division Merstham, again combining playing and coaching and limiting his appearances to just 20 with two goals before returning to Windsor again - now in the Combined Counties League Premier Division North - playing 14 times and scoring once in the 2022-23 season. By now he had played over 1,000 career games and scored over 300 goals.

In June 2023 Hayles (and another ex-Pilgrim, Luke McCormick) were part of the England Veterans' side that won the Seniors' World Cup with a 1-0 win against Iran in the final, played in Thailand.