Chester, Wigan and Rochdale Barrow began his managerial career with Chester City in 1992 (as player–manager), after collecting seven points from four games in caretaker charge. Although the team was relegated to the
Football League Third Division in
1993, Barrow inspired the Blues to bounce back the next season and gain promotion, but he resigned in the summer of 1994 amid frustration at key players leaving and a lack of financial backing from the board. He retired from playing following his departure, with his final appearance being in Chester's win 3–2 win over
Preston North End on 2 April 1994, just two months before his 40th birthday. He returned to
Chester at the end of the season, becoming assistant to manager
Mark Wright. They were sacked together on 29 April 2007. On 7 December,
Uwe Rösler was named full-time manager. Following the sacking of
Gary Caldwell in October 2016 Barrow again took charge on a caretaker basis, overseeing a 1–0 victory over
Cardiff City on 29 October. In March 2017, Wigan appointed Barrow as caretaker manager for the remainder of the
2016–17 season after the sacking of
Warren Joyce but he was unable to prevent relegation to League One.
Wrexham On 3 July 2018, Barrow was appointed as assistant manager to new
Wrexham manager
Sam Ricketts in the
National League. Amidst speculation that Ricketts was about to take the job at
Shrewsbury Town, Barrow took caretaker charge alongside goalkeeper coach
Jussi Jääskeläinen and coach Carl Darlington for Wrexham's FA Cup second round match with
Newport County on 1 December 2018, which ended in a 0–0 draw. When Ricketts' departure to Shrewsbury was confirmed two days later, Barrow was placed in interim charge.
Shrewsbury Town In June 2019 he joined
Shrewsbury Town as assistant manager to Sam Ricketts. ==Managerial statistics==