Blackburn Rovers Barker began his career at
Blackburn Rovers under
Bobby Saxton's stewardship in 1983, having been
Noel Brotherston's boot boy as an apprentice. He had chosen to join Rovers ahead of
Manchester United as he felt he had a better chance of breaking into the first-team at
Ewood Park. Rovers finished sixth in the
Second Division in
1983–84, three places and 13 points outside of the
promotion zone. They moved up to fifth in
1984–85, just two places and one point behind promoted
Manchester City. Blackburn then dropped down to 19th in
1985–86, just one place and three points above
relegated Carlisle United; Barker was voted the club's Player of the Year at the end of the campaign. New
manager Don Mackay then rallied them to a 12th-place finish in
1986–87. Barker played for Rovers in the
1987 Full Members Cup final at
Wembley, where
Colin Hendry's goal was enough to beat
Charlton Athletic 1–0. Blackburn reached the
play-offs in
1987–88, but were defeated at the semi-final stage by top-flight
Chelsea.
Queens Park Rangers He joined
First Division club
Queens Park Rangers in 1988 for a fee of £400,000, a club record for both Blackburn and QPR. ==PFA work==