Barbados: Premier League Nations

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90 Minutes At A Time

·7 July 2020

Barbados: Premier League Nations

Continuing our alphabetical world tour, next up is Barbados. According to the Premier League website, three players have represented Barbados in the Premier League.

This does not include former Blackburn and Reading striker Nick Blackman, who has recently played for Barbados but is listed as English on the Premier League website. We are assuming that this record will be updated at some point to reflect Blackman’s recent switch, so we count him as Barbadian in this article.

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First Player – Gregory Goodridge (Queens Park Rangers; 1995-96)

Having made a name for himself at Torquay United, fan favourite Gregory Goodridge tore up the fourth tier and earned a £250,000 move to Premier League QPR in the summer of 1995.

The top-flight proved too much for him however, and he failed to make a significant impact, scoring once in seven appearances as the Rs were relegated to the second tier.

He later enjoyed a successful five-year spell with Bristol City and went on to win 63 caps for Barbados, scoring 16 international goals.

Records

Most appearances – Emmerson Boyce (221)
First appearance – Gregory Goodridge (QPR 2-3 Newcastle, October 14th 1995)
Most goals – Emmerson Boyce (11)
First goal – Gregory Goodridge (Sheffield Wednesday 1-3 QPR, February 17th 1996)

Other players

No Barbadian players have played in the Premier League since 2013, when Emmerson Boyce and Nick Blackman were both relegated, with Wigan and Reading respectively. In that same year, Boyce captained Wigan to the FA Cup.

The only other Barbadian to play in the Premier League was Paul Ifill, who made three appearances for Sheffield United in 2006/07.

Trivia

Emmerson Boyce (221) is the only Barbadian to have made more than 12 Premier League appearances.
Of the four Barbadian Premier League players, only Gregory Goodridge was born in Barbados – Blackman, Boyce and Ifill all born in England.
All four players have an international goal scoring record of one goal every four games, or better.