Barrow sack their head coach after 5 games in charge and immediately name his replacement

Barrow sack their head coach Paul Gallagher after 5 games in charge and immediately name Dino Maamria as his replacement.

Gallagher has only been appointed on the 2nd of January, but after losing all 5 games, he and his assistant John Welsh has departed the club, sitting third from bottom of League Two and 3 points above the relegation zone.

Barrow have lost 6 matches in a row and 8 of their past 9, with Maamria tasked to turn their form around in the hope of avoiding a relegation battle.

CLUB STATEMENT:

Barrow AFC can today confirm the departure of Head Coach Paul Gallagher and Assistant Head Coach John Welsh.

We would like to place on record our sincere thanks to Paul and John for their hard work and efforts whilst in their posts and wish them the best of luck in any future endeavours.

Barrow AFC are delighted to announce the appointment of Dino Maamria as First-Team Head Coach.

Dino heads to The SO Legal Stadium in what is a busy fixture period, with his first match to be on Saturday as we welcome Colchester United to Holker Street.

Born in Tunisia, Dino began his footballing career with AS Marsa and was spotted by Burnley’s chief scout during an away fixture in the North of Tunisia.

The centre-forward signed a short-term contract with the Clarets before joining Glentoran of the Irish League in 1996.

Following his departure from Ayr, Maamria signed for Doncaster Rovers and spent two years in South Yorkshire.

The first of two spells at Southport followed either side of prolific spells at Leigh RMI and Stevenage before eventually hanging up his boots at the Boro after a third spell.

Dino had always thought about coaching and whilst with Burnley, he coached three nights a week across the Clarets under-12s, 14s and 16s. He obtained his B license in 1999 and the coveted A license in 2001.

Maamria first became a manager in October 2007, taking over a Northwich Victoria side who were rock bottom of the Conference Premier and also in administration.

15 points adrift of safety, Maamria oversaw a transformation in form as the Vics went on an eight-game unbeaten run and secured survival on the penultimate game of the season with a 2-1 away win over former club Stevenage.

After leaving the club in 2008, Maamria spent the next seven years in various coaching roles including a spell as first-team coach at Stevenage and first-team coach at Preston North End before obtaining his Pro license in 2015 whilst serving as Assistant manager to Teddy Sheringham at Stevenage.

Maamria returned to management with National League side Southport in November 2015 and produced a great escape, winning eight out of his first ten games with Southport eight adrift of safety when he first joined.

After another spell at Stevenage this time as manager, Maamria joined Oldham Athletic as Head Coach in September 2019.

Maamria next joined League One side Burton Albion as assistant manager to Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink in January 2021. Burton was bottom of the league having won two matches during the first half of the season.

Maamria and Hasselbaink won nine of their next 12 league matches and kept the Brewers up finishing 16th.

Hasselbaink left in in September 2022, with Maamria initially placed in caretaker charge before being appointed permanent manager the following day. Maamria again kept the Brewers up with three games to spare and left in December 2023.

Maamria has spent his time away from the game learning from professionals in all walks of life.

Dino has spent time with elite clubs such as PSG, RB Leipzig, Valencia and Brentford learning their methods and best practises that make them some of the top clubs in the world.

He has also spent time at Sandhurst with The Royal Military Academy, where leaders from across sport, business and the military share insights on leadership, decision making and much more.

Now at the Bluebirds helm, Maamria is excited for the challenge and can’t wait to get going.

“I’m thrilled to join the club and can’t wait to get started,” Maamria said.

“It’s a terrific club that I’ve watched from afar and I know a lot about the players who I’m excited to get to work with.

“The situation I come into is something I have been in before and I can never promise to win every week, but my teams will always show heart, desire and passion and cover every blade of grass.

“It’s so important we all work together, players, staff and the supporters and make a team that will do the town proud.”

Maamria’s first game in charge will be this Saturday as we welcome Colchester United to The SO Legal Stadium.

Here’s how fans reacted as Barrow sack their head coach after 5 games in charge and immediately name his replacement…

@AJayS319: Will probably keep you up because he initially brings discipline and structure. Thereafter it could be anyone’s game. The stories from our ex-chairman didn’t shed a great light on Dino and his obsession with us since on social media has been unhealthy. He needed this. Good luck.

@TaylorBAFC: In the short-term, he’s exactly what we need. Someone who has numerous examples to point to where he has galvanised a group and kept them up. He won’t accept the dross we have seen particularly in recent weeks. Let’s get behind him. Come on, Dino. Restore some faith.

@Lukejst: Short term it could be a great choice, time will tell.

@OurBluebirdsFly: Welcome to the club Dino. I hope that you make a success and bring us such much needed points in our quest for EFL survival. I will be there on Saturday with my family cheering our team on. We wish you luck. #WeAreBarrow

@GrahamPark15: Interesting welcome video. Say all the things that we the fans have complained about for weeks now. Back to basics and some good old fashioned hard grafting ugly football by the sound of it.

@edward_w97: I rate this, somewhat. Dino’s a very good in-season appointment for the situation #BarrowAFC are in. Builds a robust, battling side for a short -term target. Hard to ignore that the brief Gallagher experiment is part of the reason they’re needing him though…

@ReeceDSport: I’m not saying he’ll keep them up and then get sacked by November. But I’d put my house, everything I own, everyone I care about and every hot meal I have after on that being what happens

@Knt9Lk: Anyone who knows what this fella is about and has followed him, you know what you are about to get. Welcome to your biggest wake up call Barrow Players. Dinooooooooo

@BenKnapmanEFL: This is a short term appointment is a very good one. Got a great history of keeping sides up that struggling. However, long-term has always been the issue with Dino. Very intense and that’s why he keeps sides up. He will keep them up imo.

As safe a pair of hands #WeAreBarrow could appoint for their current situation.@Dino_Maamria has shown that he is constantly able to come in mid-term and oversee short-term improvement to keep teams up.

A good time to bring this graphic back out ⬇️ https://t.co/BksGcHY8SJ pic.twitter.com/pKSEEJgIEY

— Off The Line Blog (@OffTheLineBlog) February 11, 2026