West Brom record-breaker Gareth Barry happy to step back out of the limelight

The 36-year-old midfielder was lauded far and wide for breaking Ryan Giggs's Premier League appearance record with his 633rd match in the competition.

He was handed a special commemorative Arsenal shirt by Arsene Wenger and gave up his time for countless media interviews in the run-up to the match.

All that fuss was alien to a man who has made a career of quietly going about his business in a professional and competent manner.

"It was something different this week, having a lot of media attention," he said. "It will be nice to put this milestone to bed."

Tony Pulis reckons Barry will hold the record for many years to come. Michael Carrick is his nearest rival still playing in the Premier League, but he is more than 150 appearances behind on 479.

"I personally don't think it will get beaten," said the Baggies boss. "I think he'll hold that for a long time. And he deserves it, he's been a fantastic player.

"Gareth is such a down to earth chap he just wants to move on."

Barry, though, is more focused on developing his own game than what others are doing.

"I've not really given it too much thought about who is behind me," he said. "There is so much concentration on what you are doing."