Barry was a speedy winger signed from Bury for £13,000 in March 1967. He played just three games for the Sky Blues before being sold that summer to Swindon Town.

Barrow-born Barry showed his sporting prowess in his school years, representing Barrow Technical College at soccer, rugby, cricket and athletics. After school he played football for Holker Central Old Boys and while his pace meant he had the opportunity to sign for Barrow RL, he stuck to football and caught the eye of Barrow manager Ron Staniforth, the former England full back, who signed him after a couple of trial games.

He made his debut for Barrow, then a Football League, in early 1960 and was soon a regular and his blistering pace caused problems for many a Fourth Division defence. In season 1960-61 he scored in seven consecutive league games and started attracting the interest of bigger clubs. In November 1961 he transferred to First Division Blackpool for  £5,500 fee but with stiff competition from Mandy Hill he failed to break into the first team. He did however achieve a childhood dream of training with the legendary Stanley Matthews, who despite having left Blackpool still trained there. In the summer of 1962 he moved to Workington where he played under legendary manager Ken Furphy and 34 goals in 121 games convinced Bury to sign him in 1966.

Lowes had impressed Jimmy Hill in his two appearances against the Sky Blues that season – ‘one of the few wingers in the division to give Dietmar Bruck a hard time’. When John Key injured his ankle in March and looked to be out for the season Hill wanted a replacement and swooped on Gigg Lane to sign the Cumbrian.

Lowes admitted a couple of years ago that when he arrived City were playing so well that he couldn’t get into their groove quickly enough. He played quite well in his debut at Northampton but the following week against Bolton he had a stinker against Sid Farrimond, the one full-back who always gave him a really hard time. Hill wasn’t prepared to give him time and realised he had made a mistake quite quickly.

Disaster struck in his first game for Swindon against Brighton. He suffered a serious knee injury after a nasty challenge from a young full-back called George Dalton, later to become the Sky Blues trainer. The injury ended his career and he returned to Barrow to work as an electrician on the submarines in Barrow shipyard. He did turn out for Barrow in their early non-league years and still possessed a good turn of speed. In latter years sea fishing became his hobby. He passed away on 8 May 2012 after a short illness.