Introduced to Saints in a friendly as wartime guest player in March 1919, Joe Barratt had been spotted by coach, James McIntyre in the Midlands. He subsequently became a fully-fledged Southampton player when transferred from Birmingham after the hostilities had ceased. In February 1922 he featured on the cover of the Football Favourite magazine who amply summed up his abiliites

His skillful, speedy runs down the right flank, together with his “pepper and pluck” were most certainly put to good use as Saints made the successful transition from the Southern League to Division Three of the Football League.

A crowd pleaser, Joe inexplicably, always insisted on playing with a piece of straw in his mouth

and when he moved back to Birmingham, along with Fred Foxall, his departure left many in mourning. He finished his League career at Bristol Rovers, in 1927, but resurfaced just after the war to coach the Coventry City youngsters. His son Harry was on Coventry books between 1937 and 1951. In 1939 he was a weighbridge clerk at Bedworth colliery.