Barkas was born in Wardley, County Durham. He won two league championship medals and a runners-up medal in the 1928 FA Cup Final with Huddersfield before becoming manager Leslie Knighton's first signing for Birmingham, where he made nearly 300 appearances and won another FA Cup runners-up medal, in 1931. On leaving Birmingham Barkas followed Knighton to Chelsea, returning to the Midlands on the outbreak of the Second World War.