John Barnes

At 60 years old, John Barnes has this physical status:

Barnes was noticed by Watford as a teenager while playing for Middlesex League club Sudbury Court. After a successful trial game in Watford's reserves, Barnes signed on 14 July 1981 for the fee of a set of kits.

Barnes debuted aged 17 as a substitute on 5 September 1981 in a Football League Second Division 1–1 home draw with Oldham Athletic. With manager Graham Taylor Watford were eight months away from completing a five-year rise from the Fourth Division to the First.

Barnes quickly established himself as a regular player and scored 12 Second Division goals as Watford were promoted, as runners-up to fierce rivals Luton Town to the top flight of English football at the end of season 1981–82. Watford finished runners-up for the League title to Liverpool the season after. Watford lost the 1984 FA Cup Final as under-dogs 2–0 to Everton. Watford lost a 1986–87 FA Cup semi-final to Tottenham Hotspur.

At the end of the 1986–87 season, Taylor called time on his 10-year spell as Watford manager to take charge at Aston Villa. Bassett, resigned to losing Barnes to a bigger club, gave Alex Ferguson the chance to sign Barnes for Manchester United. Ferguson rejected the offer still having faith in United's left winger Jesper Olsen. Ferguson later admitted that he regretted not signing Barnes, especially as Barnes helped extend Liverpool's dominance in England by three seasons, while Olsen fell out of favour at Old Trafford and had left by the end of 1988, with his successors Ralph Milne and Danny Wallace failing to live up to expectations. Ferguson's United waited until 1990 to win a major trophy and 1993 to win the league title.

Barnes left Watford on 9 June 1987 to sign for Liverpool FC on June 12th 1987 after 233 league appearances scoring 65 goals.

Barnes arrived at Kenny Dalglish's Liverpool in the same close season as England teammate Peter Beardsley and linked up with new signings John Aldridge and Ray Houghton. John Barnes signed for Liverpool FC on June 12th 1987. He debuted for the Reds along with Beardsley on 15 August 1987 in the 2–1 league win at Arsenal at Highbury. After 9 minutes Barnes and Beardsley combined to set up Aldridge to score. Barnes' first Liverpool goal was on 12 September beating Oxford United 2–0 at Anfield.

In Barnes' first Liverpool season they won the League title, remaining undefeated for the first 29 games of the season. Barnes' 15 Liverpool league goals in his first season there was second only to John Aldridge. The 2 April 2–1 defeat at Nottingham Forest was the last of only two league defeats that season. 11 days later Barnes, Beardsley, Houghton and Aldridge were instrumental in Liverpool's 5–0 home win over Forest described by Tom Finney as "One of the finest exhibition I've seen the whole time I've played and watched the game. You couldn't see it bettered anywhere, not even in Brazil." The double however was thwarted by Lawrie Sanchez' Wimbledon goal beating Liverpool 1–0 in the 1988 FA Cup Final. Barnes was a key performer on the Anfield Rap; the club's cup final song that UK charted at number 3. Barnes was voted PFA Player of the Year.

In the summer of 1988 Ian Rush re-signed for Liverpool. Following the death of 96 Liverpool fans in April 1989 as a result of the Hillsborough disaster, Barnes attended several funerals and visited the injured in hospital. He pulled out of an England international friendly in order to fulfil these public duties. Liverpool won the 1989 FA Cup Final with a 3–2 victory over Merseyside rivals Everton, with Barnes creating goals from the left wing for Rush. In the 1988–89 title decider at Anfield, Arsenal's Michael Thomas' 92nd minute, league winning goal occurred in their counter-attack 17 seconds after Barnes lost ball possession attempting to dribble past Kevin Richardson.

Barnes played in the 1990 title winning side at Liverpool and scored 22 league goals from the left wing – the highest goal tally of his career. Ian Rush scored four fewer league goals than Barnes. Barnes was voted Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year, and expectations from England manager Bobby Robson were also high, seeing Barnes as a key component in the buildup to Italia 90. Teammate Peter Beardsley has since said Barnes at the end of the 1980s was "The best player I ever played with, bar none. For three or four years at the end of the '80s, John was possibly the best player in the world."

Barnes continued to play regularly for Liverpool and England into the 1990s. In 1990–91 he scored 16 league goals. Arsenal were league champions in the season of Kenny Dalglish's resignation and his replacement by Graeme Souness as manager. Liverpool had qualified for the 1991–92 UEFA Cup, being readmitted to European competitions a year after the ban on all other English clubs in European competitions since the Heysel disaster in 1985 had been lifted. This was the first time Barnes had played in European competitions since Watford's 1983–84 UEFA Cup campaign. However, Barnes missed most of the 1991–92 season due to a succession of injuries and played just 12 league games, scoring once, as Liverpool finished sixth in the league – their lowest finish in two decades and the first time since 1981 that they had failed to finish champions or runners-up. Liverpool won the 1992 FA Cup Final but Barnes missed the game through injury. The next month in June he was injured playing for England in Helsinki in a warm up game before Euro 92. Barnes was out injured for five months. He never recovered his explosive burst of speed that had been a key element of his play. He was now past his playing peak.

Barnes and several other senior players had frosty relationships with Souness during this period as the manager tried to impose new methods quickly. Many senior pros resented his hard discipline approach as well as the increased pressure in training. Barnes also once had to make a public apology to Souness after he gave an interview criticising the tactics employed by the manager before an important match. Young teammate Robbie Fowler also said in his autobiography that Souness felt at the time Barnes was past his best, but in Fowler's (and others') opinion he still had a lot to offer and was still one of the most talented players at the club.

Souness later stated in his autobiography that Barnes, due to his injuries, was now taking a "less demanding" central midfield playmaker's role as opposed to a goalscoring winger. Despite the effects of the injuries, Barnes was still regarded as one of the club and country's best players and Souness noted that Barnes "Retained his quality on the ball, using it well and rarely losing possession". Mark Walters who had played for Souness at Glasgow Rangers had been purchased as cover/competition for Barnes but failed to displace him.

After Liverpool's league title in 1990 Liverpool was usurped by Arsenal, Leeds United, Manchester United, and Blackburn Rovers each winning the league at least once. Under Evans, Barnes and younger players like Steve McManaman, Jamie Redknapp and Robbie Fowler (who had been given their debuts by either Dalglish or Souness) won the 1994–95 Football League Cup and were 1996 FA Cup Final runners-up due to Eric Cantona's Manchester United goal that gave United a second league and FA Cup double in three seasons. Liverpool's Spice Boys team drew stinging criticism for wearing matching cream Armani suits to the final.

By the mid-1990s, Barnes had been moved from the left wing to the position of a holding midfielder. He often captained the side in 1995–96 when regular captain Ian Rush lost his place to new signing Stan Collymore. When Rush departed to Leeds United at the season's end Barnes became full-time captain. Barnes created the final goal after a dribble and passing movement for Stan Collymore during Liverpool's 4–3 win against Newcastle at Anfield, which is often considered the greatest game in Premier League history.

Jamie Carragher debuted for the Liverpool first team in January 1997 and said that despite the 33-year-old Barnes now being past his peak, he was still the best player at the club. "Technically, he's the best player I've ever trained or played with, he was great with both feet, they were both exactly the same. I'd say he's the best finisher I've ever played with (including Torres, Fowler, Owen). Barnes never used to blast his shots – they'd just get placed right in the corner. You speak with the players from those great Liverpool sides and ask them who the best player they played with was and they all say John Barnes," Carragher commented.

On 13 August 1997 three months before his 34th birthday, after 10 years at Liverpool with 407 appearances, 108 goals, and five major trophies, Barnes left on a free transfer. He had missed just three Premier League games in his final season at Anfield, scoring four goals (including a memorable late winner against Southampton just after Christmas) as they had led the table for much of the first half of the season before being overhauled by eventual champions Manchester United at the end of January and having to settle for a fourth-place finish. Paul Ince, with a completely contrasting combative style, was signed from Inter Milan to replace Barnes in central midfield.

Barnes was subsequently snapped up by former teammate and manager Kenny Dalglish, who was managing Newcastle United. Although an approach had already been made by Harry Redknapp of West Ham, Barnes had agreed in principle to join them, until at the final moment Dalglish called him, and Barnes changed his mind. In the 1997–98 season Barnes played up front mostly, deputising for Alan Shearer after Shearer was injured for most of the season, and Barnes ended up Newcastle's top league scorer with six goals, highlighting the Magpies' lack of ability to score in the absence of the injured Shearer, while Ferdinand and Beardsley had both been sold. Former Liverpool colleague Ian Rush and England colleague Stuart Pearce were also drafted in for the 1997–98 season. Pearce has since stated in his autobiography, Psycho, that he felt Barnes was overweight by the time he joined Newcastle and that both Barnes and Rush had less desire than himself to win at that stage in their careers as they had already won everything, and that they could have had more of an edge to them.

Newcastle (the previous season's Premier League runners-up) endured a disappointing league campaign and finished 13th, although they did reach the 1998 FA Cup Final, and Barnes went onto the field for the fourth FA Cup final of his career. However, Newcastle lost 2–0 to Arsenal, and following the sacking of Dalglish early in the 1998–99 season, he was left isolated and shunned along with a number of Kenny Dalglish and Kevin Keegan era players including Rob Lee and Stuart Pearce. Barnes with many others was dropped from the first team by new manager Ruud Gullit and spent several months in the reserves despite, in his opinion, "excelling in training" and showing he had lost none of his quality if some of his pace. He felt that himself and others were deliberately being cold shouldered to make it known Gullit wanted his own players in; Barnes had worked briefly with Gullit during the 1998 World Cup ITV commentary team, and they had played numerous international matches played against each other in the 1980s and 1990s, but they were not friends. Barnes knew it was the last straw when even his MBE from the Queen was overlooked by Gullit after a presentation had been given to Stuart Pearce for receiving one – this was in the winter of 1998 and he knew he was unwanted. Barnes left the club on a free transfer to newly promoted Charlton on 10 February 1999.

Barnes made his debut for Charlton on 13 February 1999, coming on as a substitute in a 1–0 home win over Liverpool. He made a further 11 league appearances that season, mostly as a substitute, and did not score any goals. Defeat on the final day of the season relegated the Addicks back to Division One, and Barnes announced his retirement as a player after 20 years.

During his short spell as Celtic manager, Barnes would later register as a player, although he did not make an appearance for the Scottish side.

International career

Although born in Jamaica, Barnes had no intention of representing Jamaica at international level as the "Reggae Boyz had not yet made a significant mark on world football and he was eager to get to the game's biggest stage".

At the time of Barnes' international career, FIFA's national team eligibility criteria allowed British passport holders to represent one of the British football associations if they had no blood ties to the United Kingdom. Barnes had already planned to represent England where he had lived since the age of 12. Barnes said: "the only reason I played for England was because they were the first to ask...if Scotland had asked [first]...You go and play for Scotland."

Barnes debuted for Bobby Robson's England on 28 May 1983 as a second-half substitute for Watford teammate Luther Blissett in a 0–0 at Northern Ireland's Windsor Park in the British Championship. Blissett was the fifth and Barnes the seventh black full England football internationalists.

England failed to qualify for the 1984 European Championships, so instead toured South America. On 10 June 1984 Barnes v Brazil dribbled through several Brazilian defenders and rounded Roberto Costa to score in a friendly match at Rio de Janeiro's Estádio do Maracanã.

It was after the World Cup that Barnes became a British passport holder. Speaking in 2008, Barnes said "I don't even know if the English F.A. didn't know that I wasn't born there and wasn't brought up there...maybe I played (for England) illegally, right?"

In his early England days, he and fellow black player Mark Chamberlain were subjected to threats from racist groups. Barnes was abused by supporters of the National Front on the plane back from South America in June 1984; with the group claiming that England had only won 1–0 against Brazil because Barnes' goal "didn't count".

Bobby Robson did not use Barnes at the 1986 World Cup until the quarter final with 15 minutes left when trailing 2–0 against Argentina. (BBC commentator Barry Davies shouted: "Go on! Run at them!" when Barnes was given the ball), setting up a goal for Gary Lineker and laying on another chance denied by the head of Lineker's Argentine marker. England were eliminated with Barnes praised for his contribution and many asked why he had not played more nor in previous games. He then became a regular starter for England at both the 1988 European Championships and 1990 World Cup.

As part of a front four with Gary Lineker, Peter Beardsley, and Chris Waddle, England lost all three of their group games at the 1988 European Championships. However, Robson stayed in his job.

Barnes pulled out of England's first international game after the Hillsborough disaster due to grief he felt at the time. In his absence, England won the World Cup qualifier against Albania 5–0 at Wembley on 26 April 1989.

In the Football World Cup 1990 lead up, Barnes played several times as a forward alongside Gary Lineker, and in a warm up game against Uruguay played well and scored a half volley from a Stuart Pearce cross. Barnes again rapped this time in New Order's UK Number 1, "World in Motion", tie-in song.

At the 1990 World Cup he injured his groin against Belgium shortly after his volleyed goal was wrongly disallowed for offside. England went out to West Germany on penalties in the semi-final.

In June 1992 v Finland in Helsinki in England's last warm up game before the 1992 European Championships, he tore his achilles tendon. He was injured for five months. In his absence England were eliminated at the group phase. On his return he had lost his explosive burst of speed and was now past his peak.

In a Wembley 1994 World Cup qualifier against San Marino, Barnes was booed by an entire section of England fans after the whole team played poorly. Barnes later believed an article attributed to Jimmy Greaves in the Daily Mirror, which cited his supposed support for the West Indies cricket team and questioned his loyalty to the England team, had influenced the crowd to boo.

He earned a surprise England recall in 1994 under Terry Venables and was in the squad in the run up to Euro '96 after improved form for Liverpool, although he was not selected for the final tournament squad despite England not having an established left-sided alternative.

Barnes' 79 caps (11 goals) made him England's record capped black player for a time. Compared to his club form, he was never seen as a player who peaked wearing an England shirt. Bobby Robson described him as the "Greatest enigma" of his career; whilst including him for his all time dream team England squad of all the players he had picked as manager in his 1990 book "Against All Odds" (placing him on the bench), he was baffled at Barnes's inconsistency. He described Barnes as being a player of "the highest calibre" but sometimes being unable to reach for that bit extra when he or Captain Bryan Robson shouted at him to take more players on.

Barnes has since said he felt the systems England played were "rigid" focusing on speed, aggression, and attacking through the centre rather than patient, passing play. He also said he could receive the ball as few as six or seven times in a game whereas at Liverpool he may receive it more than twenty times, and he had more freedom under Kenny Dalglish who did not ask him to stay on the left wing all the time. England also had a very different system to Liverpool at the time, who were much more free-flowing, and later said that to have got the best out of him, they would have needed a similar system to the one used by Dalglish, which was never likely to happen. He also cited Glenn Hoddle and Chris Waddle as players he felt England were unable to get the best out of.

Newspapers at the time of his England career even queried whether his disciplinarian upbringing in Jamaica to a military family and rumoured beatings as a child from his parents had contributed to his underperformance as an England footballer.

After 12 years Barnes won his 79th and last cap on 6 September 1995 in a 0–0 friendly draw with Colombia at Wembley that contained extrovert Colombian goalkeeper René Higuita's 'Scorpion Kick.' Barnes was in the top ten most capped players list for eleven years until David Beckham and then Gary Neville edged him from ninth to 11th.

In 1999, Tony Adams picked Barnes to be in his England dream team in his book Addicted, citing that Barnes "could pass, move, dribble, had Brazilian style movement... what more could you want?" He also backed Barnes's view that England at times used rigid systems.

Managerial career

In a "dream ticket" style move, Barnes was appointed head coach of Celtic on 8 June 1999 working under Kenny Dalglish as director of football. After his appointment he later re-registered himself as a player but never played a competitive game for Celtic. He was sacked 8 months into his tenure following a home 3–1 1999–2000 Scottish Cup defeat by lower division Inverness Caledonian Thistle in February. The result led to the newspaper headline, "Super Caley go ballistic, Celtic are atrocious". Kenny Dalglish took over first-team duties until the end of the season. Although Dalglish won the League Cup in the process, his contract was not renewed and the board decided to replace him with Martin O'Neill.

Barnes entered discussions with the Jamaica Football Federation in September 2008 regarding the possibility of him managing the Jamaica national team. On 16 September 2008, Barnes was appointed as manager of Jamaica announcing Mike Commane as his assistant. Barnes guided his new Jamaican charges to a first-place finish in the 2008 Caribbean Championships, qualifying as the top Caribbean side for the 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup.

In February 2009, Barnes told Sky Sports that he wanted to return to club management if the opportunity arose. It was reported in May 2009 that Barnes contacted English League Two side Port Vale to see whether he could replace out-going manager Dean Glover. Ultimately, though, the potential move to Port Vale did not happen. Instead, on 14 June 2009 he confirmed that he was to be appointed manager of League One side Tranmere Rovers.

Barnes was officially named as manager of Tranmere Rovers on 15 June 2009, with Jason McAteer assisting him. He got off to a disastrous start, with Tranmere only winning three of their first fourteen games. On 9 October 2009, Barnes was sacked by the club six days after a 5–0 defeat at Millwall and a run of just two wins from eleven league games.

Music career

He performed the Keith Allen-penned rap section of New Order's "World in Motion" as well as appearing on the track "Anfield Rap", a Liverpool FC FA Cup Final song, rapping the lyrics "Liverpool FC is hard as hell/ United, Tottenham, Arsenal", and performing lead rap in Liverpool's '96 cup final song "Pass & Move (It's the Liverpool Groove)".

"World in Motion" reached #1 in the charts and spent 18 weeks in the UK top 75 (including re-releases in 2002 and 2010) although Barnes was only paid a flat rate of £200 and received no royalties. "Anfield Rap" reached #3 and spent 6 weeks in the top 75, and "Pass & Move" reached #4 and spent 4 weeks in the top 75.

The rap portion of "World in Motion" is the most remembered part of the original song, becoming an iconic piece of English football culture in its own right, familiar to subsequent generations of England football fans not even born in 1990.

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