John Barnes (soccer player)

John Barnes
Personnel
Surname	John Charles Bryan Barnes
birthday	November 7, 1963
place of birth	Kingston ,  Jamaica
position	midfield
Juniors
Years	station
	Sudbury Court
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
1981-1987	Watford FC	233 (65)
1987-1997	Liverpool FC	316 (84)
1997-1999	Newcastle United	27 0(6)
1999	Charlton Athletic	12 0(0)
National team
Years	selection	Games (goals)
1983-1995	England	79 (11)
Stations as a trainer
Years	station
1999-2000	Celtic Glasgow
2008-2009	Jamaica
2009	Tranmere Rovers
1 Only league games are given.

John Charles Bryan Barnes MBE (born November 7, 1963 in Kingston , Jamaica ) is a former English soccer player who celebrated national successes as a midfielder with Watford FC and Liverpool FC in the 1980s and 1990s . After the end of his active career, he briefly coached the top Scottish club Celtic Glasgow in the late 1990s .

Athletic career

Youth and breakthrough at Watford FC

Originally from Jamaica, John Barnes moved to England at a young age and was discovered by Watford FC at school age when he played for amateur club Sudbury Court - in west London . After a successful game for the reserve team, Barnes signed a professional contract with Watford FC on July 14, 1981, with rumors that instead of a transfer, only a set of jerseys was sent to Sudbury.

At the age of only 17, he made his debut in September 1981 in a 1-1 draw at home Vicarage Road in a second division game against Oldham Athletic . His first coach was Graham Taylor , who looked after the club in all four professional games.

Barnes rose in his first season - as runner-up behind local rivals Luton Town - in the top English division and made a spectacular start when the newcomer won the runner-up behind Liverpool FC , later Barnes club. This was followed in 1984 by the entry into the FA Cup final, where Barnes and his club were, as expected, defeated 2-0 to Everton .

Since Barnes was largely responsible for this performance boost of Watford FC, which also included a participation in the UEFA Cup in 1983, and quickly developed a large following through his technical skills and his speed on the left wing, he overtook him in this Time also the reputation of the English national coach Bobby Robson . On May 28, 1983 Barnes debuted in the shirt of England against Northern Ireland in a game of the British Home Championship at Windsor Park in Belfast and was substituted on in the second half for his club-mate Luther Blissett .

June 10, 1984 was a temporary high point in the career of John Barnes when he scored an extraordinary goal against Brazil in a friendly match at the Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro , where he duped numerous opposing defenders , the goalkeeper, with a quick kick played around and pushed the ball into the empty goal. This hit brought Barnes worldwide notoriety, but also ensured that high expectations were aroused in the domestic press about his future development. Although his career in the national team was to last for over a decade, it did not live up to these expectations and was even viewed by many experts as disappointing. Despite his 79 international matches and eleven goals - which made him in the "Top Ten" for almost eleven years (until David Beckham and Gary Neville ousted him) - he was rarely able to show his good club performance for England.

Barnes was also in the English squad for the 1986 World Cup , but was only substituted there in the quarter-finals against Argentina - 15 minutes before the end when the score was 2-0. During this remaining time, he was able to bring the opposing defense into distress a few times, prepared the 1: 2 connection goal by Gary Lineker and provided with a high cross almost for the equalizer, which Lineker could not convert into a goal. Although England were eliminated from the tournament due to the defeat, Barnes had once again shown his possible worth for the team with this brief appearance.

Change to Liverpool FC

A year after the World Cup, Barnes left the "Hornets" after 292 games and 83 goals and moved to Liverpool FC, coached by Kenny Dalglish , on July 9, 1987 for a transfer fee of £ 900,000 . At the same time, his national team-mate Peter Beardsley also joined in Anfield and formed one of the best offensive formations in club history with John Aldridge and later Ian Rush . Together with Beardsley Barnes celebrated on August 15, 1987 his debut in a 2-1 away win in the championship game against Arsenal FC in Highbury . After just seven minutes of play, a clever combination of the two newcomers ensured that Aldridge could use the preparatory work for an early opening goal. Barnes scored his first goal in a 2-0 home game against Oxford United on September 12. Aldridge's 1-0 against his old employer was followed in the 37th minute by Barnes's final point to make it 2-0.

Barnes completed an extraordinary season with Liverpool, which remained completely undefeated in the first 29 championship games and was able to safely win the English title after only two defeats. He missed the double , however, after Wimbledon FC surprisingly beat the newly crowned champions 1-0 in the final. Barnes had previously worked on the song "Anfield Rap", recorded on the occasion of the cup final, which even climbed to third place on the British charts .

Success and disappointment turned in the same way for Barnes and Liverpool in the 1988/89 season. A 3-2 final win in the FA Cup against " Merseyside rivals" Everton - and Barnes, especially in extra time - stood in the way of an unlucky final championship game. In the match against their direct rivals Arsenal FC, Liverpool lost 2-0 in the last second and fell back to second place.

During his first years at Liverpool FC, Barnes was repeatedly confronted with racist abuse from the right - wing extremist camp of opposing fan groups. A well-known photograph shows Barnes performing a kind of chopping trick with a banana thrown at him during a game. Like his dark-skinned teammate Mark Chamberlain , he was also threatened by racist groups in the English national team . Above all, the abuse in June 1984 was a low point that he suffered during the return flight from South America by fellow passengers who were close to the nationally-minded British National Front . They insisted that England would have won against Brazil - instead of 2-0 - only 1-0, as Barnes' celebrated goal at home “doesn't count”.

In the same year, when Barnes won the championship again with Liverpool, he was appointed to the English squad for the 1990 World Cup in Italy . There he missed the semi-final defeat of his team against Germany on penalties due to an injury . As a member of the band Englandneworder , Barnes had taken first place in the UK charts with the title “World In Motion”, which was recorded on the occasion of the World Cup.

Two years later, Barnes won the FA Cup for the second time with Liverpool, but was constantly criticized in the national team - like most of the team's players at the time - for not being able to exploit the performance potential over a longer period (Barnes stood due to his international breakthrough expected time and again exemplarily for the misery of England perceived in public). As his career slowly came to an end in the mid- 1990s , Barnes began to compensate for the underperformance for England with a stronger focus on club football. He publicly acknowledged that he would stay with Liverpool FC in order to lead the increasingly emerging talents in the turbulent times under coach Graeme Souness - and from 1994 under Roy Evans . With the latter coach, Barnes won the 1995 League Cup with the young players, including his favorite "student" Steve McManaman , central midfielder Jamie Redknapp and striker Robbie Fowler .

After twelve years, Barnes ended on September 6, 1995 0-0 in a friendly against Colombia at Wembley Stadium in his 79th game of the career in the English selection. The only highlight in this rather low-tension game was an unusual defensive action by the eccentric Colombian goalkeeper René Higuita , who dropped forward and fought off a long shot headfirst with both heels (which eventually became known as the "scorpion trick").

Career autumn in Newcastle and London

His last success for Liverpool FC was to reach the FA Cup final again in 1996 and a year later to win the runner-up, in which the club Manchester United had to admit defeat. On August 13, 1997 Barnes left Liverpool after 407 games and 108 goals. He then joined the club Newcastle United and from then on trained again under his former mentor from Liverpool times Kenny Dalglish, who was hired by the "Magpies" at the same time. There, however, Barnes only spent a short time and after seven goals in 41 games moved to London for Charlton Athletic , where he finally ended his career after only twelve more appearances - including only two starting lineups.

Short change to the coaching business

With the reputation of 752 competitive games and 198 goals for four professional clubs, Barnes switched to the coaching business with high expectations after his active career when he started at the renowned Scottish club Celtic Glasgow . Again he worked there with Kenny Dalglish, who acted as a kind of general or sports director. But this constellation led to one of the most disappointing seasons in the history of Celtic Glasgow and after leaving the Scottish Cup on February 8, 2000 against the then second-rate club Inverness Caledonian Thistle , Barnes was prematurely dismissed and replaced by Dalglish until the end of the season.

Since then, Barnes has been increasingly active in the media landscape and is best known as an expert on the television station ITV . He also moderates programs on football coverage on the station Five and has his own weekly football talk show there, "John Barnes' Football Night", which is broadcast on Fridays . Outside of sport, Barnes is an ambassador for the children's rights organization Save the Children .

successes

As a player

• English champion: 1988, 1990
• FA Cup winners: 1989, 1992
• English league cup winner: 1995
• Charity Shield Winner: 1988, 1989, 1990 * * (shared title)
• England's Footballer of the Year: 1988, 1990

As a trainer

• Caribbean champions : 2008 (as coach of Jamaica )

Private & Trivia

• Barnes' father Roderick Kenrick "Ken" Barnes (1935-2009) came from Trinidad and Tobago . He served in the armed forces for 33 years until 1989 and was, among other things, commander of the 1st Battalion of the Jamaica Regiment from 1972 to 1973 . His last rank was Colonel . He was also President of the Swimming Association of Jamaica (SWAJ) and the Jamaica Boxing Board of Control (JBBC).
• In 1988 and 1990, Barnes was voted England's Footballer of the Year by British football journalists . This is complemented by another award in 1988, when his football colleagues honored him with the same title. Barnes was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame in 2005 for his services to English football and is considered one of the most talented players in the history of the English national team.
• Like all other Liverpool FC players in the 1980s , Barnes was given a nickname based on the American television series " Dallas ", which was very popular in England at the time . The name of the character "Digger Barnes" ensured that Barnes was called "Digger" by both his teammates and ultimately by supporters during his time in Liverpool.
• In the summer 2006 large-scale survey “100 Players Who Shook The Kop” on the most popular players in the history of Liverpool FC, Barnes came fifth behind Kenny Dalglish , Steven Gerrard , Ian Rush and Robbie Fowler .
• Barnes has two sons and two daughters.

social commitment

Barnes is an ambassador for Show Racism the Red Card .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Clayton Goodwin: Colonel Ken Barnes: Trinidadian-born military leader and father of the footballer John Barnes , The Independent, April 18, 2009.
2. ↑ Show Racism the Red Card-Patrons ( Memento from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive )

Web links

• John Barnes profile page on www.liverpoolfc.com
• Photo by John Barnes