Taken from TIA:
John ‘˜Digger’ Barnes is one of my all time favourite Liverpool players. He joined the Reds in the summer of 1987 for £900,000 along with Peter Beardsley who was a club record of £1.9 million. As we all know they turned out to be two of the best summer signings in the history of the club. I shudder to think how much it would cost to buy two players of this quality today. They represented probably the best transfers to come into Liverpool for the next twenty years until the arrival of Fernando Torres in 2007.
Born in November 1963, John was raised in Kingston, Jamaica. He moved to England because his father was Jamaica’s military attaché to London in the late 70s and early 80s.
In 1981, when he was just 17, John found himself at Watford FC via recommendation from one of the club’s fans. He had been making a name for himself playing for local club Sudbury Court with his dazzling skills on the ball. Watford manager Graham Taylor described Barnsie as a jewel he had unearthed and promptly signed him for the unusual fee of a new kit for Sudbury Court.
John made his first team debut in September 1981 in a Second Division game with Oldham Athletic. This was the season in which Watford would complete their incredible journey from Fourth Division to First Division in just six years under Graham Taylor and chairman Elton John. Watford finished second to Luton Town at the end of the 1981/82 season and gained promotion to Division One.
These were the days when teams didn’t need to be super rich to be successful and Watford had an incredible first season in Division One by finishing runners up to Liverpool and qualifying for the UEFA Cup. The following season was another great one for Watford as they reached the F.A. Cup Final, losing 2-0 to Everton. There is some famous footage from the 1984 FA Cup Final of a giant banner in the Everton section of the crowd that reads ‘œSorry Elton, I guess that’s why they call us the Blues!’ A brilliant allusion to Watford chairman Elton John’s song and Everton’s shirt color and the sort of wit only found on Merseyside. During the 1983/84 season, Watford also had a UEFA Cup campaign in which they reached the third round, losing to Sparta Prague. This was considered a huge success considering they hadn’t ever been in the First Division before 1982.
John was given his England debut against Northern Ireland in May 1983 when he came on a substitute for his Watford team-mate Luther Blissett. In June 1984 he was to score possibly the most famous goal of his career against Brazil in the Maracana Stadium in Rio. It was an incredible solo goal in which Barnes beat several players before rounding the goalkeeper and slotting the ball into an empty net. It remains one of the greatest solo goals of all time and helped England to a 2-0 victory. Unfortunately this great moment was soured considerably during the plane journey home when John was subjected to horrendous racist abuse from members of the National Front. These racists considered the score of the game against Brazil 1-0 because Barnes goal didn’t count.
Unfortunately John never reached these heights for England again and he was regularly a target for boos from the crowd. The fans were often frustrated that he never managed the performances he made at club level, while wearing an England shirt. Despite this, John played at two World Cups and received seventy-nine caps and remains England’s most capped black player.
In the summer of 1987 John finally reached the platform that his incredible talents deserved when he was signed by Kenny Dalglish. As I’ve stated many times before this was the greatest Liverpool side I’ve ever seen. Ian Rush had departed at the end of the previous season and been replaced by John Aldridge. Peter Beardsley and Ray Houghton were soon to join the side and a legendary team were born. Soon after joining Liverpool, John was nicknamed Digger after a character in the TV show ‘˜Dallas’ called Digger Barnes. Liverpool fans still affectionately refer to John by this name.
Due to a collapsed sewer under The Kop, Barnes Anfield debut was postponed until September. His efforts on the road led to great anticipation amongst the fans as word of his displays on the wing began to be circulated. When he finally made his debut against Oxford Utd we weren’t disappointed as he played well and scored. It was in his next home game against QPR that he scored my favourite of his many superb goals for Liverpool.
We won 4?“0 that day and Barnes scored two superb goals. His first was a beautiful run into the box and a one two pass before firing past David Seaman. It was his second goal that day that I’ve chosen. I still remember the first time I saw this goal on Match of the Day that night. Every time I see this goal I’m transported back to being a kid again and it continues to impress me again and again. Barnes won the ball inside his own half and then went on a fantastic run towards the goal. As he got to the edge of the box he jinked past a couple of defenders before slotting the ball home with perfection in front of The Kop. I believe that it was this performance that made him a true Kop Idol, which he remains to this day.
Liverpool went on to record twenty nine games unbeaten from the start of the 1987/88 season, equalling the record held by Leeds Utd at the time. Annoyingly they were denied the record at Goodison Park, losing 1-0 to a scruffy Wayne Clark goal. However Liverpool had the last laugh by romping to the First Division title and finishing twenty points ahead of Everton. The Reds also reached the F.A. Cup final where they were upset by Wimbledon. I still cannot believe Liverpool lost that game and I still remember my dad proudly announcing the night before that he’d placed a bet on the Reds to win 5-0. I agree with John Aldridge who said; ‘œif any team ever deserved to win a double, this was it’Â. The only highlight to come from this F.A. Cup Final was Liverpool’s official song ‘˜The Anfield Rap’, written by Craig Johnston and contained a rap from Barnes.
I consider John to have been the best player in the world in the late eighties, simply for his performances in a Liverpool shirt. In my opinion there wasn’t another player around that could touch him back then and I include Maradona. At the end of a truly outstanding debut season for Liverpool, John was correctly awarded the 1988 Player of the Year by both the PFA and the Football Writers. He was the first black player to receive these prestigious honours.
What makes John’s performances even more incredible was the amount of racial abuse he received from the crowd, mostly from rival supporters but shamefully a tiny minority of Reds fans too. In the 1980’s racist abuse wasn’t as outlawed as it is in the modern game and black players were regularly subjected to sickening chants and monkey grunts. Everton supporters gave John a really hard time when he was playing for Liverpool, shouting ‘œEverton are white’ and the even more disgusting, ‘œNi**erpool’Â. There is a very famous photograph from this period of John back-heeling a banana that had been thrown at him by Everton fans. The best way to get these idiots to shut up is to score goals against their team and John certainly did that by banging in loads of goals against Everton during his time at Anfield. John was to become a huge advocate for race relations, not just in football but in life. He was an inspiration for young black footballers and black people everywhere as he rose above the racism to succeed. John was eventually awarded with an MBE in 1998 thanks in part to his tireless work to end racism in the game.
On the 15th April, 1989, ninety-six Liverpool fans died at Hillsborough during the FA Cup semi final against Nottingham Forest. The tragedy deeply affected the entire city of Merseyside and the players themselves. The entire team was absolutely devastated and local born players such as Aldridge and Steve McMahon were affected in an even deeper way having been supporters themselves. John joined the Liverpool squad in rallying around the bereaved families, attending many funerals and helping out whenever he was needed. After a number of weeks without play the difficult decision was made between the club and the bereaved families to continue with the season and try to win in honour of those who had died.
John scored a penalty, with Aldridge also scoring in the replayed FA Cup semi final to set up the second ‘˜all Merseyside’ FA Cup final of the 1980’s. It was the perfect final for this time period as supporters of both teams came together. On Merseyside lots of families, including my own, contain both Blues and Reds. It was a terrific game, Aldo opened the scoring and Rush came off the bench to score twice in extra time and win the trophy for Liverpool in a three- two victory. John had a cracking game and he set up Rush for a wonderful headed goal. Liverpool may have won the cup but the real winner that day was the city of Merseyside as the fans and players truly did themselves, the ninety six and the entire city proud.
Unfortunately the league and cup double was cruelly denied for a second successive season as Arsenal grabbed two late goals at Anfield to steal the title on goal difference. The second goal from Michael Thomas came in injury time with virtually the last kick of the season. I remember the game was on a Friday night and the most abiding memory I have of that night was my dad’s extreme anger when he returned from his weekly darts match at the pub.
The following season was another great one for Liverpool and a great one personally for John. He scored twenty-two goals on his way to another player of the year award and Liverpool’s eighteenth league championship. Once again we also went on an F.A Cup run before finally succumbing 4-3 to Crystal Palace in the semi final. A game most memorable personally for my dad (not the tallest fella) jumping high into the air after a Steve McMahon thunderbolt. He jumped so high that his head actually made a small crack in the ceiling, causing plaster from the artex to land in a mess on the living room carpet!
John was part of the England squad at the 1990 World Cup in Italy. Once again he was unable to take his Liverpool form into the international stage. The most memorable playing moment for John was when he scored a cracking volley against Belgium in the second round. Unfortunately the goal was wrongly disallowed for offside and John went off injured. John’s most memorable contribution to the 1990 World Cup was through his performance on the official England song ‘˜World in Motion’ by New Order. We’ll never forget his rap and head bobbing dance in the accompanying music video.
John started the following season 1990/91 in incredible form as Liverpool went on a run of wins with Barnes scoring incredible goals seemingly every week. I particularly recall a phenomenal solo run and goal he scored at Old Trafford (in the same game Ronnie Whelan hit a spectacular own goal). John scored one of his greatest ever goals in the 4-4 F.A. Cup game with Everton in February 1991. Unfortunately this amazing game was overshadowed by the resignation of Kenny Dalglish almost immediately afterwards. Ronnie Moran took over as caretaker boss and was soon replaced by Graeme Souness. Unfortunately Liverpool lost their momentum and had to concede the league title to Arsenal.
The following season was a poor one by previous standards as Souness began dismantling the side, selling off great players (Beardsley) and purchasing bad ones (Paul Stewart). The saving grace of the season was a fifth F.A. Cup Final victory, with a 2-0 win over Sunderland who were then in the Second Division. Barnes missed the final due to an achilles injury.
John spent a lot of the 1992/93 season suffering with injuries and unfortunately it was at this stage that he lost his incredible pace. It was also this season when I realised that he had a very individual dress sense. All of Liverpool’s European Cup Winners Cup games were shown live on the BBC and as Barnes was often injured he regularly used to get interviewed at half time. More often than not he would be wearing an outrageous suit in a loud colour!
It is widely known that Barnes and Souness didn’t see eye to eye and it’s to John’s credit that he stayed at the club during these poor seasons when he could easily have signed for a lot of other teams. From what I understand Souness thought John was a trouble maker trying to take over in training sessions and not doing as he was told. After Souness was sacked, the new boss Roy Evans was quick to realise John’s great motivational skills. John publicly stated that he would remain at the club and help nurture the young players coming through at the time such as, Robbie Fowler, Steve McManaman and Jamie Redknapp.
Due to his pace no longer being what it was, Roy Evans converted John to a holding midfielder. He relished this new role and although he was no longer able to beat players so easily his control of the ball remained and he was a big factor in Robbie Fowler and Ian Rush scoring so many goals. Barnes and Redknapp formed a great partnership in central midfield passing through the opposition defences with flair. John could still weigh in with classic goals too such as the spectacular overhead kick he scored against Blackburn. In 1995 John helped Liverpool to win the League Cup with a 2-0 win over Bolton Wanderers. Both goals that day came from John’s replacement on the left wing, Steve McManaman.
By this stage John was entering into the twilight of his football career but he was still able to contribute during the 1995/96 and 1996/97 seasons. He helped Liverpool to reach the 1996 F.A Cup Final where they lost 1-0 to Man Utd in a terrible game. He also played in the fantastic 4-3 victory over Newcastle Utd, setting up Stan Collymore for the last minute winner that nearly brought the roof off the Kop.
There have been comments over the years in the media that Roy was at fault for sticking by an aged John Barnes for so long. This has been used as an excuse for Liverpool failing to win the league title during the mid nineties. This is a completely unfair criticism and not even true. Anybody who watched Liverpool regularly during this period will tell you that John was still a class act and his assistance to the younger players can not be under-estimated. John Barnes never used to give the ball away and his presence on the field would give the rest of the team a huge lift. Stan Collymore has claimed that John ran the show behind the scenes and not Roy Evans, but enough people have refuted these claims so I don’t believe that at all.
In August 1997, after ten years at Liverpool, John finally decided to leave as he was no longer a first team regular. According to Robbie Fowler in his autobiography, Barnes and Roy Evans had a blazing row after a 3-1 defeat to Man Utd and that was the last time he played for Liverpool.
John decided to rejoin Kenny Dalglish and Ian Rush with a free transfer to Newcastle Utd. John only played one season at St. James Park and it was a disappointing one despite a few highlights such as a victory over Barcelona in the Champions League and reaching the F.A. Cup Final against Arsenal. The Magpies lost the final 2-0 and this was John’s last game for the club.
For the 1998/99 season, John signed for Charlton Athletic, who had just been promoted to the Premier League. Defeat on the final day of the season relegated them back to Division One, and John announced his retirement as a player after 20 years and 754 appearences with four clubs.
In 1999 John was appointed manager of Celtic, with Kenny Dalglish working as director of football. Despite the ‘˜dream ticket’ hype, John’s tenure was pretty awful as Celtic had a poor start to the season. After a shock exit in the Scottish Cup to lowly Inverness Caledonian, John was sacked and Dalglish took over until the end of the season.
Since his retirement from football John has turned his attentions to working in the media. His first TV presenting job was fronting coverage of the ‘˜African Nations Cup’ and he was then given his own show on UK’s Channel Five. John continues to present ‘˜John Barnes Soccer Night’ on Channel Five as well as hosting a weekly show on LFC TV. John’s TV presenting skills are not as good as his playing skills, but that’s just my personal opinion. He is also famous now for his appearance on the BBC TV show ‘˜Strictly Come Dancing’.
John also does a lot of charity work including being an ambassador for ‘˜Save the Children’. He is currently fronting a campaign called ‘˜Score Ethiopia’ which is providing football based amenities in Ethiopia, as well as improving living conditions for the people there.
In 2006 John was voted in at number 5 in the series ‘˜100 Players Who Shook the Kop’. Anybody who ever saw John Barnes at the height of his career will tell you he was one of the finest players ever to pull on the red shirt. I doubt very much there are many Liverpool fans anywhere in the world that could leave him out of their all time eleven. I am happy to have been able to witness him playing many times in person and he is definitely one of my all time heroes
