Articles
Barnes to stay or go ?
by Colin Wood for "World Soccernet"
John Barnes has been leaving Liverpool since the day he arrived, so it's no surprise to him or anyone else that he's the strong favourite to be shown the door that has just opened to admit Paul Ince to Anfield, and the central, dominant role in the team's midfield.
It was, until the final few weeks of last season, the Barnes role. Liverpool were possessed by their possession football and nobody was more possessive than Barnes.
Even the fans who worshipped him in the golden days when he was arguably the best player in Britain, turned against him, calling for the old hero to be dispossessed. They wanted him out. Manager Roy Evans, too greatly influenced according to his detractors by his captain, finally acted in a manner which met with their approval.
He dropped him for the second leg of the European Cup-winners Cup semi-final against Paris St-Germain and didn't even name him among the substitutes. He left him out against Tottenham and Wimbledon. Even though he gave him another chance as a second-half substitute in the final match at Sheffield Wednesday, helping to improve the performance 100 per cent, the word was out that he was finished at Liverpool.
The signings since of Oyvind Leonhardsen and Ince, established internationals in midfield, along with bright prospect Danny Murphy, have been widely taken as confirmation that the old master who was an automatic choice until the end of April is surplus to requirements in mid-July.
But hang on, the has-been - and he has been to the peaks often in a wonderful career - is still a wannabe at 33. That was immediately evident from his response to my question about the effect the £4.2million signing from Inter Milan of Ince, friend, at times England colleague, would have on his career. 'Nothing changes,' he insisted, although most of us believe it has.
'Is Michael Thomas leaving because Paul Ince is coming? Will Jamie Redknapp be leaving, or Oyvind Leonhardsen for that matter, because Paul Ince is here? So why am I different to everybody else? We are all competing for places. Liverpool have always had great competition for places. When I came here the reserve team was full of internationals. That's what you want. That's how you're successful.
'You need a first-team squad of 18 or 19 world-class players. Then the manager picks his side, 4-4-2, five at the back, whatever. I don't think the new players coming will have that much effect on me. I don't see myself as in direct competition to any one of them. We're all starting off together and we will see what happens. I'm not afraid of the situation at all.'
'My life is going fine. The future is bright for me ... and for Liverpool, of course. The more quality players we get here the better. I wish we could sign Ronaldo.'
Brave, some would say naive, talk in the circumstances. But then the kid from Jamaica who became a wonder for Watford and Liverpool and an enigma for England has never been one to pack his bags and walk away from a challenge.
His biggest critics would say he has never lived up to the early achievement of that goal against Brazil in Rio in 1984. But who in the game has consistently sustained that level of brilliance?
Barnes first for Watford then for Liverpool has performed outstandingly for a very long time. Also, particularly in the face of disgusting abuse from many England followers, he has been a model of good behaviour.
At times he has appeared too easy going but he clearly has a stubborn streak, as he has shown frequently in the face of adversity and is displaying again now.
For a while it seemed it had cost him a move to Liverpool in the summer of 1987. Liverpool were fed up waiting amid speculation that he really wanted to join a big Italian club. I reported that they had withdrawn their £900,000 offer. Graham Taylor, his mentor at Watford, then in his first weeks in charge of Aston Villa, asked me: 'What's the silly bugger doing?' A few days later Barnes signed for Liverpool - one of the bargains of all time.
Almost from day one there was speculation that he was leaving ... for Italy, Spain, France. In the summer of 1991 he almost went to Marseille. But all the stories almost daily at one stage, never distracted him and from 1987 to 1991, as Liverpool won two League titles and the FA Cup and he was twice voted Footballer of the Year, there was no better player in the country - nominally a left-winger but effectively an all-purpose performer down that flank who could defend as well as attack and score goals.
Then came the first major setback, a torn achilles tendon. He came back to help Liverpool to the FA Cup Final but was forced to miss the Wembley triumph over Sunderland. A few weeks later he sustained another serious achilles injury playing for England. There were further bad injuries over the next few seasons and eventually he had to change his game, no longer the swashbuckler on the left, more the controller in the middle.
He did well enough to regain his England place for a while - but more and more last season he bore the brunt of most of the criticism for what was seen as Liverpool's over-indulgence on the ball when they should have been powering forward to the title.
Ince, a more aggressive, direct type, has come back from Italy to be the missing link. Barnes, who never got to Italy, will have to start looking elsewhere. But then again, don't be surprised if he hangs around a bit longer.
'Nothing in life should surprise anyone. Maybe I said I wanted to play in Italy but I haven't done. That's out of the window. I want to win the Lottery. I want to do a lot of things,' he said.
'You can't legislate for what will happen in the future. Here we are, 1997, 10 years after I got here, and I'm still here. If I wasn't meant to be here I wouldn't be here. Maybe I'll still be here next year, but who knows.'
Copyright - World Soccernet
John Barnes has been leaving Liverpool since the day he arrived, so it's no surprise to him or anyone else that he's the strong favourite to be shown the door that has just opened to admit Paul Ince to Anfield, and the central, dominant role in the team's midfield.
It was, until the final few weeks of last season, the Barnes role. Liverpool were possessed by their possession football and nobody was more possessive than Barnes.
Even the fans who worshipped him in the golden days when he was arguably the best player in Britain, turned against him, calling for the old hero to be dispossessed. They wanted him out. Manager Roy Evans, too greatly influenced according to his detractors by his captain, finally acted in a manner which met with their approval.
He dropped him for the second leg of the European Cup-winners Cup semi-final against Paris St-Germain and didn't even name him among the substitutes. He left him out against Tottenham and Wimbledon. Even though he gave him another chance as a second-half substitute in the final match at Sheffield Wednesday, helping to improve the performance 100 per cent, the word was out that he was finished at Liverpool.
The signings since of Oyvind Leonhardsen and Ince, established internationals in midfield, along with bright prospect Danny Murphy, have been widely taken as confirmation that the old master who was an automatic choice until the end of April is surplus to requirements in mid-July.
But hang on, the has-been - and he has been to the peaks often in a wonderful career - is still a wannabe at 33. That was immediately evident from his response to my question about the effect the £4.2million signing from Inter Milan of Ince, friend, at times England colleague, would have on his career. 'Nothing changes,' he insisted, although most of us believe it has.
'Is Michael Thomas leaving because Paul Ince is coming? Will Jamie Redknapp be leaving, or Oyvind Leonhardsen for that matter, because Paul Ince is here? So why am I different to everybody else? We are all competing for places. Liverpool have always had great competition for places. When I came here the reserve team was full of internationals. That's what you want. That's how you're successful.
'You need a first-team squad of 18 or 19 world-class players. Then the manager picks his side, 4-4-2, five at the back, whatever. I don't think the new players coming will have that much effect on me. I don't see myself as in direct competition to any one of them. We're all starting off together and we will see what happens. I'm not afraid of the situation at all.'
'My life is going fine. The future is bright for me ... and for Liverpool, of course. The more quality players we get here the better. I wish we could sign Ronaldo.'
Brave, some would say naive, talk in the circumstances. But then the kid from Jamaica who became a wonder for Watford and Liverpool and an enigma for England has never been one to pack his bags and walk away from a challenge.
His biggest critics would say he has never lived up to the early achievement of that goal against Brazil in Rio in 1984. But who in the game has consistently sustained that level of brilliance?
Barnes first for Watford then for Liverpool has performed outstandingly for a very long time. Also, particularly in the face of disgusting abuse from many England followers, he has been a model of good behaviour.
At times he has appeared too easy going but he clearly has a stubborn streak, as he has shown frequently in the face of adversity and is displaying again now.
For a while it seemed it had cost him a move to Liverpool in the summer of 1987. Liverpool were fed up waiting amid speculation that he really wanted to join a big Italian club. I reported that they had withdrawn their £900,000 offer. Graham Taylor, his mentor at Watford, then in his first weeks in charge of Aston Villa, asked me: 'What's the silly bugger doing?' A few days later Barnes signed for Liverpool - one of the bargains of all time.
Almost from day one there was speculation that he was leaving ... for Italy, Spain, France. In the summer of 1991 he almost went to Marseille. But all the stories almost daily at one stage, never distracted him and from 1987 to 1991, as Liverpool won two League titles and the FA Cup and he was twice voted Footballer of the Year, there was no better player in the country - nominally a left-winger but effectively an all-purpose performer down that flank who could defend as well as attack and score goals.
Then came the first major setback, a torn achilles tendon. He came back to help Liverpool to the FA Cup Final but was forced to miss the Wembley triumph over Sunderland. A few weeks later he sustained another serious achilles injury playing for England. There were further bad injuries over the next few seasons and eventually he had to change his game, no longer the swashbuckler on the left, more the controller in the middle.
He did well enough to regain his England place for a while - but more and more last season he bore the brunt of most of the criticism for what was seen as Liverpool's over-indulgence on the ball when they should have been powering forward to the title.
Ince, a more aggressive, direct type, has come back from Italy to be the missing link. Barnes, who never got to Italy, will have to start looking elsewhere. But then again, don't be surprised if he hangs around a bit longer.
'Nothing in life should surprise anyone. Maybe I said I wanted to play in Italy but I haven't done. That's out of the window. I want to win the Lottery. I want to do a lot of things,' he said.
'You can't legislate for what will happen in the future. Here we are, 1997, 10 years after I got here, and I'm still here. If I wasn't meant to be here I wouldn't be here. Maybe I'll still be here next year, but who knows.'
Copyright - World Soccernet
