Lovely left footers #5: John Barnes

In the fifth installment of our Lovely Left Footers series, Simon Furnivall recalls his memories and the career of John Barnes. The piece is accompanied by a superb illustration from Steve Walsh of miniboro.com. Steve is a wonderful artist whose work has appeared on sites such as Surreal Football and many of his works can be purchased through his online store. You can also follow Steve on twitter @miniboro_dotcom.

John Charles Bryan Barnes. Just mention of his name sends my mind spinning back to childhood and the time I spent entranced by Barnes on the TV and the hours I spent trying (and failing, quite spectacularly) to recreate what I saw. There are many reasons that I fell in love with football, from the elation of victory to the despair of defeat and the sense of belonging that came with supporting a team, but high amongst them was the talent and majesty of the man we called Digger.

There are two over riding memories that I have of Barnes in a Liverpool shirt. The first is of a game that, to my memory was early in his debut season with the club, though I will doubtless be proven wrong about that. Against QPR at Anfield Barnes danced through past defenders time and again, an ease and grace about his actions which made his talent look so simple.

The second is perhaps a more cathartic moment. The 26^th May 1989 is something of a seminal moment in my life, the day when the pain of sporting defeat was etched on my mind. Six or so months later, however, as Liverpool powered to the last of their 18 league titles, Barnes lined up a free kick against the Arsenal nemesis and fired it, perfectly, into the back of the net. The commentary from that moment, “It’s going to be Barnes… curled… brilliantly!” sticks with me every bit as much as the dreadful “It’s up for grabs now!” and is one of the few memories I have from the 1989-90 season, one during which I still struggled to come to terms with what Michael Thomas had done to me.

Born and raised in Jamaica, Barnes moved to England and played for non league side Sudbury Court, though he was soon picked up by Watford. Manager Graham Taylor gave Barnes his debut just two months shy of his eighteenth birthday, and though the ‘long ball’ style that saw Watford rise through four divisions in just six years never truly suited Barnes’ style, by the end of his first season at Vicarage Road, the club had won promotion to the top flight.

The success continued as they finished runners-up in the First Division the following season, a feat that can barely be imagined in the modern game, and then reached the 1984 FA Cup final, though a 2-0 defeat against Everton put an end to that fairytale. Barnes had also made his international debut – under Bobby Robson – that season, and in a summer friendly against Brazil in the Maracanã he scored the goal that perhaps best defines him as an international player. Gliding past several Brazilian defenders before rounding the goalkeeper and slotting home, Barnes’ goal wowed onlookers and brought him worldwide fame, but his international career never reached the consistent heights that it might have done.

In 1987 came the big move that Barnes had fully proven he deserved. After 293 games for Watford he clinched a £900,000 move to Liverpool, though it might have proven very different has Alex Ferguson not passed up the opportunity to sign him, instead choosing to place faith in Jesper Olsen.

Manager Kenny Dalglish was reshaping his side, and alongisde Peter Beardsley, Ray Houghton and John Aldridge, Barnes completed one of the most fabled attacking lines in the history of English football, let alone Liverpool’s history. The team of the 1987-88 season is considered by many to have played some of the finest attacking football ever, and Barnes’ skill was a huge part of that.

A league title in that first season was followed up by another in 1990, though in between there was the disappointment of the loss to Arsenal at Anfield and the devastation of the Hillsborough disaster.The 1990-91 season was another wonderful one for Barnes – who scored 16 league goals – though again a tough one for the club as Dalglish resigned following a 4-4 draw at Goodison Park and the league title slipped through their fingers.

An Achilles tendon injury in 1992 robbed Barnes of his lightning acceleration that had been such a huge part of his game and precipitated a move into central midfield over the coming years. A turbulent time under Graeme Souness was replaced by a period of moderate success under Roy Evans as a new, young side played fluent attacking football which saw them win the League Cup in 1995 and reach the FA Cup final in 1996, though their hopes of lifting the trophy again were spoiled by Manchester United.

John Barnes with his MBE medal

A move to Newcastle followed, though the St. James’ Park crowd didn’t see anywhere near the best of the man, and after short spell at Charlton, who were promptly relegated on the final day of the season, Barnes called time on his twenty year career.

Throughout that career, however, the stain of racism followed him wherever he went. Possibly the most infamous moment came during a Merseyside derby when Barnes back-heeled off the pitch a banana which had been thrown at him, but speaking to the BBC’s World Football programme back in 2002, he recalled that such incidents took place from the very start of his career in England.

“I remember as far back as 1981 playing at places like Millwall and West Ham when you’d get the usual monkey noises and bananas being thrown onto the pitch. It was almost an accepted part of society so not very much was made of it. I considered them to be ignorant, so I never responded to it because I thought they would have won if it had affected my game.”

Following his performance for England against Brazil in 1984, a group of National Front members on the plane journey back were heard to say that England had only won the math 1-0 as Barnes’ goal ‘didn’t count’. Throughout his career Barnes was subject to such disgraceful behaviour, but it is massively to his credit that he simply rose above it, and since his retirement has been active in the ‘Kick It Out’ campaign and their attempt to rid the game of racism.

Barnes’ career, however, deserves to be remembered for his incredible skill and grace, for the moments which stunned crowds and are still talked about decades later, rather than the actions of those ignorant ‘fans’, no matter how large in numbers they may have been. In my opinion Barnes should be talked of in the same breath as the greatest to have played the game, at his height has was as good as anything I have seen. But more than anything, memories of Barnes take me back to my childhood and the man who inspired such a deep love within me for this beautiful game.