If John Barnes is at his peak !

[kris90210]

I rate Barnes as probably the 4th best player to pull on the red shirt. At least, that i've seen anyway. Absolutely superb.

At his peak now, he would easily fetch £60m+. And he'd be courted by everyone, Madrid, Barcelona, Chelsea, City, the red mancs. Everyone in the world.

He was more direct than Messi, as in, he'd just beat men with power and pace, more than 'twinkle toes' type of control and skill - but that's not to say he didnt have it, because he did. He was more powerful than Messi is, but didnt have the same level of goalscoring as Messi does.

It's a measure of how good Barnes was, that i cannot think of another winger who has even come close to him, since his peak in the late 80s/early 90s. And i dont just mean at Liverpool. I literally mean in the world.

Think you're exaggerating a bit here! No one even comes close to him?? Giggs and ronaldo are two who most neutrals would suggest.

[Yozza]

You've got to hold and give
But do it at the right time
You can be slow or fast
But you must get to the line
They'll always hit you and hurt you
Defend and attack
Theres only one way to beat them
Get round the back
Catch me if you can
Cos' I'm the England man
And what you're looking at
Is the master plan
We ain't no hooligans
This ain't a football song
Three lions on my chest
I know we can't go wrong

Quality

[Tee]

You've got to hold and give
But do it at the right time
You can be slow or fast
But you must get to the line
They'll always hit you and hurt you
Defend and attack
Theres only one way to beat them
Get round the back
Catch me if you can
Cos' I'm the England man
And what you're looking at
Is the master plan
We ain't no hooligans
This ain't a football song
Three lions on my chest
I know we can't go wrong

Quality

Arguably his best performance for Ingerlund.

[Exiled_red]

Think you're exaggerating a bit here! No one even comes close to him?? Giggs and ronaldo are two who most neutrals would suggest.

Barnes at his peak was some player to put it in perspective in his time as a winger with us and Watford (before he moved into midfield) from '81-'91 he scored over 13 goals a season every season. In this period Barnes scored more goals (in 474 games) than Ryan Giggs has in his entire career (862 games). And this was an era when players didn't get anywhere near the protection you get now, defenders could kick lumps out of you then.

[little dave hedgehog]

yes, but he was black. he was ruining the english game.

[Darth Marty]

Make no mistake Barnes at his peak is a better player than Giggs & the fake Ronaldo although the latter did have a fantastic goal return and does still score a lot.

Barnes was magical, simply sublime control & seriously if Torres reached £50 mill this season Barnes would have been far more, I suppose the Ronaldo fee is something that Barnes would have been worth being slightly similar positions.

[Angryred]

Thats the thing I don't get...how did we get get away with paying just over 900 pounds for him when Newcastle were demanding 1.9 for Beardsley the same summer!...****ing crime of the century! However, did Watford have stipulations in the their contract?
Say, 100k for every season we were crowned champions or stuff like that?

[GorbyPeacePrize]

Thats the thing I don't get...how did we get get away with paying just over 900 pounds for him when Newcastle were demanding 1.9 for Beardsley the same summer!...****ing crime of the century! However, did Watford have stipulations in the their contract?
Say, 100k for every season we were crowned champions or stuff like that?

Because he was inconsistent. There wasn't a host of clubs after his signature at the time, and we ended up withdrawing our initial offer because he was ****ing about and wanted to move to the continent.

[Drago]

Barnes wasn't bought for 900 quid, was he?

[MrMichael]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmAo0uiarvA"]YouTube - John Barnes[/ame]

[blondie]

YouTube - John Barnes

I remember him being a great player, but watching the video made me realise I'd forgotten just how good he was . Some truely great goals, but so many assists as well! How we have missed, and even more so now, a great attacking winger in our team.

[GraciousGooner]

I rate Barnes as probably the 4th best player to pull on the red shirt. At least, that i've seen anyway. Absolutely superb.

At his peak now, he would easily fetch £60m+. And he'd be courted by everyone, Madrid, Barcelona, Chelsea, City, the red mancs. Everyone in the world.

He was more direct than Messi, as in, he'd just beat men with power and pace, more than 'twinkle toes' type of control and skill - but that's not to say he didnt have it, because he did. He was more powerful than Messi is, but didnt have the same level of goalscoring as Messi does.

It's a measure of how good Barnes was, that i cannot think of another winger who has even come close to him, since his peak in the late 80s/early 90s. And i dont just mean at Liverpool. I literally mean in the world.

So the 4th best player for LFC is being compared to someone already being tipped as the best player ever?

I think Giggs comes pretty close to him as well, especially with his longevity and flexibility in the latter part of his career.

[Exiled_red]

So the 4th best player for LFC is being compared to someone already being tipped as the best player ever?

I think Giggs comes pretty close to him as well, especially with his longevity and flexibility in the latter part of his career.

Personally I'd put him higher than Craig but it's no insult when you are talking about being behind someone like Kenny Dalglish.

Personally I think that Barnes was well ahead of Giggs, in his time as a winger he had 10 consecutive seasons where he scored 13 goals or more and countless assists. You also talk about longevity and flexibility for Giggs. Barnes career lasted ~20 years and he moved into central midfield for the second half of his career.

[Tribute]

i've met him numerous occasions - at melwood as a kid, in a park on the wirral were he was with his kids (then babies) and he had a little kickabout with me and my dad)

and then i have seen him in and around Heswall loads of times

He is a legend.

I met Barnesy along with McMahon (who was on crutches at the time) and a few other first teamers at The Crown pub in Birkdale in the early 90's. Ended up on the dancefloor with Barnesy making shapes next to me, impressing all the girls... funny as hell. McMahon was even trying to dance, albeit moving his crutches like Rolf Harris doing Jake The Peg...

All great people, happy to spend loads of time to talk to fans in the bar - the days when you could get near your idols to have a chat...

[Slinky Skills]

Talk about ball to feet, brilliant!

To me he was the best player we've ever had, he had everything.