There are so many people that don't acknowledge just how good this guy was!!! Although he didn't have the best of international careers overall, he was one the best players I've ever seen play. England should have built a team around him rather than try and slot him in. That's what Portugal have done around Ronaldo!!! Players today have so much more protection, he would have been right up there with Messi and Ronaldo if he had been playing today :)
guys phenomenal at his peak, he was never given the freedom international wise, but for club was a beast, so smooth, such power, the crossing vision, shooting whole package
John Barnes is my favourite footballer of all time. Definitely the most elite of footballers and deserves far far more recognition than what he gets. Utter legend
Go watch the 1986 World Cup again, he was the man. Injury prevented him from starting in the England vs Argentina match, but when he came on... What hurt his story also is that he played waaay too long. Some people only knew him after he got slow and his magic telegraphed, where he was relegated to more of a defense stalwart than the offense threat of his prime.
John Barnes was a true great. Had the lot. Problem with Barnes at International level he was always man marked, more often by 2 players. That's how much they respected him. Shame we couldn't capitalise.
My favourite player of all time. Met him in person as a nervous little kid in Liverpool to get my Liverpool shirt signed and he was such a gent. On the pitch he was the greatest magician ever. YNWA Barnesy ... oh and what an awesome and fitting stylish soundtrack! Curtis Mayfield - Give me your love.
My Lord, this man's a genius. In his prime Barnesy is comparable to Messi and Ronaldo - easily. I noticed from that montage he scored a fab goal against my team (Brentford.)
Nah. Even in his prime, just a level below. Not as selfish and although still a great touch on the ball, not as fine as Messi and definitely not as clinical as Ronaldo. But at that time and with those players he was magical.
Absolutely....I remember when we signed him.I was so made up...I lived in Stanmore and used to see him around the Watford training centre in Stanmore....all time fav player ...that's saying some thing....given Dalglish, Gerrard, Suarez
So underrated! Great to see this video - I watched Barnesy at Watford in the early and mid 80s and he outclassed everyone - the move to Liverpool was a no-brainer and he carried on and on. One of England's best ever.
As I've said in another post would have loved to have seen him in this current Liverpool team, would have been another level not just the skill but the pitch intelligence as well.
football is about the ball. Every one who has ever touched it has struggled to control it. Barnes comes closest. He lived our dreams on the pitch for us. "Players like John Barnes come once in a lifetime" Sir Tom Finney.
The injury he sustained at euro 92 effectively finished his best days as a player but my word he was the best in the country and world class at his peak, great to watch, beautiful finesse, gliding through opponents balance, power, pace, crossing, through ball and finishing accuracy, unstoppable
Oh! The flowing mullets! The tiny admiral shorts! The Equalisers. 80's/ 90's football was so good. I do ponder about the inconsistency of keepers and the athleticism of full backs in this period, before Sports Science was really a thing. No question that Barnes is one of England's best ever players.
The sad thing is, because of English teams being banned, Barnes never got to play European football; he would've won at least one cup especially with Liverpool being so dominant during that epoch.
Alex Papasot3 European Cup final in Heysel Stadium (Brussels) in 1985 between Juventus and Liverpool. Simply put, the Liverpool and Juve fans were taunting each other which lead to irrational behaviour from the Liverpool fans which forced Juve fans to run, but were met with a wall. Some were crushed and the wall collapsed which also killed some people. 39 people died in total. 14 Liverpool fans were convicted with manslaughter. The game oddly went on as scheduled, Juve won 1-0. English teams were given an indefinite ban from European football. It saw a host of England’s talent leave abroad like Gary Lineker and Ian Rush who joined Barca and Juve in 86. The ban was eventually lifted in the 90/91 season. Liverpool were banned for an additional year. The time period probably would’ve seen Liverpool, Everton and Arsenal dominate Europe if they were allowed to play.
@@archerpool Dominate is going a bit far- Liverpool would have been very strong in Europe, but it is not as if there weren't strong sides from elsewhere- not least AC Milan in the last few years of that decade...Gullit, Van Basten, Rijkaard et al. It was a great shame though, for English teams. I remember the first European game I watched on TV of Liverpool was when they got knocked out of the UEFA Cup in the 2nd leg (home leg) against Spartak Moscow, I believe. Past their best by then, obviously.
My favourite every player, maybe a bit of a surprise when I say I'm a Sunderland supporter though. Pace, power, both feet and such vision, couldn't care less if he never really did it for England to be honest.
Those years at Watford and Liverpool before the Achilles rupture he was ridiculous in what he could do with a ball his talent was frightening I can't think of a British player that compares to him in the last 40 years imagine what he'd be worth in today's market!!
Best player I ever watched play you had to watch him live at a game to appreciate his skills he as like Pele and maradona rolled into one ...sadly missed out as one of the greats except at Liverpool FC
Imagine having a showreel this good when; The pitches of the day were shocking A lot of your career won’t have been on TV or at least any tapes would be lost Absolutely one of the best
I was with a taxi driver as a fare in Westminster who knew everything Watford FC. I wondered if he was the same taxi driver that contacted Watford saying have a look at this kid - which was John Barnes. Bertie Mee took 15 mins to make his mind up to call at John’s home. As John’s Dad Ken opened the door the next day - he said “Hello Bertie”. Bertie seemed surprised until Ken said he played against Bertie in the army. Then Ken said the family were going back to Jamaica tomorrow for good at the end of Ken’s attachment. It was agreed on the spot Bertie would look after John and he stayed behind in the U.K. John was given a reserve game v Orient - scored in the first half and was followed off the pitch by the Orient staff. So Watford had to sub John and hide him signing temp forms so Orient couldn’t poach him. After a building up programme John was given 2 reserve games the start of the next season and Graham Taylor had a lightbulb moment and thought why am I playing him in the reserves? He made a sub appearance against Oldham in League 2 and was a first team player ever since. John scored quite a few goals in the next few games. One on these is on this video is against Norwich heading down a far post header. I think his international career suffered as England didn’t use wingers as they do now and far too deep, so much so John said if he wanted the ball he would have to win a tackle in his own half as passes were not that frequent. Thanks for posting this video and well balanced showing Digger’s time at Watford and Liverpool.
Yeh would really love to know this also. Had a look on whosampled and couldn't find anything. There was 4 pages of people whosampled this tune though...
I remember he was getting 8 grand a week which was an absolute fortune at that time. Ridiculous I thought far too much and now look at what they are getting .
The English national side played in a way that didn't get much out of our most skilful players at the time, like Hoddle, Barnes, Waddle- it was a common story with many national teams and probably still is; far too conservative and trying to slot flair players like Barnes into rigid, limited roles. Compare the thrilling quick passing attacks of Liverpool at that time with the way the national side played; worlds apart. Despite that, as you say, Barnes didn't do badly for England. I think he was just made a scapegoat for the frequently underwhelming performances of the team, because he was so feted for his feats at club level and so some folk heaped the responsibility to lift the team out of mediocrity on him. On perhaps the biggest international occasion of his career, brought on as a sub against Argentina in '86, he couldn't have done much more than asked- he took it past a couple of defenders and put two great crosses in, one of which Lineker put away, the other which he unfortunately didn't. Barnes made a big difference in that game and it was almost enough.
I'm no football expert. But as a kid loved John barns. If he was playing today would he be one of the best or has football come on that much would he look mediocre????
To me barnes was the best player I have seen clips of others but I have seen John barnes he was the best England didn't know what they had then all these long passes up and down the pitch build something around barnes but the nasty mentality mind set just because the color of the barnes skin caused u guys a few world cup trophies lol lol
This is why england 🇬🇧 will not win a world cup anytime soon. When John Barnes was player of the year England had him on the bench because he was black. Look what he did as a sub with about 5 minutes to go.
There are so many people that don't acknowledge just how good this guy was!!! Although he didn't have the best of international careers overall, he was one the best players I've ever seen play. England should have built a team around him rather than try and slot him in. That's what Portugal have done around Ronaldo!!! Players today have so much more protection, he would have been right up there with Messi and Ronaldo if he had been playing today :)
Michael Monckton very true
guys phenomenal at his peak, he was never given the freedom international wise, but for club was a beast, so smooth, such power, the crossing vision, shooting whole package
John Barnes is my favourite footballer of all time. Definitely the most elite of footballers and deserves far far more recognition than what he gets. Utter legend
Go watch the 1986 World Cup again, he was the man. Injury prevented him from starting in the England vs Argentina match, but when he came on... What hurt his story also is that he played waaay too long. Some people only knew him after he got slow and his magic telegraphed, where he was relegated to more of a defense stalwart than the offense threat of his prime.
John Barnes was a true great. Had the lot. Problem with Barnes at International level he was always man marked, more often by 2 players. That's how much they respected him. Shame we couldn't capitalise.
Love the way Beardsley just keeps feeding him and Rush just got the tap ins... Magical days...
If he was playing today he would still be the best player in the prem league - no one can come close. What a player.
Damn right.
The best
One of the classiest players I've ever seen and still my favorite player to this day!
Absolute legend.
Could you imagine John Barnes if he had access to modern day sports science and nutrition? He would be up there as one of the best in the world.
My favourite player of all time. Met him in person as a nervous little kid in Liverpool to get my Liverpool shirt signed and he was such a gent. On the pitch he was the greatest magician ever. YNWA Barnesy ... oh and what an awesome and fitting stylish soundtrack! Curtis Mayfield - Give me your love.
That was actually purple Aki
This doesn’t surprise me. I’ve met Barnsey a few times. Absolute top man - always a big smile and bantering with everyone. Legend on and off the pitch
My Lord, this man's a genius. In his prime Barnesy is comparable to Messi and Ronaldo - easily.
I noticed from that montage he scored a fab goal against my team (Brentford.)
Nah. Even in his prime, just a level below. Not as selfish and although still a great touch on the ball, not as fine as Messi and definitely not as clinical as Ronaldo. But at that time and with those players he was magical.
straight up G! m favourite player of all time, such grace on the ball
Just such a natural talent, he is up there with messi and ronaldo
Fully agree! Liverpool would have been a very ordinary team during their era of domination had it not been for Barnes. 100% facts!
@@starbwoy133 Don't agree they so many tops players at time playing for them.
@@paulmcnamara4774 I think you're right Paul. Barnes was surely the most talented player in the squad, but they had a lot of quality throughout.
I have yet to see any player that made football look as beautiful as John Barnes did when he played for Liverpool.
Absolutely....I remember when we signed him.I was so made up...I lived in Stanmore and used to see him around the Watford training centre in Stanmore....all time fav player ...that's saying some thing....given Dalglish, Gerrard, Suarez
Glenn Hoddle was the other. The pair of them were my heros.
Manjula Jayakody he’s my all time favourite too. The most stylish and elegant footballer I have witnessed to this day
So underrated! Great to see this video - I watched Barnesy at Watford in the early and mid 80s and he outclassed everyone - the move to Liverpool was a no-brainer and he carried on and on. One of England's best ever.
Literally the most underrated legend of all time
Barnes was one of the best ever. Probably, in my book, the greatest skillful player ever in Liverpool history.
Says a lot about Liverpool players really (skillwise)
Amazing player.
One of the most underrated of all time.
ENJOY THE FOOTAGE
What a talent. Pretty much on level with Hoddle for ability. I would put both Hoddle and Barnes above Gascoigne for ability
Liverpool never replaced him and never will he was just top class
A_Swift
PREACH!
Cool Dude
Perhaps.
But trust me, as good as Mane is, HE IS NO JOHN BARNES.
OVER AND OUT!
GREAT VIDEO.
John Barnes was simply a magnificent player.
WOW he was dope!!!!! And so was Liverpool back then!!!!!!!
Mane , Barnes and Salah ,what a dream !
World class
As I've said in another post would have loved to have seen him in this current Liverpool team, would have been another level not just the skill but the pitch intelligence as well.
football is about the ball. Every one who has ever touched it has struggled to control it. Barnes comes closest. He lived our dreams on the pitch for us. "Players like John Barnes come once in a lifetime" Sir Tom Finney.
The injury he sustained at euro 92 effectively finished his best days as a player but my word he was the best in the country and world class at his peak, great to watch, beautiful finesse, gliding through opponents balance, power, pace, crossing, through ball and finishing accuracy, unstoppable
My god what a player!!
Absolute machine
Liam Wallman I know right! What a player!
Great vid. one of my favourite players. Who's the tune? Know it's curtis mayfield sample, but don't now the tune. cheers.
Oh! The flowing mullets! The tiny admiral shorts! The Equalisers. 80's/ 90's football was so good. I do ponder about the inconsistency of keepers and the athleticism of full backs in this period, before Sports Science was really a thing. No question that Barnes is one of England's best ever players.
The sad thing is, because of English teams being banned, Barnes never got to play European football; he would've won at least one cup especially with Liverpool being so dominant during that epoch.
Jimi D why were English teams banned at the time?
Alex Papasot3 European Cup final in Heysel Stadium (Brussels) in 1985 between Juventus and Liverpool. Simply put, the Liverpool and Juve fans were taunting each other which lead to irrational behaviour from the Liverpool fans which forced Juve fans to run, but were met with a wall. Some were crushed and the wall collapsed which also killed some people. 39 people died in total. 14 Liverpool fans were convicted with manslaughter. The game oddly went on as scheduled, Juve won 1-0. English teams were given an indefinite ban from European football. It saw a host of England’s talent leave abroad like Gary Lineker and Ian Rush who joined Barca and Juve in 86. The ban was eventually lifted in the 90/91 season. Liverpool were banned for an additional year. The time period probably would’ve seen Liverpool, Everton and Arsenal dominate Europe if they were allowed to play.
True I remember that English teams still were banned around that time...but yea the Reds were fantastic!!!! Duo Barnes & Ian Rush!!!
@@archerpool Dominate is going a bit far- Liverpool would have been very strong in Europe, but it is not as if there weren't strong sides from elsewhere- not least AC Milan in the last few years of that decade...Gullit, Van Basten, Rijkaard et al. It was a great shame though, for English teams. I remember the first European game I watched on TV of Liverpool was when they got knocked out of the UEFA Cup in the 2nd leg (home leg) against Spartak Moscow, I believe. Past their best by then, obviously.
He had to hold or give, but always did it at the right time
one of my childhood footy heroes. Enjoyed the vid, ty for posting it
Guy Goodhart amen 🙏🏿 one of mines too!! Lived in Liverpool at the time!!
Barnsey, Beardsley and Rushie, what a combo!
Agreed.
Also Barnes, Beardsley and Aldridge were brilliant as well.
Absolutely unreal.
My favourite every player, maybe a bit of a surprise when I say I'm a Sunderland supporter though. Pace, power, both feet and such vision, couldn't care less if he never really did it for England to be honest.
Great compilation
Loved Barnes in that Liverpool team 1987-90
if you said Barnes 4 times you would turn in to him on the playground.....One of the best of his era YNWA
Absolute legend, nice montage👍🏻
Zachariah Gaming Yh defo! Cheers pal
Thanks for uploading this I forgot just how hot he was back then
the only thing wrong with this video is it is 4 mins long. You could fill hours with how good Digger was !
Those years at Watford and Liverpool before the Achilles rupture he was ridiculous in what he could do with a ball his talent was frightening I can't think of a British player that compares to him in the last 40 years imagine what he'd be worth in today's market!!
Legend!!!
Great vid good choice of music.
Best player I ever watched play you had to watch him live at a game to appreciate his skills he as like Pele and maradona rolled into one ...sadly missed out as one of the greats except at Liverpool FC
Imagine having a showreel this good when;
The pitches of the day were shocking
A lot of your career won’t have been on TV or at least any tapes would be lost
Absolutely one of the best
Love it lads ! 👍
freddie laidler cheers Fred!
John is so good, I can't figure out if he's naturally left footed or right?
MTM think he was naturally left footed but adept with either flank or foot.
Ambifooterous.
Just look at that intricate brilliance at the 0.10 mark.
What a baller
The Watford Hornet absolute baller! 🙌🏼
Beardsly,Barnes and rush played beautiful football
Man who was a classic in the making and he played for LIVERPOOL
Didnt realize how good he was
John was great,But my favourite thing about this vid is the Curtis Mayfield,Give Me Your Love sample.
stevepauldaws28 Digger would probably appreciate your taste in music. I do.
I was with a taxi driver as a fare in Westminster who knew everything Watford FC.
I wondered if he was the same taxi driver that contacted Watford saying have a look at this kid - which was John Barnes.
Bertie Mee took 15 mins to make his mind up to call at John’s home. As John’s Dad Ken opened the door the next day - he said “Hello Bertie”.
Bertie seemed surprised until Ken said he played against Bertie in the army. Then Ken said the family were going back to Jamaica tomorrow for good at the end of Ken’s attachment. It was agreed on the spot Bertie would look after John and he stayed behind in the U.K.
John was given a reserve game v Orient - scored in the first half and was followed off the pitch by the Orient staff. So Watford had to sub John and hide him signing temp forms so Orient couldn’t poach him.
After a building up programme John was given 2 reserve games the start of the next season and Graham Taylor had a lightbulb moment and thought why am I playing him in the reserves? He made a sub appearance against Oldham in League 2 and was a first team player ever since.
John scored quite a few goals in the next few games. One on these is on this video is against Norwich heading down a far post header.
I think his international career suffered as England didn’t use wingers as they do now and far too deep, so much so John said if he wanted the ball he would have to win a tackle in his own half as passes were not that frequent.
Thanks for posting this video and well balanced showing Digger’s time at Watford and Liverpool.
'Bend it like..... Barnes'
underrated player, though barnes looked kinda slow his dribblings were just effective
great player and a great guy.
Whats the music
Barnes Leonardo da Vinci a scorer
Great video. What's the music track? I know it samples 'Curtis Mayfield - Give Me Your Love' but wanted to know the actual track
Yeh would really love to know this also. Had a look on whosampled and couldn't find anything. There was 4 pages of people whosampled this tune though...
Shazam says it's same Curtis song....maybe this is a remix
Has anyone got the track yet? I’ve searched everywhere!
I had no idea that he was so good
I remember he was getting 8 grand a week which was an absolute fortune at that time. Ridiculous I thought far too much and now look at what they are getting .
A very similar running nad dribbling style to the phenom Ronaldo. Like a left footed version
In today's prices he will be worth at £250m or maybe more
If it was not for the European ban he'd be remembered as one of world football's greats.
Poetry in motion, he wasn’t as bad for England as he was made out to be, how many better left sided players have we had at international level...
The English national side played in a way that didn't get much out of our most skilful players at the time, like Hoddle, Barnes, Waddle- it was a common story with many national teams and probably still is; far too conservative and trying to slot flair players like Barnes into rigid, limited roles. Compare the thrilling quick passing attacks of Liverpool at that time with the way the national side played; worlds apart. Despite that, as you say, Barnes didn't do badly for England. I think he was just made a scapegoat for the frequently underwhelming performances of the team, because he was so feted for his feats at club level and so some folk heaped the responsibility to lift the team out of mediocrity on him. On perhaps the biggest international occasion of his career, brought on as a sub against Argentina in '86, he couldn't have done much more than asked- he took it past a couple of defenders and put two great crosses in, one of which Lineker put away, the other which he unfortunately didn't. Barnes made a big difference in that game and it was almost enough.
Barnes number öne loves from turkey
I kinda remember him as a pre-Thierry Henry -no disrespect to either player- he was that good! Not a bad pundit either.
Jamie Carragher sorry to disagree with you Sadio Mane is good but John Barnes was another level in the 1980s and early 1990s.
Dope music
He was excellent but having that time at Watford really helped him
Absolutely correct.
And they were a damn good team back then as well.
I'm no football expert. But as a kid loved John barns.
If he was playing today would he be one of the best or has football come on that much would he look mediocre????
He wouldve been right up there, just look at him, he's a proper athlete with great balance and 2 footed.
Hasta ahora no entiendo por qué el estúpido entrenador de Inglaterra en México 1986 no lo puso de titular en ese torneo.
i have seen him in tanzania
i just found out john barnes is of irish scottish welsh and nigerian descent yaaaaaaah
Not sure about the rest, but he definitely has Jamaican roots. He was born in Jamaica
My man just got an 90 moments card ea must be drunk😐
Remember that period very well. Barnes & Beardsley were both utterly brilliant!!
Sadly he got racial abuse even by some England 'fans' at that time!!
Bit of a player was John .
mi icono de fifa 20 y por lo que veo en la carta le falta mas regate
To me barnes was the best player I have seen clips of others but I have seen John barnes he was the best England didn't know what they had then all these long passes up and down the pitch build something around barnes but the nasty mentality mind set just because the color of the barnes skin caused u guys a few world cup trophies lol lol
And there's so much more not on this video
Why j barnes was forgotten by people while messi is arguably the best, as both play good in club, but not national team
A better touch of the ball then messi.Has some simularities to marsdona in terms of how he knocks the ball
This is why england 🇬🇧 will not win a world cup anytime soon. When John Barnes was player of the year England had him on the bench because he was black. Look what he did as a sub with about 5 minutes to go.
Se encontraba todas las bolas, todo el equipo siempre le hizo la tarea, es un prepotente malo del fútbol cualquier jugador juega mejor o igual que el