10 Great Footballers Who Made Terrible Managers

3. John Barnes

John Barnes had great success as a player for Watford and Liverpool, becoming one of the greatest and most thrilling players of his era. Sadly for the fans of Celtic and Tranmere, his talent did not stretch over into management. He aligned himself at Celtic with former manager and team mate Kenny Dalglish and hopes were incredibly high, especially after Dalglish's success at Liverpool and Blackburn. The hype of Barnes' appointment soon died down after a shock defeat to Inverness CT and there were shouts for his firing which happened soon after. After a spell as manager of Jamaica that was neither her nor there, he returned to club management with League 1 Tranmere Rovers with Jason McAteer as his assistant. Barnes lasted a whole twelve games and for some it was eleven games too many. Barnes and McAteer were allegedly dubbed Dumb and Dumber by their players, which says all there is to say about his managerial career. Since Tranmere sacked him, they have improved greatly and Barnes can be seen doing punditry on ESPN.
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