The Jamaican born England international winger spent decades mesmerising defences and giving full backs twisted blood for Watford, Liverpool, Newcastle United and (to a lesser extent) Charlton Athletic. He wasted no time in making a move into management after retirement at the end of the 1998/99 season. He was appointed manager of Glasgow giants Celtic, with his former boss at Liverpool Kenny Dalglish taking the role of Director of Football. There were high hopes for this managerial dream team, but to say things didn't go to plan is a bit of an understatement. Barnes' most memorable game as Celtic manager was a Scottish Cup defeat to then First Division outfit Inverness Caledonian Thistle, that prompted that famous headline in The Sun: "Super Callie go ballistic, Celtic are atrocious". Barnes lost his job soon after that embarassing defeat, replaced by Dalgish. He was then out of the management game for eight years, before reappearing as manager of the Jamaican national team. He spent just a year in the role, though at least he had some modest success, leading the Reggae Boyz to first place in the 2008 Caribbean Championships. He returned to club management soon after with League One side Tranmere Rovers, assisted by his former Liverpool teammate Jason McAteer. Barnes steered the club to victory in a measly three games of the 14 he oversaw, and he and McAteer were relieved of their duties after a 5-0 shellacking by Millwall. It's fair to say the Tranmere players weren't sorry to see the back of the duo they dubbed "Dumb and Dumber". It's hard to imagine any other club giving Barnes the reigns after two disastrous managerial spells in ten years.
David is an office drone and freelance writer for WhatCulture and Moviepilot, among others. He's also foolishly writing a serialised novel on Jukepop and has his own irregularly updated website. He's available for freelance work. Reach out on Twitter to @davefox990
