Long before Barnes joined Newcastle in the twilight of his career - a move that isn't as fondly remembered as it should be considering he was top scorer in his first season, and played a major part in the Barcelona victory - he almost signed for Man Utd, rather than Liverpool. Dave Bassett had just been appointed at Watford, and knew he couldn't keep ahold of his star player, so offered Sir Alex Ferguson the opportunity to sign him. Unthinkably, Ferguson turned the chance down, believing that he had a better option in the shape of Jesper Olsen, as he revealed in his autobiography. As errors in judgement go, that has to be one of Sir Alex's biggest ones.
