Peter Barnes (footballer)

Peter Barnes
Personal information
Full namePeter Simon Barnes
Date of birth10 June 1957[1]
Place of birthManchester, England[1]
Height5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)[1]
Playing positionLeft-winger[1]
Youth career
1972–1974Manchester City
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps†(Gls)†
1974–1979Manchester City115(15)
1979–1981West Bromwich Albion77(23)
1981–1982Leeds United30(1)
1982–1983Real Betis16(1)
1983–1984Leeds United27(4)
1984→ Manchester United (loan)0(0)
1984–1985Coventry City18(2)
1985–1987Manchester United20(2)
1987→ Ballymena United (loan)1(1)
1987–1988Manchester City8(0)
1987→ Bolton Wanderers (loan)2(0)
1987–1988→ Port Vale (loan)3(0)
1988→ Wimbledon (loan)0(0)
1988Hull City11(0)
1988SC Farense1(0)
1988–1989Bolton Wanderers3(0)
1989Sunderland1(0)
1989→ Stockport County (loan)0(0)
1989Footscray JUST2(0)
1989Bury0(0)
1989Drogheda United3(0)
1990Tampa Bay Rowdies11(1)
1990Stafford Rangers5(0)
1990Northwich Victoria7(0)
1991Wrexham0(0)
1991Radcliffe Borough?(?)
1991Mossley8(0)
1992Hamrun Spartans0(0)
1992SC Farense0(0)
1992–1993Cliftonville1(0)
Total367+(50+)
National team
1976–1978England U-219(2)
1977–1982England22(5)
Teams managed
1998Gibraltar
1998Runcorn
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.
† Appearances (Goals).

Peter Simon Barnes (born 10 June 1957) is an English former international footballer, and the son of renowned coach and scout Ken Barnes. He is one of a small number of players to have played for both Manchester City and Manchester United.

He was named as PFA Young Player of the Year after scoring in the 1976 League Cup final victory for Manchester City. He won 22 England caps, and became West Bromwich Albion's record buy at £748,000, but found that his career faltered in the mid-1980s. He played for Leeds United and was also a rare English export to La Liga with Real Betis. He played briefly for Coventry City, and was signed by Ron Atkinson at Manchester United in 1985, before being one of the players that Alex Ferguson released after his arrival in the 1986–87 season. Over the next few years he struggled for opportunities as wing play went out of fashion, despite trying his hand at clubs throughout the English Football League and in Portugal, Australia, Malta, the United States, Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

Club career

Born in Manchester, Barnes made his debut for Manchester City (the team his father played for between 1950 and 1961) against Burnley on 12 October 1974. He scored in the 1976 League Cup final at the age of 18, as the "Sky Blues" beat Newcastle United 2–1.[2] In the same year, he was voted Young Player of the Year by the Professional Footballers' Association.[3]

Barnes was sold by new boss Malcolm Allison in 1979, and joined West Bromwich Albion for a fee of £748,000 – a club transfer record that was not broken until Kevin Kilbane broke the £1 million barrier over 18 years later. He finished as the club's leading scorer in 1979–80 with 15 goals.[4] The "Baggies" finished fourth in 1980–81 under Ron Atkinson's stewardship. Barnes signed for Leeds United in 1981 for £750,000 plus £180,000 "tariffs".[4] However Leeds manager Allan Clarke played him as a striker, and Barnes failed to adapt to his new role, scoring only one goal in 30 top-flight games as Leeds were relegated into the Second Division in 1981–82.[4] Assistant manager Martin Wilkinson remarked that "We are not asking Peter to run his blood to water, but we do want to see him get a bit of a sweat occasionally."[4] Barnes handed in a transfer request, and in February 1982 was given a £750 club fine following comments he made to newspapers.[4] Clarke attempted to trade him to Nottingham Forest for Garry Birtles, and then to Manchester City for Trevor Francis, but was unsuccessful.[4]

Barnes spent 1982–83 in La Liga with Real Betis, before returning to Elland Road for a run of 27 games and four goals in 1983–84. He was sold by Eddie Gray to Don Mackay's Coventry City for £50,000, and scored two goals in eighteen First Division games in 1984–85. Ron Atkinson subsequently signed him for Manchester United, where he was effectively an understudy to Danish winger Jesper Olsen. An unused substitute in the 1985 FA Charity Shield, he fell out of the first team picture in mid-November of the 1985–86 season, only returning to the starting eleven in October and November of the following campaign.[5] His time at Old Trafford was limited after Atkinson was replaced as manager by Alex Ferguson. Barnes took to hiding in the communal bath waters in the dressing room to avoid Ferguson's famed 'hair-dryer' treatment.[6]

He was transferred back to Manchester City in 1987, but soon fell out of favour and was loaned out to Bolton Wanderers, Port Vale and Wimbledon.[7] After leaving Maine Road in 1988, he embarked on a remarkable tour of global football, playing a handful of games for Hull City, SC Farense (in two spells), Bolton Wanderers, Sunderland, Stockport County, Footscray JUST, Bury, Drogheda United, Tampa Bay Rowdies, Stafford Rangers, Northwich Victoria, Wrexham, Radcliffe Borough, Mossley, Hamrun Spartans, and Cliftonville. This took him to Portugal, Australia, Malta, the United States, and both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

International career

Barnes scored two goals in nine games for the England under-21s, both against Norway.[8] He made his full England debut at Wembley on 16 November 1977, in a 2–0 win over Italy.[9] However the Italians qualified ahead of England for the 1978 FIFA World Cup. He scored against Wales in the 1978 British Home Championship and against Scotland the following year. He went on to play five of England's eight qualifying games for UEFA Euro 1980, scoring in a 3–0 win over Bulgaria at the Vasil Levski National Stadium, but was not taken to the tournament itself.[10] He featured in two qualifying games for the 1982 FIFA World Cup, defeats to Norway and Switzerland, but was again not selected for the tournament itself. He played his last international game on 25 May 1982, in a friendly with the Netherlands. He won a total of 22 caps, scoring five international goals, and also represented the England B team.[11]

Post-retirement

After retiring from playing, Barnes had a brief spell managing Gibraltar and Runcorn, and has since worked behind the scenes at Manchester City and for local radio.

Since August 2010, he has been based in Kuala Lumpur, working as a Premier League pundit for Malaysian network, Astro, and its thrice-weekly FourFourTwo TV programme. On the night that his former club Manchester City clinched the 2011–12 Premier League title, the normally reserved Barnes sang a rendition of Blue Moon during the post-game show in Astro's studios. He also continued his father's legacy, running soccer schools for impoverished local children.[12]

Honours

Individual
with Manchester City
with Manchester United
with England

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "stats". mcivta.com. Retrieved 6 May 2012.
  2. ↑ Ripley, David (11 May 2011). "Relive Manchester City's last major final glory... the League Cup triumph over Newcastle in 1976". Daily Mail. Retrieved 6 May 2012.
  3. ↑ "England Player Honours – Professional Footballers' Association Young Players of the Year". englandfootballonline.com. Retrieved 28 September 2012.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 Murray, Scott (12 June 2009). "The Joy of Six: Terrible transfers". The Guardian. Retrieved 28 September 2012.
  5. ↑ "Peter Simon Barnes". aboutmanutd.com. Retrieved 6 May 2012.
  6. ↑ "When managers attack". BBC News. 17 February 2003. Retrieved 5 May 2012.
  7. ↑ Kent, Jeff (1996). Port Vale Personalities. Witan Books. p. 18. ISBN 0-9529152-0-0.
  8. ↑ "England – U-21 International Results 1976–1985 – Details". rsssf.com. Retrieved 6 May 2012.
  9. ↑ "match". scoreshelf.com. Retrieved 6 May 2012.
  10. ↑ "Peter Barnes". scoreshelf.com. Retrieved 6 May 2012.
  11. ↑ "England Player Profile". englandfc.com. Retrieved 6 May 2012.
  12. ↑ Buckley, Andy (11 October 2010). "Ex-City ace Peter Barnes keeping up dad's mission". Manchester Evening News. Retrieved 6 May 2012.

External links