John Barnes

Former International Football Player, Manager and Commentator

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John Barnes is a Jamaican-born English former footballer and manager, who currently works as a commentator and pundit for ESPN and SuperSport.

During his playing career, Barnes had successful periods at Watford and Liverpool in the 1980s and 1990s, winning the First Division twice, the FA Cup twice, and playing for England 79 times (at the time, a record for a black player). After a period at Newcastle United, he ended his playing career at Charlton Athletic in 1999.

After retiring as a player, Barnes had a brief stint as head coach of Celtic in 1999–2000, working alongside Kenny Dalglish. He took over as manager of the Jamaica national team in 2008, but resigned six months later to become manager at Tranmere Rovers. 

Barnes left Watford on 9 June 1987, after appearing 233 times for the Hornets and scoring 65 goals, in a £900,000 deal to join Liverpool. He joined at the same time as Peter Beardsley and linked up with John Aldridge, Ray Houghton and then Ian Rush to form one of the most formidable attacking lines of Liverpool's history.

After his Liverpool career, Barnes was then snapped up by former team-mate and manager Kenny Dalglish, who was managing Newcastle United.  In the 1997–98 season, Barnes played up front mostly, and ended up becoming Newcastle's top league scorer with six goals.

Barnes became a pundit on ITV and a presenter of the football coverage on Five as well as having his own weekly football discussion show on LFC TV called The John Barnes Show. He competed in the fifth BBC series of Strictly Come Dancing, which started in October 2007. His dance partner was Nicole Cutler. They finished in seventh place. He was also the first male celebrity to receive a ten from the judges.

John Barnes also worked as an ambassador for Save the Children. Barnes has appeared on several shows and media outlets to promote his charity work, including a notable appearance on Soccer AM in February 2009 performing the "World in Motion" rap.

 

(Temporary profile - this is not an official biography)