Warren Barton: “Tino was mad”
Once Britain’s most expensive defender, Barton talks the Toon’s title chase and identifies the player Vinnie Jones was afraid of
You joined Newcastle the summer before their title-challenging 1995-96 campaign. Did you sense that you were walking into something pretty special? Absolutely. I remember our first game against Coventry, with 38,000 fans all dressed in black and white. The atmosphere at St James’ Park was unbelievable. I remember walking onto the pitch with Les Ferdinand and we couldn’t believe what we were witnessing. We won 3-0 but it could have been 30-0. We were carried by our fans – we just felt invincible that day. Your move to Newcastle from Wimbledon made you the most expensive defender in British history. How did that feel? Very proud. When I was 13 years old, even 16, I was told I wasn’t good enough to make it as a pro. Going from non-league football and lots of rejection to that was a very special moment. Kevin Keegan made a point to go after me – I received offers from Arsenal, Everton, Celtic and Sheffield Wednesday, but I decided that Newcastle was the best fit. I never regretted it. Newcastle had an all-out attack approach. What was it like trying to defend? Let’s put it this way – we didn’t really defend! [Laughs] We were constantly pushing forward. I think the ultimate benchmark for that team was Philippe Albert’s goal against Manchester United when we won 5-0 – a centre-back on the edge of the penalty box and chipping Peter Schmeichel. At that time you had quite a few offensive-minded full-backs in world football, like Cafu in Serie A, but what myself and John Beresford did was pretty unique in the Premier League. We were expected to push forward all the time. Kevin said we had to average at least two or three crosses per half. More overleaf...
How good was David Ginola? Phenomenal – one of the most gifted players I’ve ever seen. I remember playing a friendly at Hearts and David was twisting, turning and toying with everyone on the field. I looked at Rob Lee and we couldn’t believe what we were seeing. Only Paul Gascoigne could make me stand still and watch another player like that. Off the pitch, Ginola had such swagger. Our families were very close, and sometimes I’d pick him up and drive him to training. After a defeat, we’d often stay and talk about it for 45 or 50 minutes. He really cared. What about Tino Asprilla? As a footballer he was absolutely fantastic. He had a natural gift of balance. He was especially good in home games – some players are just like that. He was brilliant at St James’ Park. He adapted to the city and all the people straight away. He was sensational for us at times, and unstoppable in the air. He had that high hang time, which I could probably only compare to Cristiano Ronaldo. Off the field, was he a bit mad? Not ‘a bit mad’ – he was mad! I can’t tell you some of the stories, otherwise I’d possibly get him arrested! He loved to host wild parties at his home and invited everyone. Under Kenny Dalglish, one of the coaches liked to prepare all the equipment and balls in a specific order before training, and Tino would run over and kick it all over the place. David Batty helped him sometimes, too – it drove the coach mad! I still speak to Tino on a regular basis, actually. We’ve stayed in touch. How much do you remember about Keegan’s rant at Alex Ferguson? Just knowing Kevin, we could see that coming. He has such unbelievable heart and passion. We saw it boiling inside him, and he was very upset that day. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what Ferguson wanted him to do. When you talk about mind games, forget Jose Mourinho because there was never anyone better than Ferguson. He provided the bait and Kevin went for it. Kevin just didn’t want to be a pushover, I guess. He was always really emotional and we loved him for that. But that particular day, he got caught in Alex’s trap. How gutted were you to lose the title? Every day I wake up and I’m haunted by that. I constantly think about that season and what a missed opportunity it was. It will stay with us, all of those players, forever. The fact we’re still talking about it now says everything, and it frustrated the hell out of me. In hindsight, maybe we should have played more cautiously against Manchester United. If we’d drawn, they’d still have been well behind us, but that wasn’t our way. What was it like playing for Kenny Dalglish and then Ruud Gullit? Kenny was fantastic. He probably protected us too much with the media. He never blamed us and should have said we hadn’t done well enough sometimes. But that wasn’t his style – he was always loyal to his players. Ruud was his own man. He was pretty aloof and man management wasn’t his strongest point. I never had an individual problem with him. We’ll meet up in the USA, where I work on TV, and have a chat. I learned lots from him, but I learned from his mistakes, too, as his people skills left a bit to be desired. He turned up with a big ego after playing for one of the biggest clubs in the world, Milan, but didn’t understand the fact that Newcastle were a big club, too. We weren’t a small club. What do you remember about the infamous home defeat to Sunderland in 1999? That was the final straw. We lost 2-1 and his fate was sealed. He made the fatal mistake of underestimating the importance of the derby. For Ruud, it was just a casual meeting – for us, it was the biggest game of the season. He left Alan Shearer on the bench, playing young Paul Robinson instead… That was crazy. The day before the game, we were practising set-pieces and I noticed Alan pretending to be the opposition, imitating one of Sunderland’s players. We asked him, ‘What are you doing?!’ He replied, ‘I’m not playing.’ We said, ‘What? Are you joking?’ The biggest game of the season and you bench someone who’s scored over 250 Premier League goals. Paul Robinson was a decent young player, but he was no Alan Shearer. Ruud didn’t even pick Duncan Ferguson in the starting XI – bizarre. Is it true Ferguson was even angrier than Shearer the following morning? He definitely had some anger management problems! He was such a strong person – I’d always rather have him on my team. You spent five years with Wimbledon. What was it like being in the Crazy Gang? Amazing – talking about strong players, you can’t get any better than Vinnie Jones or John Fashanu. We had that unique fighting spirit. Vinnie loved to intimidate opponents and get into their head. I joined Wimbledon as a kid and left as a grown up – it was a school of life. Who was the hardest player in that team? Mick Harford – even Vinnie [below] was scared of him. He was a hard, hard man. What about the biggest prankster? Vinnie, Mick, Scott Fitzgerald… With Vinnie it was a one-way street, though. If you tried to prank him back, he’d beat you up! We did lots of crazy things. If someone got called up to the national team, they often found out at the same time their tyres were being destroyed in the car park. If you scored the winning goal or, worse, got man of the match, they’d burn all your clothes. Vinnie and Scott did that a lot. Eventually you’d surrender and join the pack, or they’d make your life hard. I remember when John Hartson arrived from West Ham, he had a fancy suit for the presentation and it was cut to pieces. John couldn’t believe it, but we were just like, ‘Welcome to Wimbledon!’