Our lot would have beaten Klopp’s Liverpool
...if we played under ’80s rules. Now we’d get too many reds!
When Liverpool were last English champions 30 years ago, JOHN BARNES was their brightest star and 13-year-old
DANNY MURPHY idolised him from The Kop. To mark last week’s anniversary, the two Reds spoke in depth about their beloved club, from King Kenny to Jurgen Klopp...
BESIDES long walks in the Wirral countryside to while away the hours of lockdown, John Barnes has used this time to reflect on an amazing career. The most gifted player of his generation for Watford, Liverpool and England, his high profile made him an important figure in the fight against racism.
Post-retirement, he gained an even wider audience on TV shows Strictly Come Dancing and Who Do You Think You Are? and as a sports presenter.
For Barnes, who played 79 times for England, the day job reached its peak in 1990 when Liverpool were last champions of England. He was their top scorer with 22 goals, including the penalty against QPR that cl i nched t he t i t l e, was voted Footballer of the Year and started every game for England at the World Cup before injury in the quarter-final against Cameroon.
This month he has learned to use Zoom, which is how The Mail on Sunday columnist Danny Murphy reached him for a insightful chat about the glory days.
‘ I used to travel to games at Anfield from Chester with my dad. My first hero was Kenny Dalglish. Skill, creativity, bending shots into the top corner,’ says Murphy. ‘But you were similar, John, in terms of being a match-winner and getting people off their seats. I could see why Peter Beardsley called you the best in the world. Definitely the shining light of that team.’
Barnes l earned years ago to accept praise graciously. But it’s not false modesty that makes him argue that Liverpool’s triumphs have always been collective.
He says: ‘ I received plenty of plaudits but Liverpool were champions because of the unsung heroes. Barry Venison, Ronnie Whelan, Stevie Nicol, Steve McMahon. Peter Beardsley was my favourite team- mate because he was so s e l f l e s s . Tha t ’s what makes c h a mpions. Li v e r p o o l in the Eighties were Sammy Lee and Terry McDermott as much as Ian Rush and Kenny Dalglish. Everyone talks about today’s front three but it’s really about the Jordan Hendersons and Gini Wijnaldums.
‘When people ask me to compare my team and this team it depends on what rules we play. If we played 1980s rules with those referees we would beat them at least six. And if we were playing modern rules, they would beat us by six. Because they won’t be getting free kicks when they fall over. And if we played now, we would be down to six men.
‘We didn’t make a song and dance about winning it in 1990 but if we had known we wouldn’t be champions again, we would have savoured it more.’
There was l i t t l e hi nt of an imminent decline when Liverpool lifted the trophy after their last home game under fl oodlights against Derby. They were beaten only once after November and f i nished nine points cl ear of runners-up Aston Villa.
On May 5, they finished the c a mpaign wit h a 6 - 1 win a t Coventr y. Barnes g r a b b e d a hat- trick and was joined on the scoresheet by Ian Rush and Ronnie Rosenthal (two).
THE popular view is that decline set in once manager Kenny Dalglish quit with exhaustion the following February. Barnes’ view from inside the camp is that the retirement of captain Alan Hansen the following month due to injury was a double body blow.
‘Alan was so influential in the way we played. It was equally as important as Kenny leaving,’ says Barnes. ‘He was ahead of his time as a defender. He’d intercept, bring the ball out, begin counter-attacks. I’ ve been watching videos of our old games. He started an amazing number of attacks that led to goals.
‘ He wasn’t a r a nt e r but a t Liverpool the senior players always made sure the youngsters did things right in training. The mantra from management was “work it out yourselves”. When the Bosman ruling came in, the power went to younger players, they were the assets. At Manchester United, Alex Ferguson provided the discipline. If Beckham and Giggs were left to their own devices, they would have been party boys.
‘But at Liverpool the attitude was wrong Monday to Friday. Stan Collymore said I was always arguing in training but I was frustrated. Players would come in late. It was never a surprise to me that we’d fall away towards the end of the season,’ says Barnes.
Dalglish’s successor Graeme Souness lasted less than three y e a r s . By t h e mi d - Ni n e t i e s , Manchester United were on the march and Liverpool had a new Spice Boys team based around Robbie Fowler, Jamie Redknapp and Steve McManaman. Two months after Liverpool lost the infamous ‘white suits’ FA Cup final of 1996, they played a preseason game at Crewe, whose 19-year-old midfielder Murphy was delighted to share a pitch with his idol. ‘You probably don’t remember, John, but I played attacking midfield. After the whistle, you came over and said it wouldn’t be long until I was in the Premier League,’ recalls Murphy.
‘I never forgot that. One sentence from you meant more to me than anything I’d been told by a coach. Liverpool signed me a year later and on my first day training I was paired with you for pitch runs at Melwood. I’d mistakenly heard you were on your last legs but you were flying. I couldn’t keep up.
‘We then played together in a preseason friendly at Bristol City. You passed to me and I passed to Michael Owen who scored. It’s probably a stronger memory for me than you!
‘Liverpool were trying to get rid of me by then and I joined Newcastle three weeks later,’ interjects Barnes.
‘I’d moved into midfield after a ruptured achilles but Liverpool signed Paul Ince that summer [1997] and made it clear I wasn’t going to play. There was this idea that all Liverpool needed to win the league was a midfielder like Ince instead of me. It left a bitter taste.
‘ The chairman t old me t hey needed to bring in a strong player to sort out the younger players. I said, “I’ve been trying to do that but I ’ m not al l owed t o come down hard.”. It made me feel like a scapegoat.’
Murphy says discipline at Liverpool only started to improve once Gerard Houllier took over in 1998. ‘Ironically, the first thing he did was get rid of the likes of Incey,’ he says. ‘You need the manager tocaptain the ship and the players feed off that. Every player needs help along the way. I was lucky to have had Houllier at Liverpool otherwise I wouldn’t have made it at the level I did.’
Barnes cites Graham Taylor as his guiding light. ‘I am so pleased I had six years at Wa t f o r d under Gr a h a m, ’ he says. ‘The attitude was spot-on every day in training.In the days before monitors he’d have everything on the stopwatch to make sure you were giving maximum effort. That approach stayed with me my whole career. Your formative years are the most important.
‘You know what it’s like at Liverpool, Danny. You go into town, go out drinking, get treated like a superstar. It can go to your head. My years at Watford held me in good stead. I didn’t even drink until I signed for Liverpool. If I’d gone at 17, I would have been an alcoholic!’
Liverpool’s anticipated title party is on ice and it is unclear if and when the Premier League will return. But Barnes says: ‘I think we can finish the league and we have to, when it’s safe to play.
‘Christmas has to be December 25, New Year’s Day has to be January 1 but the football season doesn’t have to start in August. It
Beardsley was my favourite team-mate because he was so selfless
can be any month. It’ll take two months to finish this season and then we can run straight into next season, it’s not like the players would need warm-up games.’
Klopp is the eighth Liverpool manager to try to attain the holy grail since Dalglish in 1990. It would make him a club immortal after last year’s Champions League triumph. ‘ Klopp signs players to fit his system, not only because they looked great at their previous clubs,’ says Barnes. ‘Ninety nine per cent of people wouldn’t pick Henderson and Wijnaldum above Kevin De Bruyne and David Silva or even Jack Grealish or James Maddison, but they work for Liverpool.
‘Jurgen has been allowed to work like he wants to. I am sure Brendan Rodgers wanted to deal with Daniel Sturridge and Mamadou Sakho the same way Klopp did, but couldn’t. When Brendan left out Sturridge and Liverpool lost, the crowd booed and i t empowered the player. Klopp is completely in charge. If he drops Mo Salah or Sadio Mane, nobody cares.’
Murphy concurs Rodgers was unlucky but he insists Klopp’s charisma marks him out as special. ‘His communication has to be good because it’s not easy to keep a squad happy,’ says Murphy. ‘Divock Origi and Xherdan Shaqiri came in f or t he Barcelona semi- f i nal, their attitude was great and they were physically ready. It shows they were training well, waiting for their chance.
‘Jurgen creates that environment. One of the bravest things was letting Philippe Coutinho go and not directly r e p l a c i n g h i m. Liverpool trusted him.’
As someone who appreciated the value of Beardsley, Barnes wants to pay tribute to the modern-day equivalent, Roberto Firmino. ‘I think he is the most important forward in what he gives the team. He gives Liverpool invention in tight areas.
‘ They’ll need to sign another forward at some point in case one of the front three leaves but it will have to fit what Klopp wants. Kylian Mbappe is fantastic on the ball but would he do the other stuff? I’d suggest if you’re a 21-year-old superstar, your attitude isn’t going to change.’
The hour is up. Barnes makes a joke about rushing off to another engagement. In reality, it will be a walk into nearby Heswall. ‘I don’t mind things quiet so it’s not a stress for me,’ he says.
Murphy fulfilled his boyhood ambition of playing with Barnes, even if it was for just 15 minutes at Ashton Gate. He considers what it would be like to play under Klopp. ‘I might not have had the legs to play in his midfield,’ he says. ‘But I would like to have tried.’