Where is John Barnes now?
After a fantastic career spanning 20 years John Barnes retired in 1999 after a short spell playing in the Premier League with Charlton Athletic.
Starting his professional career in 1981 with Watford he went onto make 751 first-team appearances over a 20-year period for four clubs including Liverpool where he formed a lethal front line with Peter Beardsley, John Aldridge and Ian Rush which played a big part in the club’s league title wins in 1988 and 1990.
He also won the FA Cup and the League Cup during his time at Anfield.
Internationally, Barnes won 79 caps and scored 11 goals for the national side but never seemed to be able to replicate his sensational club form prompting former England manager Bobby Robson to famously describe him as the ‘greatest enigma’ of his career.
Upon retiring from playing Barnes was surprisingly appointed as head coach at Celtic working under director of football Kenny Dalglish for the 1999-2000 season despite having no previous coaching experience.
Unfortunately the gamble didn’t pay off for the Scottish giants and he was sacked halfway through the season after some poor results which included a shock loss in the Scottish Cup to Inverness Caledonian Thistle.
After taking some time out of the game, he made a return to football management in 2008 when he was appointed as manager of the Jamaican national team who he led to the 2008 Caribbean Championships but left after a year stating that he wanted to return to club management.
In June 2009, Barnes was appointed manager of Tranmere Rovers with his former Liverpool team-mate Jason McAteer working as his assistant but their time at the club was short-lived and they were sacked after losing eight of their first 12 games.
Away from football Barnes competed in the 2007 edition of Strictly Come Dancing and although he struggled at the beginning with his weight he lasted until week eight of the competition.
In 2018, Barnes was back on our screens as a contestant on Channel 5’s popular reality television show Celebrity Big Brother joining other ‘celebrities’ including Ann Widdecombe, Ginuwine and Dapper Laughs.
Although a popular housemate within the house, he was accused by viewers of the show as being homophobic after he claimed that straight men might feel ‘uncomfortable’ around gay men. However, in his exit interview after he had been the fourth person to be evicted, Barnes said he was disgusted at the suggestions and said that they did not reflect his own feelings.
In March 2019, he participated in a TV series called ‘Harry’s Heroes’ which saw football manager Harry Redknapp take a number of ex-professionals on a journey to lose weight with the end goal of playing a team of ex-Germany internationals.
Ironically, England won the game 4-2 which was the same scoreline as the 1966 World Cup Final.
In 2020 he was Harry Redknapp’s assistant manager in the second series of ‘Harry Heroes‘ which saw the England players travel to Germany to play in a grudge match which they won 1-0.
He is now mostly seen in the media as a pundit and match analyst on a number of sports channels such as Sky Sports, ESPN and South African channel SuperSport.
Barnes was appointed as a Liverpool club ambassador in 2022 representing the club at home and abroad.
Follow on Twitter @officialbarnesy
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John Barnes: Premier League Statistics
| Nationality | English |
| Position | Midfielder |
| Appearances | 201 |
| Goals | 28 |
| Yellow Cards | 0 |
| Red Cards | 0 |
| Premier League Teams Played for | Charlton Athletic, Liverpool, Newcastle United |
Statistics courtesy of www.premierleague.com
Last Updated on 9 December 2022 by Admin