Roy SkillenMistaken Identity
Everyone remembers the 1986 World Cup quarter final between Argentina and England for just two things: Maradona’s cheating hand of God, and his wonder goal just five minutes later. But the game also saw the emergence of a superb English talent that very nearly changed the course of football history on that sunny day in Mexico. If it hadn’t been for a loud mouthed commentator by the name of Barry Davies, we would probably be calling John Barnes ‘Sir’ and bowing down at the feet of his bronze statue sat outside Wembley stadium
It was late in the second half and England was chasing the game. Maradona had been simply magnificent all day, conducting his team like an orchestra from the middle of the field and giving the England players a pure football lesson. They needed something special to get back into the game, something that the Argentineans wouldn’t be expecting. England boss, Bobby Robson, decided that now was the right time to unleash John Barnes. Up until then Barnes had been nothing but a bit part player for England. Despite his scintillating performances at club level for Watford where he showed devastating pace, skill and crossing ability he was finding it difficult to dislodge the more senior players of the England side. But the time for John Barnes had come as Robson brought him on in place of Trevor Steven in the 74th minute. His impact on the game was immediate as the Argentinean defenders struggled to contain his runs down the left. In the 80th minute his persistence paid off. Barnes shifted the ball on to his left boot and whipped in an early cross that seemed to catch everyone by surprise. Well, everyone except the competition’s top goal scorer, Gary Lineker, who met and (delete this) nodded the ball into the net from close range. England was not only back in it, they were in control and just a few minutes later the Lineker-Barnes combination was again in full effect. Again, it was Barnes that picked out the England striker with a superb cross. It looked certain that Lineker would equalize. So certain in fact that commentator, Barry Davies, screamed “GOAL” before the ball had even reached Lineker’s head, putting poor Gary off the job at hand and his header hit the post. To this day I feel that the man who once famously but very stupidly said, “If that had gone in, it would have been a goal,” jinxed us out of one of the most amazing comebacks in World Cup history. But despite the stupidity of Mr. Davies a new England star had been born, and the whole world would now know the name, John Barnes.
While the rest of the world, and indeed England, may have only just caught on and realized how good Barnsey really was, within football circles his skills were no secret. Three years earlier, at just 20 years of age, John Barnes broke into the Watford first team and formed a devastating strike partnership with Luther Blissett. With Barnes’s pace and vision alongside the hustle and bustle style of Blissett, Watford went on to finish 2nd in the old English first division behind Liverpool, which is still their highest ever league finish. The performances of the front two were starting to attract some interest from abroad, with Italian giants AC Milan leading the way. After a few scouting missions to Vicarage Road, the Milan board decided that the abilities of John Barnes would be better suited to Serie A, and went about putting together a deal to sign the youngster. But one day, in the summer of 1983, it was Luther Blissett who found himself in the black and red striped shirt of Milan, playing in front of thousands of passionate Italians at the famous San Siro stadium, after an amazing 1 million GBP move. The move seemed to shock everyone in football, even the Watford faithful who saw it as a bitter sweet move. On one hand they were losing a hero, on the other, someone was stupid enough to pay 1 million for Blissett.
After five goals in 30 appearances Blissett’s time in Italy can hardly be seen as successful, and after just one year away he was sold back to Watford for 550,000 GBP, which is just over half of what the Italians had paid for him in the first place. So you have to wonder, what caused the turn around? What was it that saw Blissett playing in Italy instead of the younger, more exciting, prospect of John Barnes?
The very politically incorrect version of events goes something like this. After hearing reports coming out of England that Watford had an exciting prospect, AC Milan sent scouts over to see what all the fuss was about. The scout returned to Milan with glowing reports and at the end of the 1982 – 83 season, a representative was sent over to England with very simple but pretty vague instructions that he must “sign the black guy that plays upfront for Watford.” When the representative arrived at Vicarage Road he found that he was spoiled for choice as there were in fact two black guys playing for Watford. But rather than contacting his bosses back in Milan the representative either decided to use his own initiative, or he took the advice of Graeme Souness, and went about signing Watford’s top goal scorer, Luther Blissett.
No one from Milan has ever admitted to the blunder. In fact, the general perspective in Italy is that they were after a big, bumbling striker to lead the line.
“Even the most ignorant and provincial person could see that Blissett and Barnes looked absolutely nothing alike. Second, the fact is that at that time Milan were looking for an out-and-out goal scorer and Barnes just wasn’t that type of player,” said well known journalist Gabriele Marcotti talking about the incident during an interview with Britain’s Guardian newspaper in 2005.
And if you take into account his hat-trick for England against Luxembourg in only his second appearance, his golden boot award at the end of the 1982 - 83 season, (Yes, believe it or not Luther Blissett was awarded the European golden boot award for scoring more league goals than any other player in Europe, with 27,) and seven preseason goals for new club AC Milan, you can see how the Italians could have been duped by a man who was just going through something of a purple patch.
But whether they wanted to sign Blissett or not, his purple patch came to an abrupt end and the Rossenari were left with egg on their faces. Luther Missit, as he was becoming affectionately known, failed to score in his next 12 international outings and even saw a penalty kick bounce back off row Z in the San Siro. His signing even saw the downfall of Milan’s former owner who eventually went bankrupt and was forced to go into hiding. But Milan fans now look back on the Luther Blissett era with fond, comic nostalgia, the same way Liverpool fans might see Istvan Kozma, Spurs fans Ramon Vega, Evertonian Billy Kenny, and Gooner’s fans Gus Ceasar. Well done, Luther.
What if?
John Barnes completed his 1 million GBP move from Watford to AC Milan on 24th July 1983. His move came as a bit of a surprise to many in the football world, but not to Barnes’s former manager who said this about losing the emerging talent, “John, without doubt, has the potential to be the best player in the world.”
Barnes made his full Milan debut after a string of positive reserve team games against Juventus and became an instant hit with the fans at the San Siro. With his relaxed style of play, quick feet, great vision and flair, he reminded his adoring Italian fans more of a Brazilian than the boring English players they had seen in Serie A before. In just his second season at the club he was awarded the Serie A Player of The Year award and was hailed as “Il nuovo Pele” or “The New Pele” by the Italian press. But despite his phenomenal form for Milan, England boss, Bobby Robson, seemed reluctant to give him a real opportunity at international level.
In the summer of 1986 Barnes was named in the England squad to travel to Mexico for the upcoming World Cup, but was once again left on the bench for the opening game. England cruised through to the Quarter finals stage, but pressure from the English tabloids was building on Robson to include Barnes in the team to add some pace and skill out wide. On 22nd June he finally crumbled, and John Barnes was named in the starting line up to face Argentina.
The first half of this mammoth quarter final clash was tight and finished 0-0 with both teams looking tense. Barnes looked good out wide for England and Maradona was beginning to produce his best form for Argentina in the middle of the park, but it wasn’t until early in the second half that the breakthrough came. Maradona had chased a long hopeful ball in behind the English defence. He jumped to challenge goalkeeper Peter Shilton. The ball seemed to evade them both and trickled into the back of the net. Shilton was livid, complaining that Maradona had handled the ball. But his argument fell on deaf ears and the goal stood.
From the kick off, Barnes picked up the ball and ran hard at the Argentina defence. He skinned Jose Cuciuffo on the edge of the box and drilled a low shot past Nery Pumpido in the Argentine goal for the equalizer. The goal is one of the greatest in the history of English football and caused a piece commentary that would be quoted for years to come by fans all around the world from commentator Barry Davies:
“RUN AT HIM. BLOODY RUN AT HIM BARNSEY. YEEEEEEAAAHHHHHHH HE DID IT. THE BASTARD DID IT. I TOLD YOU ROBBO, I TOLD YOU TO PLAY HIM. YOU CAN STICK YOUR MARADONA UP YOUR ARSE BECAUSE THAT IS QUITE SIMPLY THE GREATEST GOAL YOU WILL EVER SEE.”
From here, England were always on top. Barnes had the measure of man marker Jose Brown and later on he turned the tired Argentine defender inside out, creating two late goals for England striker, Gary Lineker, to seal a 3-1 victory. The performance put Barnes on the top of world football, but it was his two goals in the final against Germany that clinched England their second World Cup win and saw the man cement his place as one of the legends of the game.
So popular was he in his home country that when the new Wembley stadium was built in 2006 a bronze statue was erected outside to match the one already at Milan’s San Siro stadium in honour of the great man.
Find out what would have to the careers of Ronaldinho if his proposed loan move to St Mirren had gone ahead. And whether Maradona would have still gone on to conquer the world if Sheffield Utd had stumped up the cash to sign him as a 17 year old in the new footy book WHAT IF?
It was late in the second half and England was chasing the game. Maradona had been simply magnificent all day, conducting his team like an orchestra from the middle of the field and giving the England players a pure football lesson. They needed something special to get back into the game, something that the Argentineans wouldn’t be expecting. England boss, Bobby Robson, decided that now was the right time to unleash John Barnes. Up until then Barnes had been nothing but a bit part player for England. Despite his scintillating performances at club level for Watford where he showed devastating pace, skill and crossing ability he was finding it difficult to dislodge the more senior players of the England side. But the time for John Barnes had come as Robson brought him on in place of Trevor Steven in the 74th minute. His impact on the game was immediate as the Argentinean defenders struggled to contain his runs down the left. In the 80th minute his persistence paid off. Barnes shifted the ball on to his left boot and whipped in an early cross that seemed to catch everyone by surprise. Well, everyone except the competition’s top goal scorer, Gary Lineker, who met and (delete this) nodded the ball into the net from close range. England was not only back in it, they were in control and just a few minutes later the Lineker-Barnes combination was again in full effect. Again, it was Barnes that picked out the England striker with a superb cross. It looked certain that Lineker would equalize. So certain in fact that commentator, Barry Davies, screamed “GOAL” before the ball had even reached Lineker’s head, putting poor Gary off the job at hand and his header hit the post. To this day I feel that the man who once famously but very stupidly said, “If that had gone in, it would have been a goal,” jinxed us out of one of the most amazing comebacks in World Cup history. But despite the stupidity of Mr. Davies a new England star had been born, and the whole world would now know the name, John Barnes.
While the rest of the world, and indeed England, may have only just caught on and realized how good Barnsey really was, within football circles his skills were no secret. Three years earlier, at just 20 years of age, John Barnes broke into the Watford first team and formed a devastating strike partnership with Luther Blissett. With Barnes’s pace and vision alongside the hustle and bustle style of Blissett, Watford went on to finish 2nd in the old English first division behind Liverpool, which is still their highest ever league finish. The performances of the front two were starting to attract some interest from abroad, with Italian giants AC Milan leading the way. After a few scouting missions to Vicarage Road, the Milan board decided that the abilities of John Barnes would be better suited to Serie A, and went about putting together a deal to sign the youngster. But one day, in the summer of 1983, it was Luther Blissett who found himself in the black and red striped shirt of Milan, playing in front of thousands of passionate Italians at the famous San Siro stadium, after an amazing 1 million GBP move. The move seemed to shock everyone in football, even the Watford faithful who saw it as a bitter sweet move. On one hand they were losing a hero, on the other, someone was stupid enough to pay 1 million for Blissett.
After five goals in 30 appearances Blissett’s time in Italy can hardly be seen as successful, and after just one year away he was sold back to Watford for 550,000 GBP, which is just over half of what the Italians had paid for him in the first place. So you have to wonder, what caused the turn around? What was it that saw Blissett playing in Italy instead of the younger, more exciting, prospect of John Barnes?
The very politically incorrect version of events goes something like this. After hearing reports coming out of England that Watford had an exciting prospect, AC Milan sent scouts over to see what all the fuss was about. The scout returned to Milan with glowing reports and at the end of the 1982 – 83 season, a representative was sent over to England with very simple but pretty vague instructions that he must “sign the black guy that plays upfront for Watford.” When the representative arrived at Vicarage Road he found that he was spoiled for choice as there were in fact two black guys playing for Watford. But rather than contacting his bosses back in Milan the representative either decided to use his own initiative, or he took the advice of Graeme Souness, and went about signing Watford’s top goal scorer, Luther Blissett.
No one from Milan has ever admitted to the blunder. In fact, the general perspective in Italy is that they were after a big, bumbling striker to lead the line.
“Even the most ignorant and provincial person could see that Blissett and Barnes looked absolutely nothing alike. Second, the fact is that at that time Milan were looking for an out-and-out goal scorer and Barnes just wasn’t that type of player,” said well known journalist Gabriele Marcotti talking about the incident during an interview with Britain’s Guardian newspaper in 2005.
And if you take into account his hat-trick for England against Luxembourg in only his second appearance, his golden boot award at the end of the 1982 - 83 season, (Yes, believe it or not Luther Blissett was awarded the European golden boot award for scoring more league goals than any other player in Europe, with 27,) and seven preseason goals for new club AC Milan, you can see how the Italians could have been duped by a man who was just going through something of a purple patch.
But whether they wanted to sign Blissett or not, his purple patch came to an abrupt end and the Rossenari were left with egg on their faces. Luther Missit, as he was becoming affectionately known, failed to score in his next 12 international outings and even saw a penalty kick bounce back off row Z in the San Siro. His signing even saw the downfall of Milan’s former owner who eventually went bankrupt and was forced to go into hiding. But Milan fans now look back on the Luther Blissett era with fond, comic nostalgia, the same way Liverpool fans might see Istvan Kozma, Spurs fans Ramon Vega, Evertonian Billy Kenny, and Gooner’s fans Gus Ceasar. Well done, Luther.
What if?
John Barnes completed his 1 million GBP move from Watford to AC Milan on 24th July 1983. His move came as a bit of a surprise to many in the football world, but not to Barnes’s former manager who said this about losing the emerging talent, “John, without doubt, has the potential to be the best player in the world.”
Barnes made his full Milan debut after a string of positive reserve team games against Juventus and became an instant hit with the fans at the San Siro. With his relaxed style of play, quick feet, great vision and flair, he reminded his adoring Italian fans more of a Brazilian than the boring English players they had seen in Serie A before. In just his second season at the club he was awarded the Serie A Player of The Year award and was hailed as “Il nuovo Pele” or “The New Pele” by the Italian press. But despite his phenomenal form for Milan, England boss, Bobby Robson, seemed reluctant to give him a real opportunity at international level.
In the summer of 1986 Barnes was named in the England squad to travel to Mexico for the upcoming World Cup, but was once again left on the bench for the opening game. England cruised through to the Quarter finals stage, but pressure from the English tabloids was building on Robson to include Barnes in the team to add some pace and skill out wide. On 22nd June he finally crumbled, and John Barnes was named in the starting line up to face Argentina.
The first half of this mammoth quarter final clash was tight and finished 0-0 with both teams looking tense. Barnes looked good out wide for England and Maradona was beginning to produce his best form for Argentina in the middle of the park, but it wasn’t until early in the second half that the breakthrough came. Maradona had chased a long hopeful ball in behind the English defence. He jumped to challenge goalkeeper Peter Shilton. The ball seemed to evade them both and trickled into the back of the net. Shilton was livid, complaining that Maradona had handled the ball. But his argument fell on deaf ears and the goal stood.
From the kick off, Barnes picked up the ball and ran hard at the Argentina defence. He skinned Jose Cuciuffo on the edge of the box and drilled a low shot past Nery Pumpido in the Argentine goal for the equalizer. The goal is one of the greatest in the history of English football and caused a piece commentary that would be quoted for years to come by fans all around the world from commentator Barry Davies:
“RUN AT HIM. BLOODY RUN AT HIM BARNSEY. YEEEEEEAAAHHHHHHH HE DID IT. THE BASTARD DID IT. I TOLD YOU ROBBO, I TOLD YOU TO PLAY HIM. YOU CAN STICK YOUR MARADONA UP YOUR ARSE BECAUSE THAT IS QUITE SIMPLY THE GREATEST GOAL YOU WILL EVER SEE.”
From here, England were always on top. Barnes had the measure of man marker Jose Brown and later on he turned the tired Argentine defender inside out, creating two late goals for England striker, Gary Lineker, to seal a 3-1 victory. The performance put Barnes on the top of world football, but it was his two goals in the final against Germany that clinched England their second World Cup win and saw the man cement his place as one of the legends of the game.
So popular was he in his home country that when the new Wembley stadium was built in 2006 a bronze statue was erected outside to match the one already at Milan’s San Siro stadium in honour of the great man.
Find out what would have to the careers of Ronaldinho if his proposed loan move to St Mirren had gone ahead. And whether Maradona would have still gone on to conquer the world if Sheffield Utd had stumped up the cash to sign him as a 17 year old in the new footy book WHAT IF?
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