The John Barnes era was one that was trumpeted, at the time, as a Dream Team. Now I can’t remember if it was by the club or by the Scottish media, but all the same, the dream didn’t take long to turn into a nightmare.
Many fans believe that the rot started at the end of December in 1999.
A draw with Rangers and then Kilmarnock after the winter break was quickly followed by a 3-2 home defeat against Hearts in February.
But it was the 8th of February 2000 that eventually sealed his fate when Barnes’ side lost at home 3-1 to Inverness Caley Thistle in the Scottish Cup.
Infighting at halftime led to Mark Viduka refusing to appear for the second half of that game and Barnes was dismissed quickly thereafter.
But the rot started well before then.
The cracks were already starting to appear in pre-season that year when Barnes’ distrust of the players caused an instant division.
Speaking on A Celtic State of Mind, former Celtic defender and the legend that is Jackie McNamara revealed an incident between the ex-Hoops boss and key first-team players, “That was actually in pre-season in Norway.
“But we went to Portugal on the winter break as well.
“And that was when we first started working with him.
“We were sitting there, Tommy [Johnson], Craig [Burley] and [Alan] Stubbsy were all in Norway and in a wee coffee shop.
“Tommy Johnson was sitting with a cup of Coca Cola and John, the manager, took a drink of it to see if it was alcohol, which it wasn’t, but he kind of lost them straight away from pre-season.”
What a way to build relationships with players you have just met.
Clearly, Barnes didn’t have what it took to be a football manager.
You can have all the great tactical ideas in the world but if you cannot grasp the basic fundamentals of people management, you can forget a career as a football boss.
I just have to wonder though. Who exactly did the due diligence on that particular piece of recruitment?
I always loved Neil Lennon who is a true Celtic man.I hope the Celtic always show great respect. Your John Hail Hail
I actually thought John Barnes played great football, but if the players didn’t like him, and let’s face it, there were some big personalities in that dressing room in 1999, it was doomed from the start.
He started with a Brazil style 4-3-3 didn’t he..which at that time was quite controversial, although was basically designed to be set up for attacking, entertaining football.
Barnes was one of the greatest players in England in the early 90’s, and it was sad it never worked out for him at the Hoops. It was an insanely turbulent period at the club and was always going to be difficult, with a financially doped Rangers lording it over everyone, unfairly.
Barnes could have had a great managerial career in England, but was probably emotionally scarred by a nightmare season, which still haunts me, never mind him!