Peter Barnes (footballer)

Peter Barnes

Personal information
Full name	Peter Simon Barnes
Date of birth	10 June 1957 (1957-06-10)
Place of birth	Manchester, England
Height	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Playing position	Forward
Youth career
1972–1974	Manchester City
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1974–1979	Manchester City	115	(15)
1979–1981	West Bromwich Albion	77	(23)
1981–1982	Leeds United	30	(1)
1982–1983	Real Betis	16	(1)
1983–1984	Leeds United	27	(4)
1984	→ Manchester United (loan)	0	(0)
1984–1985	Coventry City	18	(2)
1985–1987	Manchester United	20	(2)
1987	→ Ballymena United (loan)	1	(1)
1987–1988	Manchester City	8	(0)
1987	→ Bolton Wanderers (loan)	2	(0)
1987–1988	→ Port Vale (loan)	3	(0)
1988	→ Wimbledon (loan)	0	(0)
1988	Hull City	11	(0)
1988	SC Farense	1	(0)
1988–1989	Bolton Wanderers	3	(0)
1989	Sunderland	1	(0)
1989	→ Stockport County (loan)	0	(0)
1989	Footscray JUST	2	(0)
1989	Bury	0	(0)
1989	Drogheda United	?	(?)
1990	Tampa Bay Rowdies	11	(1)
1990	Stafford Rangers	5	(0)
1990	Northwich Victoria	7	(0)
1991	Wrexham	0	(0)
1991	Radcliffe Borough	?	(?)
1991	Mossley	8	(0)
1992	Hamrun Spartans	0	(0)
1992	SC Farense	0	(0)
1992–1993	Cliftonville	1	(0)
Total		367+	(50+)
National team
1976–1978	England U-21	9	(2)
1977–1982	England	22	(5)
Teams managed
1998	Gibraltar
1998	Runcorn
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Peter Simon Barnes (born 10 June 1957) is an English former international footballer, and the son of renowned coach and scout Ken Barnes. Peter is one of a rare breed to have played for both Manchester clubs while representing his country. A former Young Player of the Year who scored in a Wembley Cup final, he also played for Leeds United and was a record signing for West Bromwich Albion before becoming one of the UK's first imports to La Liga with Real Betis. In the latter part of his career, he joined clubs in the United States, Australia and Ireland.

Playing career

Born in Manchester, Barnes made his debut for Manchester City (the team his father played for between 1950 and 1961) in 1974–75, and scored in the 1976 League Cup final at the age of 18. In the same year, he was voted Young Player of the Year by the Professional Footballers' Association. Barnes was sold by Malcolm Allison in 1979, and joined West Bromwich Albion for a fee of £752,000 – a club transfer record that was not broken for nearly 20 years.

Barnes was Albion's leading scorer in 1979–80, but he struggled to emulate this form after signing for Leeds United in 1981. Leeds manager Allan Clarke played him as a striker, but Barnes failed to adapt to his new role, scoring only one goal. Barnes was a regular with England.

When Leeds were relegated in 1982 he was loaned to Spanish club Real Betis for a season, and returned to Leeds the following year. After 27 games and 4 goals in the Second Division, he was sold to Coventry City for £50,000, where he scored 8 goals in 29 games. Ron Atkinson subsequently signed him for Manchester United, where he was effectively an understudy to Danish winger Jesper Olsen. Barnes managed only 25 appearances during his two years at Manchester United, and scored 4 goals.

Atkinson was replaced as Manchester United manager by Alex Ferguson. Barnes and Ferguson famously clashed when in his first season at Old Trafford, Alex Ferguson went hunting for Barnes after a game, keen to give the former England winger a characteristic ear-bashing. Barnes was sitting in the home team's communal bath when he heard Ferguson on the war-path. Thinking quickly, he took a deep breath and ducked under the surface of the water, only surfacing when Ferguson had chuntered off, unable to find him . Barnes was soon transferred back to Manchester City in 1987, but soon fell out of favour and was loaned out to Bolton Wanderers and Port Vale. His league career petered out with brief spells at Hull City, Bolton again and Sunderland. He moved on to Tampa Bay Rowdies in the American Professional Soccer League and, after failing to persuade Bury he was worth a contract, drifted into non-league football with Mossley.

Post-retirement

After retiring from playing, Barnes had a spell managing Runcorn and has since worked behind the scenes at Manchester City and for local radio.

Since August 2010, he has been based in Kuala Lumpur, working as a Premier League pundit for Malaysian network, Astro and its thrice-weekly FourFourTwo TV programme.

External links

• Peter Barnes career stats at Soccerbase

Awards
Preceded by Mervyn Day	PFA Young Player of the Year 1976	Succeeded by Andy Gray