The Guardian (2010)
If Henrik Larsson hadn’t broken his leg?, Lyon 1-0 Celtic, Uefa Cup, 21/10/1999
It’s a good job Britain isn’t a borderline racist country, or we’d be seriously moved to question why John Barnes didn’t get another management job for almost a decade after leaving Celtic. Yes, he was ultimately a failure in Scotland, but being a failed British manager is surely the basis for inclusion rather than ostracism. And, unlike so many of his peers who ballsed up from start to increasingly inevitable, finish, Barnes was viciously unlucky when Henrik Larsson – the best player in Scotland, followed by a ridiculous amount of daylight – broke his leg in a Uefa Cup tie in Lyon. As Larsson’s leg snapped grotesquely at 45 degrees, so Celtic’s season did a 180. As the table below shows, their form with and without him was not so much hot and cold as volcanic and Antarctic.
………………..Played..Won..Drawn..Lost…For…Against..Win %age..Loss %age..Goals/game..Goals conceded/game
Before injury…..13……12…….0……..1……42……….3………….92…………8……………..3.23…………………0.23
After injury……..16…….7…….2……..7…….33……..22…………44………..44……………..2.06………………….1.4
Celtic were not just winning with Larsson; they were dismantling teams with some gloriously aesthetic football. Indeed, five days before that Lyon match they had eviscerated Aberdeen 7-0 – and been berated by Barnes for their sloppy passing. (In one of the great forgotten hexes, Celtic beat Aberdeen 5-0, 7-0, 6-0 and 5-1 in their four league meetings that season.) It is easy to say that a side should not be so dependent on one player, and that’s a valid point, but Larsson was so superior as to make that a simple fact of life. In six seasons between 1998 and his departure in 2004, Larsson was the league’s top scorer in five; 1999-2000 was the exception that ruled against Barnes. In the following season, Martin O’Neill’s first at the club, Larsson scored 53 goals as Celtic won a treble. Barnes might have let things unravel anyway; or, with Larsson fit and firing, he rather than O’Neill might have been the man who knocked Rangers off their perch.
Dalglish defends Parkhead slump
Wednesday, November 10, 1999 Published at 12:11 GMT
BBC
John Barnes (centre): Under fire after poor results
Kenny Dalglish has pleaded with the Parkhead faithful to give himself and head coach John Barnes more time to turn the club around.
On Sunday, Cetlic were defeated by Rangers at Ibrox, a result that followed a Uefa Cup exit to Lyon and a dismal home league defeat to a Motherwell side reduced to 10 men before half-time.
Those results have prompted criticism of both Barnes’ tactics and Director of Football Dalglish’s own contribution as an often silent partner in the much-vaunted double act who joined the club in the summer.
Now Dalglish has opted to speak out in defence of Barnes and has pleaded with the irate fans to be patient.
In Celtic’s official club newspaper ‘Celtic View’, Dalglish is quoted as saying: “I don’t think it’s the right time for a knee-jerk reaction. There is no-one on the football staff who doesn’t feel as disappointed as the fans do.
“I think people ought to remember what we said at the outset – it’s not a here today, gone tomorrow thing. Success is not going to be there at the turn of a key.
“Eventually the fans will have what they want to see. There is no point in feeling sorry for ourselves, we just have to roll our sleeves up and work even harder.”
Dalglish has been angered by the criticism directed at his appointment of Barnes whose rigid 4-2-2-2 formation has led several observers to query whether he has the experience for the task.
“If anyone can guarantee a system that’s going to work in every game and every minute of every match then we’ll do it. The players are 100% committed and everyone is in it together,” Dalglish said.
“John is new to the job, but that doesn’t mean he cannot do the job. I’ve seen him handle the players, I’ve seen him talk to them. You speak to any of them and they’ll tell you the dressing room spirit is great.”
Football: Barnes: Don’t blame me for Celts slip.
30 Oct 1999
CELTIC coach John Barnes last night hit back at critics who insist the club are lagging behind Rangers due to his inexperience.
The 35-year-old saw his side fail to go top after losing 1-0 at home to 10-man Motherwell on Wednesday.
He’s been stung by criticism that his well-publicised intention to use the same formation in every game has given rivals an advantage.
Barnes said: “I’m inexperienced because this is my first job. Therefore I’m being scrutinised for everything I do. Alex Ferguson lost 5-0 and 3-1 recently but the fact he’s done everything in the past means people aren’t going to question him.
“But I lost a game and everything I do is going to be questioned.
“People look at me and say it’s naivete. That’s why we lost at Dundee United and why we’ve lost to Motherwell.
“Of course, there has to be a reason but what do you say to someone who has been a manager for 20-odd years and has those results? That can’t be naivete.”
Barnes admitted changes would be made today at Kilmarnock but he stressed it wouldn’t be because of the sub-standard display in midweek.
He said: “If I made any changes based on performances alone I’d need to make 11 because I can’t think of anyone who played well in the last game.”
COPYRIGHT 1999 Scottish Daily Record & Sunday
Celtic chief plans ‘full review’ (BBC) 9 Feb 00
Celtic are “urgently addressing” the club’s position amid calls for coach John Barnes to be sacked after their Scottish Cup defeat by Inverness Caledonian Thistle. Chief executive Allan MacDonald has described the 3-1 embarrassment at Parkhead as “totally unacceptable to myself, my fellow directors and simply not good enough for the Celtic support”.
In a statement, he said: “I am addressing this situation as a matter of urgency with our Director of Football Kenny Dalglish, who is returning this evening from club business overseas. “The situation will be fully reviewed immediately on his return.” Angry fans protested outside the ground after the defeat and called for Barnes to be fired.
Shares slump
The result marked the biggest Scottish Cup shock in more than 30 years of football and hit the club financially. Celtic’s shares dropped by four-and-a-half per cent when trading opened on Wednesday morning, wiping £3m off its value. Barnes, he former Liverpool idol who took up the head coach job at the start of the season, is now facing louder calls for his resignation.
The anticipated Celtic renaissance under the dream-team of Kenny Dalglish as director of football and Barnes, albeit an inexperienced choice of coach, has failed to materialise. Worse still for the Parkhead fans, Rangers are marching away in the Premier League and look set to lift this year’s title.
‘Internal problem’
During the post-match inquest, Barnes put a brave face on his position and insisted he would not resign. But he hinted at a half-time bust-up with players and also admitted that what happens over the next few days may not be within his control.
The Tuesday night match saw Mark Viduka replaced at the interval, despite being the Parkhead club’s leading scorer, and Ian Wright came on in his place before Paul Sheerin’s 57th-minute penalty sealed a famous win. When asked why Viduka was withdrawn, Barnes said: “We had a bit of problem which we will deal with internally. “In the coming days we will have more to say about that. “There was a situation so there is no real point hiding that fact.
Meetings planned
“It will all come out in the next few days. I don’t want to say very much now. “I want to focus on what a disappointing performance this was overall.
“It was a serious situation and there will be meetings about it in the coming days. After that we’ll issue a statement.” Viduka has emerged as Celtic’s most influential player since Henrik Larsson broke his leg and the Australian striker has already been linked with a possible move to either England or Spain. Barnes went on: “To be honest if the situation does not improve by the end of the season, I won’t have to consider my situation, it will be done for me.
‘Magnitude of disaster’
“Right now however I’m not considering my position because I still feel we have a lot to play for, even so I’m not belittling the magnitude of this disaster.” Former Celtic manager Billy McNeill believes John Barnes can survive, his long-term future was by no means certain.
“I for one will not be calling for the managers head because I think that continuity is much better than regular changes,” said McNeill, who is still a legend among the Celtic support as a member of the famous “Lisbon Lions” who won the European Cup in 1967. “Certainly John Barnes is going to need an awful lot of confidence in his own ability to get over this one. He’s got to go back through the process of proving himself very strenuously to the Celtic supporters that he’s the man for the job,” said McNeill.
And he blamed the lack of commitment of some of the multi-million pound imports at Parkhead, players who he said lack the passion to play for the club: “I am old fashioned and I think Celtic need a core of players who know what the club is all about, understand the background and the makeup of the club and really feel proud to be playing for them.” Bob Crampsey, who wrote the club’s centenary history, said: “I think it’s the worst Celtic result ever without a doubt. What was surprising was not the defeat but the ease with which the defeat was accomplished, and the margin.”
“There are over 50 players on the Celtic books and I think it’s yet another indication of the amount of dead wood there is on the books at Parkhead at the moment.
Barnes sacked as Dalglish holds the fort
Football Unlimited staff guardian.co.uk, Thursday 10 February 2000 17.57 GMT
John Barnes has been sacked as manager of Celtic. Barnes, along with assistant coach Eric Black, has had his contract at the club terminated. Terry McDermott will leave Parkhead by mutual agreement. Director of football Kenny Dalglish will take temporary charge of first team affairs.
At a press conference held this afternoon to announce Barnes’ departure, Dalglish defended his protege’s tenure. “John Barnes is an admirable fellow and someone I think will go on in later years to establish himself as very successful in managing a football club,” he said. “Unfortunately it won’t be at Celtic Football Club.”
Dalglish was also strong in his support for McDermott, who had been the subject of some criticism in the press and labelled with the tag of Celtic’s ‘social manager’. “For people to suggest he was a social manager is an absolute joke. Terry worked hard for the club and received tremendous respect from all the players.”
However, Dalglish reserved his most passionate words for the Celtic players. Claiming they shared an equal responsibility with the coaching staff for the club’s current plight, Dalglish said: “The supporters demand that the players who wear the shirt wear it with pride. We want players who are totally committed. If they aren’t they don’t deserve to be here. We can accept bad results and performances but we can never accept anything less than 100% commitment.”
Barnes’ dismissal will not come as any surprise. His position has looked untenable since Celtic’s shock 3-1 home defeat at the hands of Inverness Caledonian Thistle on Tuesday night, but rumbles of discontent have been echoing around Celtic Park almost ever since Barnes’ appointment as manager last July.
There have been disputes over Barnes’ tactics, over his coaching qualifications, and more recently over the standard of player he brought to the club: Eyal Berkovic, Olivier Tebily and Stilian Petrov are three of the big-money buys who have failed to impress the Parkhead faithful.
The club have given no indication as to how long it will take to find Barnes’ permanent successo, chief executive Allan MacDonald insisting, “we won’t sacrifice quality for speed.”
Expectation is the enemy of Barnes
By Glenn Moore
Saturday, 4 December 1999
(Independent)
It was finally official. Scotland’s crisis club had “an emergency situation”. However, the solution was not the sacking of John Barnes, the coach, nor the resignation of Kenny Dalglish, the football operations officer, but the evacuation of Celtic Park.
The irony was delicious. The assembled media, having heard from Barnes – but not the players, who had refused to attend a planned publicity launch – were waiting for Dalglish and Allan MacDonald, the chief executive, to deliver a vote of confidence in the coach. Then the public address emitted a sound like an air-raid warning following by a request: “An emergency situation has arisen in the stadium. Please leave by the nearest exit in an orderly fashion.”
Very suspicious, but off we trooped to wait in the car park along with a shivering youth team in freezing temperatures. Several fire engines duly arrived before, just as the snow began to fall, the doors re-opened and Dalglish and MacDonald made their appeal for time.
Time, as Barnes observed in his recent autobiography, is a luxury managers do not have, but even he may be surprised at the pressure building on him after just six months at Celtic Park. For Barnes, who won everything English football had to offer, including 79 international caps, is finding life more difficult in a Scottish dug-out.
The problems began for the 36-year-old on 21 October when Celtic lost at Lyon in the Uefa Cup and, more seriously, Henrik Larsson suffered an injury which is likely to keep him out for the season. Though he scored 35 out of their 99 goals last season, Larsson is more than just a goalscorer to Celtic. He is involved in the build-up play in a way that his replacement, Ian Wright, is never going to be and, more than that, is, according to one observer, the presiding “deity of Celtic Park”.
A series of defeats, including a 4-2 loss to Rangers, intensified the mood and Wednesday’s League Cup victory over Dundee has not eased the pressure, although Celtic won despite having only 10 men. Instead the papers are full of talk of revolts after several players openly criticised the sale of Craig Burley.
Yesterday’s regular press conference was, admitted Barnes himself, “an inquest” into the transfer, the mood and the results. On the surface he was as relaxed as ever, leaning back in his chair and making quips in seductive Jamaican burr. But, behind the smile, he was watchful and defensive. The words came more slowly than usual, each weighed for the damage they might do if turned against him, and for the message they sent out to players and bosses.
“It was a fantastic performance but the players have not received the credit they deserved because the papers have been dominated by other things,” he said. “The response to [Burley’s sale] from certain players has not been as good as I would have liked. Players have responsibility to conduct themselves in the right manner and I am disappointed, but I will not hold it against them. I won’t be dropping anyone.”
Burley’s move was partly precipitated by his desire to play in a different manner to the holding midfield position Barnes had ascribed to him. That, and the reaction of his team-mates, illustrated a point Barnes made in his book about player power. Yesterday he admitted: “You can’t manage the way managers used to. Football has changed and you have to change with the times.”
This cannot be easy for Barnes, a man of stronger opinions than his relaxed manner would suggest. Brought up by a father who placed great emphasis on discipline, he is most influenced, in management style, by the similarly strict Graham Taylor.
Barnes’ footballing philosophy is radically different to Taylor’s old long ball game, but there is a link in his espousal of what he calls a team’s DNA, a structure which functions regardless of personnel.
His ideal is 4-2-2-2 as practised by France and Brazil. Unfortunately Celtic do not possess players like Lillian Turham and Bixente Lizarazu, or Cafu and Roberto Carlos. Instead they have Stephane Mahe and Jackie McNamara. As a result the team became too narrow in their play, with the middle pairing, Eyal Berkovic and Lubo Moravcik, getting in each other’s way.
Barnes has now changed to the more conventional 3-5-2, though whether it was his decision, or forced upon him by the players, is a matter of dispute. The ball is also being moved forward more positively; previously the play reflected Barnes’ obsession with “the sanctity of passing”.
The opportunity to coach Celtic was, he admitted, “a real shock” and his arrival, on a three-year £1.5m contract, was greeted with scepticism. He understood why.
“I was an untried, untested commodity and turning round Celtic represented a huge task,” he said. “I understood the misgivings of those who argued the job should have gone to an older, better known manager. But I have never lacked confidence in my ability.”
Does he now wish he had more experience? There is a very long pause before he replies: “I am hesitating because you can always say you wish you had more experience. As a player at 17 you could wish you had played in World Cups. I want to do well. I don’t necessarily need more experience. Experience means you might deal with the press and players in different ways, but whether you are competent to do the job is a different thing.
“When I took the job I thought: ‘If things go well and I win every game this is going to happen. If things don’t go so well this will happen.’ I’m not going to say I expected this situation because I didn’t want it to happen but I knew if we went through a dodgy patch it would.
“I don’t know how big a job it is. Maybe we will turn it around after the Dundee game and carry on winning. I would like to wait until the end of the season and say this is what I need. At the moment I don’t think we are too far away.”
Celtic have won everything the Scottish game has to offer, many times. But, of their 77 major trophies, including the European Cup, only four have come this decade as Rangers have dominated the Scottish game. While they picked up nine successive titles Celtic were flirting with bankruptcy, undergoing an economic regeneration and chewing up managers. Barnes is the seventh this decade. Thus yesterday’s appeal for calm and a long-term perspective.
Barnes is under immense pressure from outside but, as Charlie Nicholas pointed out recently, the last thing Celtic need is another manager. Besides, it would be a huge admission of error.
Even the plummeting value of the share price may be withstood; there is no majority shareholder. With resolute will on all sides, Barnes, who has interesting ideas on the game, could be a success, but to do that he has eventually to eclipse Rangers. The learning curve is steep. As one Celtic fan said: “They have the former manager of the Netherlands and PSV Eindhoven, we have a YTS trainee.”
The alarm yesterday was provoked by a faulty smoke detector. As with the crisis it appeared there was smoke without fire. Not yet.
The Scotsman
30 November 1999: ‘John Barnes is the trouble in Paradise’
YOUTH and inexperience will never be added to the list of humankind’s deadly sins, but, in the matter of co-ordinating the operation at a major football club floundering despairingly in the wake of its bitterest rivals, they can be serious character flaws.
Whatever allowances may be made for the raw naivete of Celtic’s head coach John Barnes during his novitiate, it is becoming increasingly difficult to escape the conclusion that his appointment was the result of extremely poor judgment.
But Barnes is merely the tip of the veritable iceberg of cronyism which has formed at Celtic Park in the short time – is it really only five months? – since Allan MacDonald succeeded Fergus McCann as chief executive. This is an imposing structure, running from MacDonald through the director of football, Kenny Dalglish, to the head coach, Barnes, to “entertainments officer” Terry McDermott and goalkeeping coach Terry Gennoe.
If Barnes, after a period yielding five defeats from eight games and culminating in the embarrassment of Motherwell on Sunday night, is perceived by supporters and many in the media as a blight at Parkhead, its source should be regarded as even more damaging.
At a club of the magnitude and ambitions of Celtic, it will surely strike most of their fans and considerable shareholders as unacceptable to have the chief executive call an old friend and offer him the job of director of football; for the latter then to phone another old pal and make him head coach; and so on down the chain of command.
When Dalglish and Barnes were moved into position, the idea that they were some kind of “dream team” eagerly awaited by a rapturous support was a piece of media-led ballyhoo. I have yet to meet a Celtic supporter – and many colleagues have related a similar experience – who did not have deep misgivings.
These were based largely on Dalglish’s experience at Blackburn and Newcastle and on Barnes’s total lack of it. Dalglish justified his appointment of his former protege and team-mate at Liverpool by insisting that he had revolutionary ideas on how the game should be played and that he would prove to be the brightest new star in the firmament.
Barnes may be discovering (given his apparent imperviousness to suggestions or constructive criticism, this is not certain) that being ahead of your time is often as irrelevant as being behind the times; success tends to be achieved by exceptional people of their time. When the original Universal Man himself, Leonardo da Vinci, proposed that humans one day would fly, it was a marvellous notion which anticipated later developments in aeronautics; but it was not of its day, as even Renaissance Italy had not the technology to make it operable. Leonardo was celebrated for the work which appealed to 15th-16th century art connoisseurs.
Similarly, Barnes’s ideas on “how the game should be played” seem out of kilter with both the players at his disposal and the modus operandi of opponents who keep beating his team. In fairness to the head coach, it is understood that he was probably not responsible for some of the players who have been recruited during his term.
It is said at Parkhead that Oliver Tebily, Bobby Petta and Stilian Petrov, none of whom has exactly captured the affection of the club’s followers, were brought to Celtic by Dalglish, part of whose remit includes scouting for fresh “talent”. Indeed, it seems that the only new signing with Barnes’s fingerprints upon him is Eyal Berkovic. Even if that is the case, there have been assurances from Dalglish that Barnes has complete autonomy in the business of ultimately approving signings, training, tactics and team selection. So far, his adroitness in most of these areas has been questionable.
Petrov arrived at Celtic to something of a press fanfare, a “teenage sensation” who was supposedly the most outstanding young player in Bulgaria. Whatever talent he may possess has been well concealed; to the extent, indeed, that nobody, including the player himself, appears to know which position he plays.
While experience has shown us the wisdom of not making hurried judgments, there are certain players whose unlikely brilliance can be sensed. A Dutchman who has been allowed to play with Ipswich in Nationwide Division 1 without attracting the interest of a Premiership club is a prime example. Nothing Petta has shown since his arrival in Glasgow has left us looking foolish.
Tebily, like Petrov, was at the heart of Sunday’s ineptitude at Fir Park and has also been involved in most of the other defeats which offer evidence that the new management team at Celtic have made a difficult job look easy. That is, they have succeeded in reversing the progress of recent years by inducing deterioration. The rate at which they have gone backwards, of course, has been exaggerated by the simultaneous improvement of Rangers under Dick Advocaat.
Tebily has pace, strength, athleticism and willingness, but certainly lacks astuteness and concentration in defence and it is doubtful if he will acquire these essential qualities. He may have potential, but, like the head coach himself, he has no business serving his apprenticeship at Celtic.
Barnes does not help his own image with an affected smartness which impresses as mere pseudo-intelligence, accompanied by the supercilious posturing once favoured by the “boxer”, Chris Eubank (anyone who knows anything about the fight game will recall that he wasn’t very good, either).
Whenever Barnes answers a pre- or post-match question with one of his own, it is clearly intended somehow to highlight the inferior knowledge or competence of the interrogator.
Instead, he succeeds simply in making himself appear infantile and implausible, his replies at times as unfathomable as the spiel of an old-time, travelling snake oil salesman.
In essence, Barnes, like his team, tends to lack substance. You can’t buy that on the market and nobody at Celtic has the time to wait for it to develop.
June 1999
Barnes loses the plot further, shows ignorance & forgets welcome, whilst black trio collect all Awards at Celtic Park “Where A Man Is Judged By Football Alone”
By Liam Kelly 11 June, 2020 No Comments
The Celtic Star reported on John Barnes’ ridiculous claims yesterday, as the former Celtic boss undermined the seriousness of genuine racist issues, by trying to attribute his failings in Glasgow to an unconscious bias due to his skin colour.
Those comments were responded to in depth. However, today, Barnes makes an even more delusional claim which undoes his entire argument. Just what his agenda seems to be is unclear, or perhaps he has a fetish for being the victim instead of actually helping people who suffer racism for real.
Firstly, here is an image of John Barnes being greeted by hundreds of Celtic fans at the front entrance to Celtic Park. There doesn’t appear to be any unconscious bias against him here. If we’re all racist, why did we turn up to support our black manager?
Celtic fans welcoming John Barnes in 1999. While agreeing with his point that there are far too few black managers in the game, his statements yesterday that his colour was a factor in Celtic dismissing him without giving him longer to prove himself is nonsense. pic.twitter.com/tIJF6d1czd
— Lisbon Lion (@tirnaog09) June 11, 2020
Barnes had stated that our unconscious bias, due to his skin colour, caused the Celtic support to turn on him quicker than white managers. That was addressed in yesterday’s article. However, today, a Celtic fan told him that this is untrue as he loved Efe Ambrose, who was less than excellent as a footballer, and he too is black. Therefore, he is not racist because he likes a black Celtic man, who didn’t do a good job. Barnes’ response is absolutely astonishing.
So why did u love him? And if he played for rangers would you love him? So u don’t love HIM you love the person who played for Celtic who happens to be Efe ambrose! https://t.co/g1DsxnKgwx
— John Barnes (@officialbarnesy) June 11, 2020
So what Barnes is saying here is that when Celtic fans didn’t rate him as a manager, it was about him as a person, because he was black. Yet, when Celtic fans like a black player, it’s not about him as a person, it’s just because he’s a Celtic player. I’m not even sure that warrants a response. It’s absolutely incredibly delusional thinking and twisting things to play the victim. Either we like and dislike footballers as footballers, or as people, you can’t choose which idea suits your false racist claims.
Barnes delved into greater delusion, by saying that our adoration of Henrik Larsson wouldn’t exist if he was a bad footballer and missed a penalty to hand Rangers the title. Well, that’s exactly the point! Our adoration or dislike of players and managers is based on football alone, not their skin colour. Barnes literally proves the point there!
Yes because Larson was a Celtic hero and legend. If he was crap for Celtic and missed a penalty against rangers to win rangers the title wud you have been happy for him to win the champs league with Barca.. ?? https://t.co/8NvmqiOxgr
— John Barnes (@officialbarnesy) June 11, 2020
And he would be hilighted and criticised more than the **** white players who will also get criticised I And I could mention blac players at other clubs who have experienced that but then I’d get a load frm THOSE fans who’d say OUR CLUB isn’t racially biased and we’d start again https://t.co/ofRVItnLam
— John Barnes (@officialbarnesy) June 11, 2020
When this was pointed out, Barnes went on to state that the black failure would be highlighted more than a white failure. This is complete and utter nonsense. Samaras was often the whipping boy and others such as Forrest divide opinion. They’re both white. Efe Ambrose was a failure as a player at Celtic, yet he was well liked. So that ends that nonsense, perhaps we must now conclude Celtic fans are anti-white because Samaras was criticised more than Ambrose.
To compound one’s losing of the plot, Barnes attempted to suggest that racism is against black managers rather than players. I thought racists disliked people of a certain race regardless, I didn’t know it was possible to like black players but hate black managers, just because they’re black. Barnsey you’ve lost the plot!
There is no argument that black PLAYERS are accepted in every club.. send me a list of black MANAGERS who have been at clubs for longer than 2 seasons… yes maybe Keith curle and 1 or 2 others… that’s equality right? https://t.co/d3v0UKINsA
— John Barnes (@officialbarnesy) June 11, 2020
On another note, Barnes seems to claim that this racism is a result of centuries of oppression and slavery. So unconsciously, without helping it, white Celtic fans and all white people have been conditioned to think as a racist. Very ignorant sterotype, ironically enough. Perhaps Barnes should look at the history of Ireland, the Glasgow Irish and Celtic Football Club. He would find that the Irish were made slaves, they were downtrodden as were the Glasgow Irish and thus Celtic Football Club was formed to support that impoverished community. However, we don’t claim every person is inherently anti-Irish or anti-Catholic.
John Barnes also cites sectarianism as an issue, suggesting we think differently of someone who is different to us, because we’ve been conditioned to do so. This comment is highly ignorant. It blindly follows the mantra that because those of Irish Catholic extraction face hatred and prejudice from some sections of Protestant people, we must hate Protestants. This is akin to saying that black people suffering from racism, must also be racist against white people when they protest against the way they’ve been treated.
Celtic Football Club has been inclusive since the beginning. I could reference the annual anti-discrimination tournaments the Green Brigade holds or the refugees welcome flags, the love Celtic hate racism merchandise etc. But instead, I think this quote from Willie Maley silences Barnes’ disgraceful remarks best: “We have always been a cosmopolitan club since our second year, and we have included in our list of players a Swede, a Jew and a Mohammedan. Much has been made in certain quarters about our religion, but for forty-eight years we have played a mixed team, and some of the greatest Celts we have had did not agree with us in our religious beliefs, although we have never at any time hidden what these are. Men of the type of McNair, Hay, Lyon, Buchan, Cringan, the Thomsons, or Paterson soon found out that broadmindedness which is the real stamp of the good Christian existed to its fullest at Celtic Park, where a man was judged by his football alone.”
If Barnes wishes to contest this by referring to Irish Rebel songs on the terraces, he is again found wanting. Not only do these songs contain no sectarian lyrics, but the ideology of Irish Republicanism was based on achieving an independent United Ireland. The Catholic population in the North of Ireland had basic civil rights denied and when the NICRA marches were attacked and people burnt out of their homes, the decision was made to use arms to defend the community and to achieve freedom. Whether one agrees with the tactics or the use of arms is a different matter, but it was not based on a hatred of Protestants or any religious matter. Just as black people standing up to racism, is not based on a hatred of white people.
So Barnes is highly stereotypical, ill informed and ignorant. Everything he accuses others of incidentally!
To conclude, it’s worth pointing out that our unconscious bias has led to the following three footballers being voted to lift the awards listed below:
Jeremie Frimpong – Young Player Of The Year
Odsonne Edouard – Player Of The Year
Olivier Ntcham – Goal Of The Season
All three are black. I hope Celtic take action against Barnes for his disgusting remarks and the damage he is doing to anti-racist campaigners around the world.