Gordon Williams, Gleaner Writer
Barnes
Shortly after his appointment as Jamaica's senior football coach, John Barnes watched his first Reggae Boyz training session. A fight broke out.
That 'little dust-up', as he described the scuffle between players, drew national media attention. It also sparked speculation that all was not well in the camp, ahead of two critical World Cup qualifiers. Barnes wasn't worried.
"Those things happen all the time," he said days later, shrugging wide shoulders as he settled into a chair at his family's St Andrew home.
Applaud fighting spirit
Just weeks before he was scheduled to officially take over the team, Barnes would applaud the Boyz' fighting spirit in stunning 1-0 wins over Mexico and Honduras that kept the Jamaica's campaign alive.
It turned out the Jamaican-born former England international player has been in a few scraps of his own. He burst into laughter recalling one in particular, an under-13 practice game in the 1970s at Up Park Camp, where his father served as a military officer.
"Spanner sent me off!" said Barnes, who not long after that incident moved with his family to England where his storybook football career would take off. "I only pushed the guy."
"Spanner', long-time coach and current Jamaica Football Fede-ration (JFF) representative Carlton Dennis, was the game's referee more than 30 years ago. He remembered it differently.
"John was fighting," he said chuckling.
Barnes has waged many other battles over more than two dozen years of involvement in pro-fessional football. The stakes surrounding those were usually much higher than a youth game.
They included living up to his immense potential as a teenager who rose to shine for clubs like Watford and Liverpool and the pressure, despite some brilliant displays, to transform club form consistently to internationals.
Barnes also confronted racism in the country where he savoured his greatest successes. He is father of six children, divorced and remarried. Now, he's about to relocate to his homeland. The battle is getting hotter.
Desire for the job
Yet, no struggle could diminish Barnes's desire for the job in Jamaica. Barnes made his interest known to past and present JFF administrations. He wanted the job when Bora Milutinovic was hired in 2006 and again before René Simoes was brought back early this year.
So, when he got the call from JFF President Captain Horace Burrell hours after Simoes was fired, following a loss to Honduras last month, the team's second in a row which plunged Jamaica on the brink of World Cup elimination, it didn't take much to sway him.
Barnes asked to complete existing contracts, but did not talk about compensation.
"When (Burrell) offered it to me, there was no mention of a contract," Barnes said, "There was no mention of a salary ...
"But my view on football is that anytime you have an opportunity to get onto a football team, - whether as a player or a manager - there's an opportunity there for you to win a match, to show people what you can do."
Almost bare
Now, he must wait a bit longer.
Barnes was officially scheduled to take over on November 1. But Theodore Whitmore guided Jamaica past Mexico and Hon-duras. So, the JFF asked the interim coach to continue through the must-win Canada game on November 19, Jamaica's last CONCACAF semi-final round qualifying fixture. Barnes supported the move.
The cupboard containing Barnes's coaching accomplishments is almost bare. He was fired after 10 months with Scottish Premier League club Celtic in 2000, his only previous assignment.
He blamed his dismissal - after a record of 19 wins, eight losses, two draws and a 'Manager of the Month' award - largely on a claim he was never the popular choice and his best player, Swedish star Henrik Larsson, broke his leg.
But Barnes will not accept his thin coaching résumé as a drawback.
"Any footballer who has played under managers like Graham Taylor, Terry Venables, Bobby Robson, Kenny Dalglish, and has been involved with professional football at the highest level for 25 years, if you can't pick up a little about coaching, then you're not worth your salt as a footballer," he reasoned. "So, as much as I've only had 10 months coaching experience, I've had 25 years coaching experience at the very highest level."
That has not stopped debate in Jamaica over whether he should take over from Whitmore at all. If Jamaica advances after November 19, the talk is almost certain to intensify. Barnes will not duck the looming battle.
Simple formula
"I've been working in football to know the public's perception of the situation as it is," said the 44-year-old with a laugh, days before the announcement to extend Whitmore's tenure to the Canada game. "Obviously, if Jamaica beat Canada, regardless of whether we qualify or not - we still may beat Canada and not qualify - then that's a situation, because of what Theodore has done with them before. If we lose, it will then be my fault. That's the reality of it. You can't be afraid of that. You have to be well aware and be confident in what you can do."
He has a simple formula to woo the doubters: Win ... now.
As a player, he experienced plenty of that. A career of more than 750 club games, mostly for Watford and Liverpool, included over 150 goals that helped win several league and knockout titles.
His 79 caps and 12 goals for England between 1983 and 1995, including World Cup appearances, credit his drive for success.
Barnes's first real test will come in December's Digicel Caribbean Cup. Jamaica will seek to become football kings of the region and earn a place in next year's CONCACAF Gold Cup.
Club commitments will rule out most of the overseas-based players and he is hardly familiar with the local ones. Barnes plans to rely heavily on Whitmore.
But there will be little wiggle room for the new boss when he returns to Jamaica October 31.
The adventures of Simoes, a hero during Jamaica's 'Road To France' campaign, but criticised for the team's 2008 predicament, serves as a stark reminder.
But Barnes, who visited Jamaica frequently while living in England and understands the nation's thirst for instant success, refuses to let that burden him.
"Simoes had not been able to do what he did in '98," he said. "But I can't afford to focus on that. That doesn't interest me whatsoever."
Instead, he's trying to 'empower' his players, foster a good relation with them and staff, and instil belief and desire.
He admires the job Whitmore has done. The Boyz, he said, have shown "a lot of heart, a lot of spirit, lot of determination and they are willing to listen."
But Barnes makes it clear he will be in charge of matters on the field. Team selection and direction will be his domain.
Areas for improvement
Already he has noted areas for improvement. Barnes talks about molding Jamaicans' natural speed, strength and athleticism into a pattern that fits his players, not forcing them to adapt another country's style.
Two touches in the defensive two-thirds of the field and creative freedom in attack, he hinted. He seeks a midfield 'boss' capable of orchestrating the team's passing game to complement its quick, strong defenders and skilful attackers.
Barnes, a race car enthusiast, knows the model he wants.
"What we need to do, and it's not just in the (current) team, but it's always been the case, we have to be respectful and grateful for (France inter-national) Claude Makelele-type of players, players who aren't pretty," he explained. "Midfield players who are very simple, can get the ball and pass the ball simply, because we're always gonna have players with skill ...
"But I think our ball retention is not very good. We either attack and score or get a corner or lose the ball, or we defend with our lives. But in terms of our management of the game, dominating possession, outplaying teams, not just beating them because of our strength, is where we're not very good."
Discipline important
Barnes is no less interested in bolstering discipline. He insists finding talent in Jamaica is not a problem. Getting players to adapt to his system will be a greater challenge.
His contract expires in June and he wants an extension. So, there is little time for untested players. Battle-hardened but troubled veterans may be called up.
For Barnes, the big fight will be to get it all working in time. But he's seen plenty of those and, according to him, he's not worried.
Gordon Williams is a Jamaican journalist based in the United States.
