Peter Barnes

Manchester City

Teenage years: 1972–1977

Born in Manchester, Barnes graduated from Chorlton High School and represented Manchester Boys. He began his playing career at Manchester City after becoming an apprentice at the club in July 1972. He had seven trials with Leeds United, whose manager, Don Revie, was a friend and former teammate to his father. Johnny Hart, a backroom staff member at Manchester City, had been told that Barnes was about to sign with Leeds on schoolboy forms and so intervened to get Barnes a place as a schoolboy with City. He turned professional at the age of 17 and made his first-team debut in the Manchester derby on 9 October 1974, coming on for Glyn Pardoe in a 1–0 defeat to Manchester United at Old Trafford in the League Cup. Manager Tony Book surmised that: "the handful of things which Peter did were carried out properly and effectively". Barnes made his First Division debut four days later, following an injury to Rodney Marsh, starting in a 2–1 defeat at Burnley. He made his Maine Road debut the following week, standing in for the injured Dennis Tueart in a 1–0 win over Luton Town, and missed an easy chance to score a goal after "spooning a ball from Bell over the top from less than 6 yards (5.5 m) with the entire goal gaping". He scored his first career goal on 19 March 1975, converting a knee-high volley in a 2–1 loss to Carlisle United; this was his only goal from five appearances in the 1974–75 season. Barnes had to wait…

Barnes was selected by Ken Burton for the England youth team in the Atlantic International Tournament in the Canary Islands in January 1975 and played all three matches against Poland, West Germany and Las Palmas; England won the tournament and it was reported that his "juggling skills had the Canary Islanders raving". He was selected for the 1975 UEFA European Under-18 Championship in Switzerland, having played in the first leg of the qualification tie with Spain. He played in the three group matches against Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland and Switzerland, and scored the only goal of the match against the Republic. England overcame Hungary in the semi-finals and won the tournament with Ray Wilkins scoring the only goal of the final against Finland at the Wankdorf Stadium. Barnes made his debut for the England under-21 team as a substitute in a 0–0 draw with Wales in December 1976, coming on as a 70th-minute substitute for David Fairclough. He started the next seven England under-21 matches, scoring his first goal against Norway in Bergen on 1 June 1977; he won praise from journalists as the outstanding player in the match. The victory over Norway helped England to qualify from their group at the 1978 UEFA European Under-21 Championship, and he played in both legs of England's quarter-final victory over Italy, making his last appearance for the under-21s on 2 May 1978 in a 1–1 draw with Yugoslavia in the semi-finals; Yugoslavia won the tie 3–2 on aggregate. Barnes made…

Barnes was naturally left-footed but was able to play with either foot. His main strengths were his pace, dribbling ability and crossing. Don Revie assessed his style by saying: "He is very quick and well balanced and what impresses me as much as anything is the way he takes on defenders. The usual pattern nowadays is for a winger to draw his defender. This boy takes the ball up to them – makes them commit themselves and is brave enough to take anybody on". Barnes was described as a rare "all out attacking" winger by Manchester United defender Jimmy Nicholl.

Barnes' father, Ken also played football for Manchester City, winning the FA Cup in 1956, and later worked as the club's chief scout. Ken and Jean Barnes had a total of five children: daughters Susan and Diane and sons Keith, Peter and Michael. Keith had a month-long trial at Manchester United, and Michael represented England at schoolboy level, though neither became professional footballers. Barnes married Alison Garrathy on 10 September 1980. He withdrew from the England squad to play against Norway to get married. They have two daughters: Eloise and Jessica. The marriage ended in divorce in the 1990s; and Alison took the children to live in Italy. Barnes wrote a column in Shoot magazine for a short time starting in October 1978 and also lent his name to a football training aid. After his playing career finished, he was invited by Steve Fleet to coach community groups at Manchester City. He was given a part-time job managing Conference club Runcorn mid-way through the 1995–96 season and asked Mike Lester to assist him. He was sacked after a new chairman took control of the club in March 1996. Barnes went on to take jobs selling insurance and mortgages. He was a pub manager at Manchester City's Social Club for six months and then spent seven years working for a firm that sold AstroTurf pitches and five years at a company that cleared contaminated land. He also worked as an analyst for Key 103 Radio and BBC Radio Manchester. Jason Dasey hired Barnes as a Premier League…