John Barnes on Facebook Live in exclusive interview with Tom Smithies

LIVERPOOL legend John Barnes has opened up on the current state of the Reds and both the good and the bad of football today. WATCH THE INTERVIEW.

Liverpool legend John Barnes

LIVERPOOL legend John Barnes is in Australia and he sat down to chat with The Daily Telegraph’s Tom Smithies about his career at the Reds, the Klopp revolution, the EPL and the state of the England team as well as his rapping career!

Read the interview below:

TS: I’m sure you watch the current side as closely as anyone — what have you made of the Jurgen Klopp era so far?

JB: Nothing but positive. Even last year, when he came, we didn’t finish in the top four but the fans supported him because they could see what he was trying to do. They could see the passion in him and they identified with him. Because of their support and trust, they’re reaping the benefits of it now because this season we’ve been fantastic.

We’ve gone away to Arsenal, away to Chelsea, beaten both and should have beaten Tottenham. We’ve still got a long way to go so we’re not getting carried away but we can see that the players respond to him. He is the man in control and players need to know they have a manager who has the final say. So we’re moving in the right direction.

TS: It’s entertaining just watching him, let alone his team. Is he the sort of coach you’d like to have played for?

JB: I ‘d like to have played for Liverpool no matter who the coach was, but you do like to see passion within the coach. As much as we talk of him being entertaining, he’s very wise and knows what he’s doing. He knows how to get results — I’m less concerned with whether he’s entertaining and more about the ability he has.

TS: Can he restore the aura of invincibility that the Liverpool teams you played in seemed to have?

JB: Football has changed — when I played, a lot of the teams had very strong characters, that’s the way it was back then. Now it’s about management and tactics, and the teams are a reflection of their manager. In the old days, the team wasn’t a reflection of the manager but of the club, started by Bill Shankly. Now managers have to instil their own stamp, so it’s difficult to compare. Now there are so many top teams with a lot of money being able to compete with Liverpool — in my time, one or two teams could compete, now there’s maybe five or six as good as each other.

TS: In fact it’s the other way round, isn’t it — how can Liverpool compete with the money of say Manchester City?

JB: They can compete with them on the field, they can’t off it, from a financial point of view. Leicester can’t either but they won the league. If you look at what’s happening in football — Portugal won the euros, Iceland did well. It’s not as simple as having the best players or most money. It’s more about the team, and about the managers being given the right and the authority and the respect to make decisions, that everyone abides by.

In some cases last year that didn’t happen — it did with Liverpool, and with Leicester which is why they won the league. But it didn’t with Manchester United and Louis van Gaal, he didn’t have the respect or the authority because the players and the fans undermined him. The same with Chelsea and Jose Mourinho, and Manchester City with Manuel Pellegrini.

Now with Guardiola, Mourinho (at United) and Conte, those managers have respect so the players will have to buck their ideas up and get into line.

TS: Some coaches say their job is now about survival.

JB: It’s difficult to be a coach because you have your underlings and the workers are more powerful than you. In the old days, Bob Paisley or Kenny Dalglish were the most important people at the club, they had all the power. Now players are more powerful than managers, and the managers get undermined as we saw last year. This year, with the quality of the managers in the Premier League, that has been redressed a little bit. For the majority though it’s a very difficult situation — you can’t manage the way you want, you just have to keep the players happy. Once, you had to keep the manager happy.

Liverpool great John Barnes in Sydney on Friday.

TS: You played with Craig Johnston of course — in a team of stars did he get the recognition he deserved?

JB: He got the recognition from his teammates, and from the people who matter. One of the biggest differences now is that as a footballer, we cannot help the perception that fans have of us. What we can do is affect the perception we have of each other.

What would happen now, if Craig Johnston was playing, is that if Liverpool won it would be because of Steven Gerrard or Luis Suarez, but if we lost it would be because of Craig Johnston. The fans have always been that way — maybe they felt that Kenny Dalglish or Ian Rush were more important. But Kenny Dalglish and Ian Rush didn’t feel that way — they recognised the qualities Craig had and the importance he brings to the team.

Craig got 100% recognition from his teammates, that’s the most important thing.

TS: That first season, the football Liverpool played — it must have been fun every week.

JB: Not just that season, the first three years were incredible because we felt we could do the double every year. It was fun, even when we didn’t win the league — we didn’t just look at the successes, the way we played for the first four years was incredible.

TS: Last year some of those teammates played against some veteran Socceroos — if Ian Rush could play, why not John Barnes?

JB: Ian Rush is very lucky — he can eat and drink what he likes and not put weight on, he’s still fit. John Barnes only has to look at a quarterpounder with cheese and he puts on a few pounds. I would have loved to have come — maybe next time I can get a bit fitter.

TS: In 1984, that goal you scored against Brazil — was it double-edged, in terms of the expectations it created?

JB: From the outside looking in, possibly — but from my point of view, would I have it any other way, would I rather not have done it? The advice I’d give to any youngsters is don’t believe the hype. I scored that goal against Brazil and people said I was the best in the world, then later they said I was the worst in the world.

You do what you do and try to do as well as you can. People expected me to do that every week, and I might play really well but not do that and they’d say I had a bad game. That’s life — I’m not affected by the way people see me, either negatively or positively. You take everything with a pinch of salt. That goal probably created expectations, but it is what it is.

John Barnes lets fly for Liverpool.

TS: By the end you had 79 caps for England, yet Bobby Robson called you the “greatest enigma” — there were a few other players in that boat too, like Glenn Hoddle, Matthew Le Tissier …

JB: Glenn Hoddle for me is technically the best English player ever. I was in the squad with him and he wasn’t playing all the time as there were people like Bryan Robson. English football back then, for the technical players like myself, Chris Waddle, Glenn Hoddle, was about effort and commitment, not skill. Now we’re trying to get into the more technical side like other European nations but back then it was always difficult to be appreciated. But that’s the way football was — we all want it both ways, we want to have 100 caps and be man of the match and get recognition. But Matthew Le Tissier only had a handful of caps for England. Now he’d be one of the first names on the teamsheet.

TS: In 1986, you came on as a sub and almost changed the game when England lost to Argentina at the World Cup …

JB: After that game, people said I should have been on from the start — as much as every player wants to be on from the start, you cannot change history. Had I played from the start, I might have fallen over, been rubbish and been substituted.

I’m not a big believer in talking about what should have happened, I was just glad to get on. Here was the World Cup passing me by, because I hadn’t been on the pitch. We’re losing 2-0 to Argentina and Bobby Robson says, Get changed, you’re going on. I was just happy to get on the pitch, particularly against Argentina with in my opinion the greatest player in the world, Diego Maradona.

TS: That’s big of you to say that, in the context of that game (when Maradona scored with his hand).

JB: No context whatsoever. If Gary Lineker had handballed to score and we’d won, would I not like Gary Lineker? The issue we have is with the referee for not seeing it. We’ve seen other players try to score with their hands, I don’t think morally we can be on our high horse. Things happen — if the referee had seen it and disallowed it, we’d have no problem with Maradona, so we shouldn’t now.

John Barnes in action for England.

TS: What do you make of Sam Allardyce as England coach?

JB: I like the fact it’s an English manager, therefore Sam is the best available. It’s a sad indictment on the lack of managers we have to be given an opportunity. If you wanted an Englishman it had to be Eddie Howe, Sam or Alan Pardew, which shows that English managers don’t get a chance in the Premier League.

Look at what Chris Coleman has done with Wales, despite losing five or six games at the start — they stuck with him, believed in him. Sam is going to have a very difficult time, because we don’t have as good players as we had in the past. When we had Gerrard, Lampard, Ferdinand in their prime, playing in the Champions League, we couldn’t get past the (World Cup) quarterfinals.

Now we’ve got Dele Alli, John Stones, Eric Dier and Harry Kane who have been around for one year and done nothing. So why should we be winning the euros? We do have good potential, that we have to be careful with, ie not praise too much before they’ve done anything, and not be too hard on them when they fail.

We have to look at the next World Cup in two years, and not put pressure on these guys if they don’t win a couple of games. If these guys develop, we have a good chance of improving. But it’s an indictment again on the fact that we have maybe 30% of players in the Premier League to choose from.

The strength of the Premier League comes from the foreign players, so for people to say that England should be strong because the Premier League is strong, that’s crazy. So Sam has a big job ahead, and we have to stick with him.

TS: Finally, the rapping — you did the Anfield Rap, and the one in World in Motion. Even your Wikipedia page calls you a footballer and rapper!

JB: Like I say to the young players — don’t believe the hype! It was a fun couple of days, because we had a bit to drink while we made the World in Motion song, we had Gazza and Keith Allen and the New Order boys. But that’s three days of my 18-year career ...

John Barnes was speaking to promote Liverpool’s partnership with Alcatel, the club’s official smartphone provider in Australia and New Zealand.