As much as he enjoyed watching Liverpool Legends earn a 2-0 victory versus Celtic on Saturday afternoon, John Barnes admitted his days of taking to the pitch are long gone.
Last in action during a fixture of this nature a decade ago, shaping up against Legends of South African side Kaizer Chiefs in 2013, Barnes has since formed part of the Reds’ management team for friendlies supporting charity work.
Enjoying his place on the sidelines as opposed to being in the thick of the action at Anfield, the 59-year-old admitted after the full-time whistle he has no intention of putting on the famous Red shirt for future Legends contests.
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“The last game I played, I was probably around 47 or 48 years of age and these Legends games had just started. Fans turned up to support, but it got to the stage where they wanted to see a good game and tackles like you saw today,” he explained in his post-match press conference.
“Towards the end of when I played, it wasn’t as good or competitive as you saw here today. It’s right for the fans to turn up and support, but you also want to put a good game on. It’s great to have young players like Mark [Gonzalez]. I get tired walking up the stairs now, so looking at the game and wishing I was out there? No. I wish I was young enough to be out there, but not playing anymore.”
Barnes spent eight months in charge of Celtic at the start of his managerial career and was pleased to see supporters of the Scottish side turn out in numbers in aid of the vital charity work being done by both teams involved in Saturday’s showdown.
Asked if he relished getting one over on his former employers courtesy of goals from Steven Gerrard and Gonzalez, the two-time First Division winner responded: “Not at all. What it was nice to see was so many Celtic fans turning up for the cause. This is a Foundation [LFC] and the work of the Celtic Foundation in the community is apparent.
“Over 48,000 fans turned up here and Celtic had more than 5,000 fans here. Not only do they [Celtic] support their team, what they also do is support a good cause. This is really what this is about. It’s also good to see old friends: I had Paul Lambert as a player and I signed Stiliyan Petrov at Celtic.”
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