Digger to manage Tranmere

[Falconhoof]

BBC news item

 

Tranmere Rovers are yet to respond to reports in the Caribbean that John Barnes is to fill the managerial vacancy at Prenton Park.

 

The former Liverpool midfielder is favourite to succeed Ronnie Moore, after Barnes's seven-month contract as coach of Jamaica was not renewed.

 

Tranmere parted company with Moore on Friday after narrowly missing out on the League One play-offs last season.

 

So far there has been no comment from officials at the club.

 

Hmmm...Jamaica or Birkenhead, tough choice.

Seriously though, it would probably be a decent career move. Would be nice to see him back in domestic football and hopefully doing well.

[Nerik]

Read his biography and he impressed me with his understanding of the game and I always thought he'd make a good manager. He then went to Celtic and it went belly up for him. Wish him all the best.

[smithdown]

Great move by Tranmere

[Cam]

... impressed me with his understanding of the game and I always thought he'd make a good manager...

Completed negated by the rumoured appointment of McAteer as his assistant.

[Falconhoof]

Completed negated by the rumoured appointment of McAteer as his assistant.

 

who is a very popular lad and could be a great coach for all you know ?

[Magic8Ball]

Both Paul Ince and John Barnes moved up the management tree too fast and got to good appointments too soon. It's taken John a long time to get another decent start. Let's hope he does well there.

Maybe it will be an opportunity for our academy/youth players to move to tranmere on loan for more regular football ?

[Tommy Cockles]

Read his biography and he impressed me with his understanding of the game and I always thought he'd make a good manager. He then went to Celtic and it went belly up for him. Wish him all the best.

 

Wholeheartedly agree.

 

Had the good fortune to meet him on a train once, had a good chat he is a very nice bloke. Purple suit jacket & ripped jeans notwithstanding.

[surf]

All the best to him, i hope he does well.

[Hassony]

The coolest footballer ever

 

Hope he does well

[Earl Hafler]

Going to be officially named tomorrow, according to the man himself.

[RedMarauder]

Digger and Trigger

[mathewbet1]

Surley must be better manager than presenter. He was dog awful on 5.

[fabfive]

So which players wil we send on loan to them..

[Hassony]

So which players wil we send on loan to them..

 

Nemeth, Spearing and San Jose

 

Is there a limit of loan players from one team?

Edited June 16, 2009 by Hassony

[theredfella]

Made up for the pair of them, I think they'll do very well there.

[johngibo YPC]

We should make them play 4-2-3-1 and give them a fair few

I am bang into turning Tranmere into our feeder club

 

I wonder what the local Wirral lads think of all this (Armani to thread, Armani to thread)

[The Hitman]

Really hope it goes well for him.

F*cking love Digger.

Favourite ever player.

 

My ma's still mad at him for not sending a real autographed picture to me,rather than a photocopied one,when I wrote to him as a lad.

[Hassony]

Digger in the middle, weaving his spell, Jason Mcateer like a bat out of hell

[ali]

Kenny Dalglish: John Barnes deserved second chance quicker than decade he had to wait after Celtic job

 

Jun 21 2009 Exclusive by Mark Guidi

 

KENNY DALGLISH can't believe British clubs waited almost a decade before handing John Barnes the chance to wipe out the memory of his Celtic misery.

 

And he's sure the man he took to Parkhead will make up for lost time by leading Tranmere Rovers to success in League One.

 

Barnes was thrown in at the deep end for his first job in management when he took charge at Parkhead beside Dalglish in 1999. But he struggled and sank without trace when First Division Inverness sent the Hoops crashing out of the Scottish Cup just months later.

 

He had to wait eight years before landing his next job with Jamaica before finally returning to a club dugout last week.

 

But Dalglish reckons Barnes took far too much stick for his spell at Parkhead and claims he fully deserves this second chance.

 

And he insists things could have turned out differently at Parkhead had Henrik Larsson not been crocked just 13 games into Barnes' reign.

 

Dalglish said: "John deserves to be back in the game. Everyone deserves a second chance.

 

"John has good ideas and a solid knowledge of the game.

 

"The Tranmere players will enjoy working for him. He will get them playing good football, the way he had Celtic playing.

 

"Remember, John had Eyal Berkovic and Lubo Moravcik in the same side plus a front two of Larsson and Mark Viduka.

 

"Mark wanted to leave when we arrived but John got him onside. He was sold a year later to Leeds for nearly £7million.

 

"Mark missed having Henrik as a strike partner. The whole club missed him.

 

"Henrik broke his leg in October and never played an Old Firm game for John.

 

"He scored 12 goals for us before the leg break and John had won 12 out of 13 games.

 

"So we missed Henrik's goals.

 

The following season he scored 53 times for Martin O'Neill. I'm not saying he would have scored 53 goals in John's team but he would have been close.

 

"I was surprised it didn't work out for John at Celtic. He had a good No.2 in Eric Black and at another time it would have all worked out." Dalglish took over as caretaker boss following the Inverness debacle and led Celtic to League Cup success before making way for O'Neill in the summer.

 

He hasn't been in management since but has been linked with a role back at Liverpool under Rafa Benitez.

 

For now, though, he will keep an eye on how things go for Barnes and his No.2 Jason McAteer at Rovers.

 

Dalglish said: "For some reason John had always wanted to boss Tranmere.

 

"He's there now and will do well. He was in charge of Jamaica recently and had a good record.

 

"John's time out of the game hasn't been wasted. He was always in touch with what was going on at different levels.

 

"Tranmere weren't far off the play-offs last season so John has something to work with.

 

"They have a decent support and most people on Merseyside have a soft spot for them - like Partick Thistle in Glasgow.

 

"If he achieves success with Tranmere I don't think anyone will grudge him it.

 

"John will work hard to make sure this is just the beginning of a long spell in management."

 

http://www.sundaymail.co.uk/sport-news/sco...78057-21459545/

[Maldini]

He's done a very good job with Jamaica apparently. I wouldn't be too surprised to see a few of our kids go there. They've only 8 pros signed up for next season apparently so he'll have to be crafty in the transfer market.

[magneto]

Perfect opportunity for Rafa to test out his "Liverpool B" theory by loaning out a lot of players to Tranmere.