John Barnes keen to apply principals from his time at Liverpool and Watford to help Tranmere gain promotion

Jul 6 2009 by Nick Hilton, Liverpool Daily Post

JOHN BARNES aims to apply the ideas he took from two contrasting but successful football regimes at Liverpool and Watford to the task of guiding Tranmere through the forthcoming League One season.

The former England winger, fresh from a short and successful spell coaching the Jamaican national team, is one month into his first job in domestic club management since he left Celtic almost a decade ago.

He will be working with a trimmed down squad and under tight budgetary controls as Rovers grapple with the financial pressures caused by the recession and falling revenue through the gates.

But those constraints have not dampened Barnes’ enthusiasm for the job – or diminished his faith in the belief that lessons learned over 10 years at Anfield and under the guidance of Graham Taylor at Watford can be of value at Prenton Park.

Barnes said: “Of course we are not going to play football like Liverpool because we are not Liverpool. But we will be playing a passing game. We will try to keep the ball.

“I can’t see why teams in this division can’t control the ball, pass and keep the ball for 10 to 20 passes. There’s no reason why they can’t.

“Too many people put limitations on what other people can do – because they are their own limitations. They say: you can’t do that in this division.

“Well I will decide what the players can do and the players will decide what they can do. There’s no reason why we can’t do it if we believe we can. We have the quality to do it. We just need the belief.”

Barnes was among the most gifted players in a multi-talented Liverpool team between 1987 and 1997, under managers such as Kenny Dalglish, Graeme Souness and Roy Evans.

But in his early years at Watford, he experienced success in a team that climbed the divisions using more direct methods, utilising the brilliant organisational skills of Taylor.

Barnes said: “With Graham Taylor the structure he developed was more to do with the principle of every player understanding what was required of them for 90 minutes.

“The method may be different. We are not going to play the Watford-style football here. But the principle of every player understanding what he has to do is going to be the same.”

Barnes added: “We have good players here, don’t get me wrong. But we don’t have Cristiano Ronaldos. That does not mean we can’s compete and be successful. If you can organise your side and empower them, and play with spirit and desire and will, then you can be successful.

“That’s why I’m not unduly disturbed about the players we have lost. Our organisation, our structure, our desire and discipline are the elements we have to concentrate on.”

Barnes is upbeat about plans to make regular use of loan signings to bolster the numbers in his squad over the coming months.

Rovers are likely to go into the new campaign with fewer than 20 players signed up on a permanent basis.

During the summer they lost influential midfield players Steve Jennings and Antony Kay and defender Ben Chorley to offers from clubs with deeper pockets.

Striker Ian Moore signed a new two-year contract towards the end of last week and goalkeeper Danny Coyne and midfielder Charlie Barnett are expected to decide on contract offers over the coming days. Meanwhile former Liverpool and Hull City midfielder John Welsh and Alan Mahon, the ex-Tranmere midfielder released by Burnley this summer, are understood to be training with Barnes’ squad.

Barnes said: “We know the financial constraints we are under. I don’t think we are going to bring in as many players as we let go. That’s a fact of modern football life for a club like Tranmere. I am under no illusions there.

“We have lost three top players but we are not in a situation where we have the money from their wages to spend on new players coming in. That’s the reality. I understand the circumstances and I have to work under them. So while we are looking to bring players in, we are not going to sign that many.

“What we are trying to do is exercise the loan option because that will not cost us as much. Depending on which players they are and from which clubs they come from, then perhaps we might be helped out financially.”