John Barnes’ spell at Celtic is one of the most infamous managerial appointments in the club’s history.
After failing to defend their league title under Josef Venglos, the left-field appointment of Barnes was coupled with the appointment of Kenny Dalglish as the club’s director of football.
Celtic legend Dalglish was available after a disappointing spell in charge of Newcastle, but earlier in that decade had won league titles in charge of Liverpool and Blackburn Rovers.
The pair oversaw a… questionable transfer window, which included the big-money signings of Rafael Scheidt and Eyal Berkovic.
But reflecting on the miserable season, Dalglish had a different angle to come from.
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Kenny Dalglish on Celtic under John Barnes
After a historic Scottish Cup defeat to Inverness, Barnes was dismissed after eight months in the Parkhead dugout.
Dalglish then took over as manager, leading the team to glory in the League Cup final against Aberdeen in March, but being let go at the end of the season regardless.
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Speaking on The Warm Up with William Hill, Dalglish reflected on the season, defending Barnes and hammering the then-Celtic players.
He said: “Digger (Barnes) had the second-best start of any Celtic manager at that time. They went up to Aberdeen in the first game and won 5-0.
“I didn’t know when to help him. I could have maybe helped him but I didn’t want him to feel like I was trying to undermine him. I think that was my mistake and my fault.
“But some of them in there, by the way, were disgraceful. Here’s an example, we are at home on the last day of the season against Dundee United and there were eight or nine boys making their debuts.
“Out of the players I worked with, I thought [Barnes] would have a good chance. He picked it up from Graham Taylor before he came to us so he must have some experience and knowledge of football.
“We looked good enough in pre-season to me and I thought it was an even money chance that he would be relatively successful.
“I didn’t regret not going back, I regretted not helping more than I could have. I was trying to do it with John’s best interests.
“When he left, I think they knew in that dressing room what they had done. If they had never, they got told that anyway. We won the League Cup by beating Aberdeen.
“I might have been the manager but it was mostly from the work that John did from getting us that far.”
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Celtic’s 1999-2000 season
Dalglish and Barnes were initially billed as the ‘dream team’ management duo, but the season turned out to be a nightmare.
A seismic moment in the campaign was undoubtedly Henrik Larsson’s horror leg-break in October, ruling him out for the remainder of the campaign.
This made Mark Viduka the main man of the season, but his refusal to play the second half of the Inverness defeat ended up being a contributing factor to Barnes’ sacking.
In the immediate aftermath of the season, Celtic appointed Martin O’Neill for the first time. It is quite incredible that he is once again leading the Celts 26 years later.
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