Top 113 Quotes & Sayings by John Barnes
Explore popular quotes and sayings by John Barnes.
Last updated on December 3, 2024.
I don't really eat biscuits.
People have been taught not just to have a negative perception of black people, but to have a belief in the superiority of white people. Their behaviour is the result of centuries of indoctrination.
As much as footballers want to talk about how terrible it is for them, look at what's happening in the black community of kids without an education and who haven't got jobs.
I'm a real meat eater.
If every racist who came to football was silenced, football stadiums would still be full of racists. Racism is everywhere in our society, it is inside every one of us.
What I say about myself, black footballers or black pop stars is that we have been 'elevated out of blackness.' Because when people see us, they don't see us as being black. These are the issues that we should address.
I'm quite laid-back but some people say I'm unemotional. I don't get carried away with success and similarly I don't get depressed when something bad happens. I didn't take it personally when rival fans threw banana skins at me when I was playing for Liverpool. I can't control 50,000 idiots shouting at me, so why would it bother me?
My mother, Jeanne, was a TV and radio presenter in Jamaica. Bob Marley used to appear on her shows all the time and so she knew him quite well.
For a long time, images of black men with big lips and a round head were used to make us feel inferior, but it doesn't need to be like that, we don't need to self'loathe. We can change the narrative.
I give balanced, constructive views and what happens is that bits and pieces of what I say are used against me.
The truth is that those at the top of British football do not care about getting rid of racism, they just don't want to hear it or see it.
I was a real fast food junkie - KFC, McDonald's - but all the training kept it off.
Yes, I went through overt racism as a footballer in the 80s and early 90s but that was, or is, nothing compared to what the average black person in the inner cities of England goes through every day.
Young English managers don't get enough time, young black managers aren't given enough time, there are a lot of reasons why.
The simple fact is there are no laws you can pass to stop people racially abusing black footballers. So the solution is to come up with something that doesn't make people want to abuse black footballers in the first place.
We are the first on the frontline to go into countries to liberate people in the name of freedom - that's what we've claimed. And now, all of a sudden, they need our help and we turn them away. Yet the rest of Europe stands ready to help. Why are we the first to jump ship?
As I've been saying for decades, as long as racism exists in society, it will exist in all facets of society. Until we eradicate it from society, football will be like any other industry.
Yes, you have people shouting racist abuse and throwing bananas on the field, and there are issues regarding the number of black coaches and managers in the game, but which other industry allows a young black boy the exact same opportunity as a young white boy?
Generally speaking, ego isn't a good thing. Humility is the most important quality in a human being.
While we have to take personal responsibility for our actions, I have a great deal of empathy for people who are unconsciously racially biased, and indeed count myself among their number.
Football is a socialist sport. Financially, some may receive more rewards than others but, from a footballing perspective, for 90 minutes, regardless of whether you are Lionel Messi or the substitute right-back for Argentina, you are all working to the same end.
I used to go to the school plays my kids were in, and who were the angels at Christmas time? The blonde, blue-eyed girls. Who was Mary? And the shepherds were all the black and Indian kids in the background.
In the 1970s you would have had lots of black goalkeepers and defensive midfield players but never made it professionally because the perception was, 'You don't think too much, you can't play in positions of responsibility so you play on the wing or up front.' Lots were lost to the game because of the perception.
No, I never drink beer. I've never had a pint of lager in my life.
The fight against racial bias in society will not be won by hounding Liam Neeson or boycotting his films. It will be won by allowing honest discussions about why people hold biased views and exposing the flawed logic behind them.
I grew up in a middle-class family in Jamaica, I had no self-worth issues whatsoever.
The teams which embrace the socialist ideology rather than having superstars, are the teams that are successful. Or if there are superstars they don't perceive themselves to be that. That's why I use Messi as an example. As much as he's a superstar he respects his team-mates and their collective efforts.
We should be the first to help disadvantaged people. What would happen if other countries decided to follow our example?
Policing language and even legislating against certain behaviours will only go so far to address the pervasive problem of racial bias. To get at the root cause we must have open, honest and sometimes painful conversations.
Yes, my clothes don't reflect my personality at all. Because I'm a very straightforward and serious person. My clothes are much flasher than I am. Yeh. Yeh, yeh. It's a good contrast. I don't think your clothes should reflect your personality... keep people on their toes.
Mass migration and the refugee crisis is one of the biggest problems facing the world. In this country we assume that everyone just wants to come to the U.K. - but it's an issue in Germany, Greece, Sweden, all across the E.U. Why should we be the first to turn our backs on the problem?
The only fight worth fighting is to give all children equal opportunities regardless of race or gender, to judge individuals on their qualities and not their backgrounds. The victory won't come when nobody feels able to voice racist abuse, but when nobody thinks of doing so in the first place.
Before we are footballers or fans, we are ordinary members of society. We are doctors, lawyers, milkmen, postmen, unemployed people, students... So why are they called racist football fans? Are they just racist for the 90 minutes of a match, when the other six days a week they're not?
I think Hazard influences the team so much that anywhere he goes you have to give him the ball.
You love football because of the game, not because of some idiot who is going to shout at your from across the street.
I used to think you had to be very selfish, but as I get older my views on life change.
I've never bought a pint of milk in my life.
There are so many intelligent former black players, guys like Luther Blissett and Cyrille Regis, who never got a chance to become a top manager or a top coach because of the perception that surrounds people who look like them. They are black - which, for many, means they are good athletes but incapable of being anything above and beyond that.
My dad was a proper old English gentleman, even though he was from the Caribbean. He used to stand up and salute during the Queen's Christmas speech.
We all have preconceptions of people based on what we have been told about them and their race and ethnicity.
There is a misconception over whether black ex-players can make successful managers.
History shows that black people have been second-class citizens, less than human. That's what had to happen with slavery. You had to dehumanise a person, to say, 'He is not like us. He is used to hard work in the sun. He can handle being whipped because he doesn't feel any pain. He doesn't need to be educated.'
I remember when I was 13 or 14 friends coming over and my father telling them the benefits of joining the army. But he knew that army life wasn't for me. I was a little bit too laid back and lackadaisical and ill-disciplined.
I would have loved to have been Henry VIII; I would have been big and fat and no one would have cared.
I got racist abuse at Liverpool when I played for Watford. Then I played for Liverpool and didn't get it. If I had played for Everton against Liverpool then maybe the Liverpool fans would have racially abused me.
My dad came from Trinidad to Jamaica when he was 19. He had to go to Jamaica to join the British regiment, where it was based. After Sandhurst, he returned to the Caribbean as a junior lieutenant, based in Jamaica. He met my mum and became a Jamaican citizen.
I think Liverpool, when Coutinho left, they were a much better team.
African society and culture varies much more than European society but it's just considered 'Africa' as if they are all the same.
When you score a goal by dribbling you don't remember it because it is instinctive.
Most people would accept that we are, to a certain extent, products of our environment.
A white manager loses his job and gets another job, he loses his job, he gets another job. Very few black managers can lose their job and get another job.
Racism is never personal - it's about someone saying the group I am part of is superior to the group you are part of.
I'm quite unfit. It's the motivation that's the problem, I need a goal. When I was a professional footballer I trained every day because I had to.
Very much like a disease, we have to tackle the cause of racism, not the symptoms.
Football can do nothing about getting rid of racism. Society can.
Britain has always told the world that being British is about the humanity, compassion and moral fortitude that we have. All great things that we are supposed to have spread across the world. A leave vote now says that we don't really care about anyone else, we don't care what happens to the European Union.
For most footballers, they just have to give their all for 90 minutes two times a week, and apart from a few training sessions spend the rest of the time resting. They only train intensively for six weeks before the new season.
From the perspective of what happened with Celtic people might argue that I didn't have the experience for another big job but I don't think my experience with Celtic explains why I couldn't get a job in the fourth division.
Talking about what any one section of our society has to do to combat racism just stops people outside that group asking difficult questions of themselves. We keep looking at symptoms and not treating the cause.
I come from a very political and military family.
