Barnes backs Platini cash fears

Former Liverpool and England winger John Barnes has backed UEFA president Michel Platini in his criticism of the influence of money in the modern game.

Platini has written to the heads of state of every European country to ask for governmental support against “the malign and ever-present influence of money” in the the sport.

The former France star also revealed in his letter that he feared the game was coming to a stage where lining the coffers was becoming more important than filling trophy cabinets.

And Barnes, who was part of the dominant Liverpool side of the late 1980s, agrees that it is a problem.

Barnes said: “It’s a slightly different game now. The financial men might tell you something different and say ’if it’s making a profit, it’s a success’, but as a football man I don’t necessarily think that way.

“Football should be about winning and if it means making a slightly smaller profit because of salaries or transfers then so be it.

“Money doesn’t guarantee success – look at the (Real Madrid) ’Galacticos’ of a few years back.

“But you need a successful team to make money.

“You can go without it for a short time through marketing but after a while it falls down because you’ve got nothing to back it up.”

Barnes has also joined the growing chorus of experts who support Platini’s proposals to award domestic cup winners a Champions League berth.

“He (Platini) wants football to be a game for everyone, from top to bottom.

“His ideas for the European Cup are great, it means instead of having Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea every year you’ve got someone else.

“It brings football back to the people.”

Barnes, now 43, played for England between 1983 and 1995 and was part of the side who lost 2-1 to Argentina in the 1986 World Cup quarter-final.

That game has become one of the most memorable in tournament history thanks to Diego Maradona’s ’hand of God’ goal, followed by his scintillating second - considered to be one of the best efforts in history.

A recreation of that match, featuring a host of players from the original encounter, including Barnes, is taking place at Villa Park on October 14.

But while Barnes vividly remembers the first match, he believes the organisation of such competitions these days mean it is a time that will be hard to revisit in the foreseeable future.

“Modern World Cups aren’t like that anymore. The game has moved on,” he said.

“You look at that Argentina match and half of the stadium was in white and cheering England and the other half was in blue and cheering for Argentina.

“You look at the pictures and there’s all the ticker tape. You don’t get that now.”

He continued: “World Cups are played in places that aren’t really football places and the interest isn’t there. You see lots of empty seats.

“I remember going to Scotland’s first game in 1998 (against Brazil in France) - a great game – and there were lots of empty spaces.”

Reflecting on England’s chances of avenging their defeat in Mexico when the sides meet again, Barnes said: “For me, Maradona is probably still the greatest player of all time. And almost every time someone mentions Maradona they bring up that game.

“Winning won’t mean the same because then it was a World Cup semi-final at stake and they went on to win it, but a small measure of revenge would be good so it would be nice to win.”