159 Quotes by John Barnes

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?

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.

I don't really eat biscuits.

I've never bought a pint of milk in my life.

No, I never drink beer. I've never had a pint of lager 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.

Racism is never personal - it's about someone saying the group I am part of is superior to the group you are part of.

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.

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.