Exclusive Warren Barton interview – Sir Bobby, Ruud Gullit, Eddie Howe and best ever 11 | OneFootball

Welcome to this exclusive interview with Warren Barton.

Our thanks to The Armchair Fan.

This lengthy Warren Barton interview has been split into three, with the first part having been published on Wednesday and the second part on Thursday.

An excellent read and our thanks again for all the hard work from The Armchair Fan in bringing this to The Mag.

Enjoy this third and final part below.

Over to The Armchair Fan…

This interview took place over Zoom on Wednesday 2 July, Warren currently lives in America as he is a broadcaster for Fox Sports.

In the three part interview, we began by talking about him signing for Newcastle United in 1995, before moving on to his time playing for the Toon under four different managers and his opinions on the current state of the club.

In 1998, we reached our first FA Cup final for twenty-four years. What do you remember about the build-up as well as the match itself?

It really reminds me of when Eddie’s team got to the final of the Carabao cup the first time around, it was a celebration of getting there. It had been so long, we kind of forgot what we were going there to do. It was against Arsenal and Arsene Wenger was just starting to make them successful. They’d already won the league and were going for the double. Anelka was sensational, something special. Wenger was building a midfield with Petit and Vieira. We were kind of being told to just go and enjoy it.

I was an Arsenal fan growing up and my first recollection of the cup finals was Arsenal playing against Ipswich, West Ham and Man United. I always wanted to play in a cup final, it was at the old Wembley and a lot of my family and friends were Arsenal fans. It was more of a celebration of just being there.

We did have a game plan in mind, Kenny played me in midfield to help Pistone out with the pace of Overmars, well, within sixteen minutes that was out of the window because he’d already scored and we were on the back foot. It was really disappointing. I’ve still got the medal, it’s stuck in a drawer somewhere. We never showed up. That’s why it reminded me of Eddie’s team, the first time around they were happy to be there but then when they went back, they went there to win it. As a boy, you want to play in cup finals but we never showed up on the day.

It’s safe to say we went into both the ‘98 and ‘99 FA Cup finals as huge underdogs. Were you as players still confident we had our name on the cup?

I think we realised we were playing a team going for the double and then a team going for the treble. With Ruud we didn’t have a particularly smooth changing room. We just got on with things. He left out myself and Shay Given who had played in every round and he didn’t even have the decency to tell us, like he didn’t with Alan Shearer when he dropped him for the derby game, so there were a lot of people just doing their own job.

When Roy Keane went off injured we thought we might have a chance but they stepped up a gear, Teddy Sheringham came on and we couldn’t handle his movement, we couldn’t handle the way they played really, which was a big disappointment. If we’d waited a year we would have been against Chelsea or Aston Villa and would have had every chance of winning it. It was just our bloody luck! We actually outplayed Chelsea at Wembley the next year in the semi-final but Gus Poyet had a knack of jumping up at the right time.

That’s a part of our story though, that’s what made winning this cup so special after seventy years. I think it was the right time and the right group of players. I left the club a long time ago but if there’s any group of players that deserve to win it, I think it is this group and manager. Since Sir Bobby leaving, Eddie is the closest we’ve had since.

Was Temuri Ketsbaia kicking the advertising hoardings after scoring the winning goal against Bolton, the most bizarre goal celebration you’ve ever seen, or did Tino top it by waving his shirt on the corner flag?

(laughs) With Tino, we knew what he was like!

Ketsbaia was a bit different.

I got on well with Temuri but he was like a volcano, he’d hold things in and would then just let it all out. I think the funniest thing was Pistone trying to stop him and he’s not the bravest so just thought to himself “I better leave this one alone!”, so yeah, I think that is the most bizarre I’ve ever seen. Maybe me kicking the mic over as well at Anfield, but when Temuri was trying to throw his boots in the crowd, there was a lot of passion, a lot of emotion. He came into the changing room afterwards and we had to let him cool down just a little bit (laughs).

What was Ruud Gullit like as a manager?

Tactically, he was phenomenal and very astute about the game. He had his own ideas and principles but at that level it’s eighty percent man-management, it’s about getting the best out of the players and understanding people.

Ruud was good to me, I played a lot of games for him, but then for no reason he’d just leave you out of a cup final. Because of where he’d been and what he’d done, he didn’t understand the football club. You can’t drop Alan Shearer against Sunderland, it’s not just a regional game. It’s not a normal football club and he couldn’t see that, I don’t think he’d even see that now because of his personality, he doesn’t think he’s done anything wrong. He didn’t get the football club.

Football-wise though to sit down and talk about things and as a person, he was fine. Even Shearer says that and he didn’t get on with him for quite some time. It was just the man-management side of things. The way he would treat people, you don’t do that at Newcastle. I remember we played at Elland Road, his shoes got dirty when he was doing an interview and he was wanting someone to clean them. I was captain at the time because Alan was injured and I said I’d do it, don’t ask the kit man or the masseur, we don’t do that here. That’s what he didn’t really get. He didn’t get the club. He definitely did get out of his office quick enough when Big Dunc and Alan were after him! (laughs). Straight on the first flight to Amsterdam!

Would Newcastle have been relegated had Ruud Gullit been in charge for the whole 99/00 season?

No, I don’t think so, I think as players we had pride. We had enough good players there. We had Alan Shearer, so there was always a chance, he’s always going to score goals.

What we had was a very divided changing room. Even some of the coaching staff didn’t agree with what he was doing but because he’s the manager you sort of have to go with it. I just think we had a lot of divide everywhere.

Sexy football? If that’s sexy I must have been doing it wrong for a long time because it wasn’t sexy getting beat every week (laughs). We had Gary Speed, Shay Given and enough good players to avoid relegation. What was really hard was the way he just pushed away and isolated good players and good people like Rob Lee, Stuart Pearce, John Barnes. That stuck in the throat as they were senior players. I’ve been at clubs where you have senior players who just care about themselves but these players were good people who cared about the football club and he should have understood that. These weren’t bad apples. I’ve been in changing rooms where there are bad apples and you do have to get rid of them because they can set the tone but these were good people, Dabizas as well. Whether they liked Ruud or not they still would have played well.

Look at the transition when Sir Bobby comes in and straight away we beat Sheffield Wednesday 8-0. We were rubbish for the first fifteen minutes because of the hangover from Ruud but as soon as we got the goal, the atmosphere changed.

Sir Bobby said to Alan Shearer. “why do you keep coming short for the ball?”

Shearer replied in no uncertain terms “Because that idiot told me to!”

Sir Bobby said; “I want you scoring goals, I want you facing the ball.”

He went on to score five times that game. Sir Bobby turned the club around in about forty-eight hours.

How did Sir Bobby Robson bring about such a dramatic improvement after a disastrous start to that campaign?

It was Bobby being Bobby.

We’d had a big team talk when he came in. He shook every single person’s hand. We had a lot of big personalities in our changing room and we were able to switch things back on.

Rob Lee came back in and Gary Speed wanted that. Alan Shearer was now focused and it was different when we played Sheffield Wednesday. Sir Bobby came in and said; “This is what I want, this is who we’re playing for and this is how we’re going to play. You’re going to do this.”

He didn’t complicate it, he didn’t over-embellish what the game might be like. The players were ready to be there and get behind each other. I was ready to welcome Rob and Nikos back in, they came in and transformed it. It was perfect timing and the way he was talking to people. He knew how to press the right buttons.

Which manager would you say you learned the most from in your career?

Sir Bobby, without a shadow of a doubt.

How he was with people, how he was with players, how he was with everybody. From the staff in the office, to the tea lady, to the people who parked his car. Everything about him, he was a gentleman.

He did have a side to him, don’t get me wrong, he got rid of me! He said ‘that’s it, your time’s up’ and I was off. As a football person and a human being, he ran that club from top to bottom, he’d get everyone aligned in what he was doing. He had such a way of speaking to someone that you’d do anything for him. If you were parking his car you’d go and get it cleaned as well because he was Sir Bobby. He was just a perfect person.

Which was the better team, Keegan’s mid-nineties entertainers or Sir Bobby’s of 2002?

The entertainers!

You’d be hard pressed to beat that team. As much as it was great what we did under Sir Bobby.

Kevin Gallagher came in, Kieron Dyer, Craig Bellamy, Jermain Jenas and Laurent Robert, all good players but Ginola was a cut above the rest, you had Peter Beardsley in there too. I have no doubt the nineties team would have won. Two great teams, I would have got in both of them as well (laughs).

If you had to choose a best XI of your career teammates (not just those from NUFC), who would be in your team?

I’d start with Shay Given in goal and then have four at the back:

Myself at right back, Tony Adams, Phillippe Albert and Stuart Pearce, he was phenomenal.

In midfield I’d have Gary (Speed) and Gazza (sorry Rob Lee, you’d have to be my first sub!) I’ve told him that before (laughs).

I’d have Ginola on the left and Nobby on the right, with Beardsley and Shearer through the middle.

No place for Les Ferdinand as I can’t leave out Peter or Alan. Actually, he’ll probably never speak to me again! To keep Les happy I’ll drop myself and play him at right back (laughs). That’s how much I love Les!

Do you feel Newcastle are capable of competing for the title over the coming season?

Yes, I don’t think we’ll win it but I think we can compete.

I think we need to add players and the ownership is now coming to the time where we are thankful for them, appreciate what they are doing, understand the fair play rules that only seem to apply to us, but I think the owners have got to back Eddie now.

We’ve had different sporting directors and people coming and going but I think we need to put our hand in our pocket now. We need to keep Isak happy, we need to keep Bruno happy. We’ve had a couple of conservative transfer windows and now we need to go again.

Look at what Liverpool are doing, Man City are doing. I think we need to do the same.

We appreciate what the owners have done – you’ve been great, now put your hand in your pocket, let’s go again. The owner said when we won the cup, “this is the first of many”, but I think it’s important to keep the current players happy. There’s been a lot of speculation and we don’t want to go back to being a selling club.

I’d get Isak signed up, make him the highest paid player and give him the number nine shirt, get Alan Shearer to present it to him on the pitch before the match and make a big show of it. This is a big transfer window – when we signed Tonali, it was a next level signing. They are the type of signings we need to be making.

Where did you watch last season’s Carabao Cup Final and how did you feel when the final whistle blew?

I was lucky enough to be invited by the club, so I was there at Wembley with Alan Shearer, John Beresford, Shola Ameobi, Steve Harper, Steven Taylor and Yohan Cabaye.

My old friend Bobby Moncur was sitting next to me crying, which was quite emotional.

Seeing Alan celebrate with his kids as well!

I was lucky enough to be there. I wasn’t looking at the players, I was looking at the people in the stands. I felt that was really satisfying, that was a great moment to see so many people celebrating. There were a lot of sore heads the next day, put it that way!

Do you think any of Newcastle’s current players would get into the entertainers team of the mid-nineties?

Yeah, Trippier at right back. Maybe Fabian Schar as well, I like him. Steve Howey when he was fit maybe would have kept Schar out but he had a lot of injury problems.

Other than that, I don’t think anyone else. Isak is a good player but he’s not going to be there in front of Les or Alan. If I’m being totally honest, I think Trippier is the only one, I think he’s a phenomenal player.

What is the proudest moment of your career?

I think being told twice “you’re too small, you’re not going to make it”, to then go on and be a record signing was a proud moment.

I think being told you’re not good enough and then going on to play for your country as well. Those are the things that spur you on.

I was told at Leyton Orient at sixteen that I was too small by the same guy who then asked years later for my England shirt, I think you know what the answer to that was!

I’ve played hundreds of games, played for my country and in an FA Cup Final. I’ve done ok. I’ve got two boys myself who are on the path. It’s not easy but it’s the best job in the world. There’s a lot of sacrifice and sometimes the odd kick in the teeth but it’s definitely worth it if you keep persevering.