Out of His Skin: The John Barnes Phenomenon [Paperback]

Dave Hill tackles one of football's greates demons, racism. Taking John Barnes' transfer to Liverpool in the late 1980s as a starting point, he explores attitudes of fans, players, officials and others in a fascinating and well-researched account. Barnes was not involved in the book, and it is from an outsider's perspective. The tales of Liverpool and Everton's history and the attitudes of their fans are disturbing and challenging. Although at the end of the book (1989), Barnes is an accepted and much-admired Liverpool player, the conclusions are hardly uniformly positive. Hill outlines how racist attitudes remained and how they were not tackled, giving a penetrating insight into British footballing history. This revised edition (2001) provides only a new introduction; the main text is unaltered. It would be interesting to read a follow-up book covering the 1990s, taking into account the effects of the high profile Let's Kick Racism Out Of Football campaign, begun in 1993.

This is a remarkable book about one of the most remarkable footballers in modern football. A footballer who lets face it, inspired many black and Asian kids to not only get into football but also to go and watch the game themselves. This book is essentially a biography of John Barnes, a winger who played for one of the most dominant Liverpool teams to ever grace football. If anyone is in any doubt about this player just get a dvd of those years and watch him play and you will see it is no exaggeration he was the closest you could ever see on an English football pitch to the silky skills of the Brazilians.

This book is not just about the man its about something more which is what created the controversy. If it was just your normal run of the mill football book that is produced now on a near production line (Remember the Rooney one when he had barely played a couple of seasons?) Then nobody would have been bothered however, this book covers the racism (Now conveniently forgotten) That was all too prominent in football especially with the Merseyside clubs of Liverpool and Everton.

Hill, the author begins his story with giving some background to both Liverpool the city and the 2 clubs that reside within it. Its almost ironic that though Everton with their long history of racism had a black footballer playing for them long before Gayle ever played for Liverpool. The author then goes on to cover Gayles limited time with Liverpool (Probably the only black Liverpool born player to ever, and I mean ever play for the club (Now compare that with even Manchester 30 miles down the road!)) How the racism he suffered was not just from his own fans and opposing fans but also from the club itself. One of the most controversial parts of this book and what caused the most outrage from Liverpool fans was that the author directly quoted a conversation he had with Liverpool legend Tommy Smith. Now without going into detail having read this book, Smith a man I once admired I now have nothing but contempt for and regard as nothing more than the most vile of racist scum. Read pages 90 - 92 to see what I am talking about. The man is racist scum of the earth.

The book covers the life of Barnes at the club, the racism he suffered and also the reaction of the club to the racism. It is complete with pictures (You can see from one picture the racist graffiti that once graced the walls of the Kop (White power, NF, Liverpool is white etc) So any delusions you may have of Liverpool being the cozy family club will be very quickly blown away.

There are many stories about when Barnes arrived at Liverpool. Everton football club for example suddenly experiencing a rise in ticket sales from Liverpool fans who couldn't stand to support a team with a black player. How Everton would proudly sing "We are the only white team in England" How Everton refused to buy a black British footballer (Therefore it became something of a standard joke that they had to go all the way to Nigeria to find a black player willing to play for them (Amokachi)) Even today you only have to walk around Liverpool to see that non white kids all support Liverpool and you can count non white Everton fans almost on one hand (A legacy of Barnes) Even if kids today are completely unaware as to why this is the case, its a direct result of the actions of both clubs in the 90s.

This is a controversial book and Liverpool supporters may find this very uncomfortable reading but maybe its time you read a little more into your history rather than the sugar coated one fed to you.