Peter Barnes recalls emotional phone call with Tony Book

Peter Barnes says Tony Book was a hard taskmaster as a manager but showed him a softer side when his famous father died.

Barnes is the son of legendary 1956 FA Cup hero Ken Barnes, who played every game in the run to City's final victory over Birmingham City 3-1 at Wembley.

Much like Book, Barnes Senior continued his association with the Blues long after he retired from playing after 282 appearances and 19 goals, serving as chief scout for two decades, including during Book’s time at the helm managing both the first team and youth team.

Ken passed away in July 2010, aged 81, and the first person Peter heard from after the sad news of his dad’s passing was Book, who had given Barnes Junior his debut for City more than 35 years earlier.

“Tony is a lovely man as a person, a gentleman, very honest,” Peter said.

“He befriended my dad when he was alive. They’d go on holiday together so they were very close.

“And when I lost my dad in 2010, Tony was the first one to call me up crying on the phone when I’d just come out of Macclesfield General Hospital.

“He called me on the car phone and I just broke down, too.

“To have your boss ring you at such a difficult time meant an awful lot to me.

“He told me: ‘Your dad was a great man, he taught me everything about coaching and meant a lot to me’. To have him break down to me on the phone was very touching.”

Book gave Barnes Junior – a silky-smooth winger who had pace and grace – his debut as a 17-year-old, coming on for City at rivals Manchester United in a League Cup tie in October 1974.

It's a moment Barnes will never forget as he pays tribute to Book today on his 90th birthday.

“Tony was a massive influence on my career,” he continued.

“I remember coming through the club and I was in the reserves and Tony was captain.

“Not many players played up until the age of 40 but he was so fit that he could – and he was a terrific full-back.

“When I first signed for the club, Joe Mercer was the manager when I was a young apprentice at 15 but Tony was the manager who gave me my debut at 17 when we played Manchester United away in the League Cup game.

“I was on the bench and there was only one sub in those days! I came on for Mike Doyle.

“We got beaten 1-0. Gerry Daly scored a penalty, it was a lucky handball given against Jeff Clarke.

“It was Old Trafford, 55,000+, the noise was incredible, the atmosphere was electric.

“I couldn’t believe when I got the pull from the bench to come on. He looked at me and said ‘come on Pete, get warmed up, you’re coming on’.

“There were about 20 minutes to go. I’ll always remember the noise, your ears felt like they’d burst, it was that loud.

“I went out on the left wing. Mike Summerbee was on the right wing. I think I beat one or two and played Mike through on the edge of the box and he blazed it over the crossbar.

“It was such a great feeling to come on, especially in a derby with so many City fans there to support us that day. Can you think of a bigger game?”

If that was the beginning for Barnes, the pinnacle came in the 1976 League Cup final as Book led City to glory, becoming in the process the first man to win the trophy as both player and manager, as the Blues saw off Newcastle 2-1 with the flying winger scoring the first goal of the day in front of 100,000 fans at Wembley.

“We stayed at Champney’s Health Farm in the week leading up to the final,” Barnes recalled.

“Can you imagine that? Using the trees in the garden as posts.

“But I can remember the coach journey to Wembley. We saw so many blue and white flags and scarves, people driving down on the motorway in their cars and we pulled up at Wembley with those big old gates.

“Helen Turner was there with a scarf around her neck and with the big bell that she used to ring. She was there to give big Joe Corrigan his lucky heather before the game.

“The atmosphere was fantastic. To be in that tunnel before kick-off as you’re waiting to go out, it was sensational.

“There was myself, Ged Keegan, Kenny Clements, Paul Power in the squad – young lads who’d never been there before and it was wonderful to turn out for City, your boyhood team, in such a big game.

“It’s up there in my career – the only trophy I won as a player and to score the first goal of the game in the 11th minute was a great feeling and at the City end where all the fans were, it was unbelievable to greet the supporters behind the goal.

“Tony was the manager, of course. He was a very determined man. He trained us hard. He was a hard taskmaster. But he wanted you to do well – for yourself more than anything.

“He was forthright. He wanted you to play to your strengths. We had a good side then with Dennis Tueart and I on the wings, Colin Bell, Asa Hartford, Gary Owen – a good football team who obviously won the League Cup in 1976 and finished runners-up in the League in 1977 to Liverpool when we really should have won it that year.

“But he was all for playing attacking football. With Dennis and I on the wings, it was a 4-4-2 most weeks or a 4-3-3. He’d say ‘go and play your own game’ and ‘get at them!’.”