John Barnes call out Michael Manley
@Joshua
My parents knew John's parents, and from what they told me, it seems Colonel Ken Barnes was quite the JLP activist.
But his mother, Jean stayed in Jamaica, and became head of CPTC. Every time I went to CPTC to do some video recording work, Jean would call me in to her office to chat about my parents.
Jean was of course the daughter of the Marxist trade unionist Frank Hill, so support for Manley was in the maternal side of his family.
I got the impression the marriage broke down, otherwise Ken Barnes would have returned in 1980 when Seaga won. But he chose not to.
I'm not convinced that John's reminiscences are 100% accurate.
@mikesiva
What’s not accurate. Did Manley assign Ken Barnes to be a military attaché in the UK or not
He spoke later on about his mother involvement in government and how there was a sense of elitism from how they practised governance and even his own upbringing in Jamaica identified that there were aspects of elitism in how his family lived.
@Joshua
Saying Manley told Ken Barnes to leave Jamaica solely because Ken said his loyalty was to his country.
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/aug/21/john-barnes-my-family-values
That's different from what my parents told me. In little snippets, I must admit.
Back then, they weren't famous, so I wasn't that interested in what my parents said about Ken Barnes. But some small snippets stuck.
@mikesiva
Well Eddie went to his dad's funeral ">and gave a eulogy so your point about him being a JLP activist looks on point. So it is no surprise Manley asked him for his allegiance.
">The 70s must have been some scary time. Yet my late parents got married in 1974, mom from a strong PNP family and my dad a big JLP supporter.
@mikesiva
I'm not convinced that John's reminiscences are 100% accurate.
Agreed. In any event I think it was prudent for Joshua to play it safe by ensuring he had trustworthy people in such sensitive positions…
I still rate Barnes as one of the greatest to ever play the game - that will never change no matter how questionable is his recollection…
@FanAttick
Yep!
John Barnes: "">When Michael Manley became Jamaica’s prime minister in the 1970s, my dad was deputy head of the army. Manley was quite socialist and getting friendly with Cuba. My dad was asked where his allegiances lay. My dad said with the country. That wasn’t the right answer, and so he got sent to England for four years, as a military attache, to get my dad out of the way."
">I'm not convinced, however, that Manley sent Ken Barnes into "exile" because he chose Jamaica over Cuba, which is what John is implying. What I heard was a little more serious than that.
There were whispers at the time that certain senior JDF officers were involved in the trafficking of guns from the CIA to JLP gunmen during the 1970s. Whether that's true or not is another matter. But fingers were pointed in a certain direction, the suggestion being that certain officers should be encouraged to leave the country.
@nitro
On another footballing matter, John's memories of Jamaica seem to have faded somewhat....
John Barnes: "My first and lasting memory of England"> was of looking through the airplane window just before we landed at Heathrow in January 1976 and seeing a football pitch full of children my age (12) in kits with a referee. In Jamaica, we didn’t have organised football, so although it was freezing, when I saw that, I thought thank God I’m here!"
">The standard of football in Jamaica for schoolboys might not have been of a European level, but we DID have organised football! I remember in 1976, the year John flew to England, attending a Manning Cup final at the National Stadium, with John's cousin Norman Chutkan, between JC and KC, which was "organised" and massively well attended. Both sides had their own kits, and - surprise, surprise - they played with a referee! After the match, Norman took me to his grandfather's house, and introduced me to aging but still great Frank Hill.