Robert Barnes

Left Back - Free Agent
17 Mar 2036
Monday
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Overview Personal Contract News 4 Transfers Relations Events 25 Awards Matches History

Marked for Robert Barnes

474 Edition

The Watford Courier

27 Aug 2035
From our football correspondent Crisis

Market27 Aug 2035

Fraser Harper is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Watford is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad27 Aug 2035

Nathan Baxter in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Watford this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad27 Aug 2035

Words at Watford training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kwadwo Baah is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

Squad27 Aug 2035

Leo Farrell gets the move he always wanted

Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Leo Farrell has just signed for Watford, and for once the answer mattered.

Player ratings27 Aug 2035

Nobody could get near Kwadwo Baah

Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad27 Aug 2035

No hiding place for Nathan Baxter

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nathan Baxter, and the manager let it.

Match25 Aug 2035

Bournemouth take the points off Watford

Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

Market27 Aug 2035

The Anton Stach question follows Watford around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Anton Stach’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

Market27 Aug 2035

Watford pick up Leo Farrell for nothing

The best deals are the ones the accountants never notice. Leo Farrell arrives at Watford with his wages the only cost and something to prove the only clause.

In brief

Back issues
472 Edition

The Watford Courier

13 Aug 2035
From our football correspondent Steady

Player ratings13 Aug 2035

Nobody could get near Nestory Irankunda

Successful dribbles: 36. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Match11 Aug 2035

Cruel end for Bristol City as Watford pounce

There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Watford scored in the 92th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.

Market13 Aug 2035

Tobias Canale puts it in writing

“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Watford, and it is not being withdrawn.

Market13 Aug 2035

Alan Rivero has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Watford they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Boardroom13 Aug 2035

Watford to lose Tylon Smith for free

There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Tylon Smith has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.

Squad13 Aug 2035

Robert Barnes is a better footballer than he was

Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.

Squad13 Aug 2035

Anton Stach falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Match11 Aug 2035

Watford find a way past Bristol City

Bristol City made Watford work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.

The terraces13 Aug 2035

The crowd has taken to Timothy Mitchell

At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.

In brief

467 Edition

The Watford Courier

9 Jul 2035
From our football correspondent Steady

Market9 Jul 2035

Tobias Canale puts it in writing

“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Watford, and it is not being withdrawn.

Market9 Jul 2035

Leon Routh is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Watford is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad9 Jul 2035

Nathan Baxter signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Nathan Baxter and Watford agree another 2 years.

In brief

420 Edition

The Watford Courier

14 Aug 2034
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad14 Aug 2034

A knee injury of the worst kind for Edward Johnson

41 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Watford lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad14 Aug 2034

Pierre Dwomoh takes the match ball home

3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.

Market14 Aug 2034

Zavier Massiah-Edwards asks to leave Watford

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Player ratings14 Aug 2034

Jeremy Ngakia, 33, rolls back the years — 8.16

There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.16 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.

Player ratings14 Aug 2034

Nobody could get near Nestory Irankunda

Successful dribbles: 26. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Market14 Aug 2034

Zavier Massiah-Edwards is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Watford is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad14 Aug 2034

Watford lose Kwadwo Baah

14 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.

Squad14 Aug 2034

Tempers go at Watford

Nathan Baxter was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Match12 Aug 2034

Watford see off Chesterfield

Three points for Watford, 3‑2 the final word against Chesterfield in a contest settled by the finer margins.

In brief