Glenn Roeder's attempts to sign a half-decent left back were, it seemed, doomed to failure. If I had a cup of tea for every time I'd been asked "When are we going to sign a left back, then?", I'd be dying for a wee by now. We'd signed two of them (Barnes and Ludden) but they were both permanently injured. The fact that Barnes was a virtually automatic selection during three seasons, yet only played seventeen times for us says it all about his injury problems - his run of five consecutive games in February/March 1996 was the best he managed. When he did play, he was pure class - experienced enough to anticipate situations, skillful enough to deal with them effectively. In other words, he was an old-fashioned left back - capable of going forward, but at his best in defence.