Club Career
Born in Manchester, Barnes made his debut for Manchester City (the team his father played for between 1950 and 1961) against Burnley on 12 October 1974. He scored in the 1976 League Cup final at the age of 18, as the "Sky Blues" beat Newcastle United 2–1. In the same year, he was voted Young Player of the Year by the Professional Footballers' Association. He had a successful five years under Tony Book, as City posted top ten finishes in the First Division in 1974–75 and 1975–76, before finishing second in the league in 1976–77, just one point behind champions Liverpool. City then finished fourth in 1977–78 and 15th in 1978–79.
Barnes was sold by new boss Malcolm Allison in 1979, and joined West Bromwich Albion for a fee of £748,000 – a club transfer record that was not broken until Kevin Kilbane broke the £1 million barrier over 18 years later. He finished as the club's leading scorer in 1979–80 with 15 goals. The "Baggies" finished fourth in 1980–81 under Ron Atkinson's stewardship. Barnes signed for Leeds United in 1981 for £750,000 plus £180,000 "tariffs". However Leeds manager Allan Clarke played him as a striker, and Barnes failed to adapt to his new role, scoring only one goal in 30 top-flight games as Leeds were relegated into the Second Division in 1981–82. Assistant manager Martin Wilkinson remarked that "We are not asking Peter to run his blood to water, but we do want to see him get a bit of a sweat occasionally." Barnes handed in a transfer request, and in February 1982 was given a £750 club fine following comments he made to newspapers. Clarke attempted to trade him to Nottingham Forest for Garry Birtles, and then to Manchester City for Trevor Francis, but was unsuccessful.
Barnes spent 1982–83 in La Liga with Real Betis, before returning to Elland Road for a run of 27 games and four goals in 1983–84. He was sold by Eddie Gray to Don Mackay's Coventry City for £50,000, and scored eight goals in 29 First Division games in 1984–85. Ron Atkinson subsequently signed him for Manchester United, where he was effectively an understudy to Danish winger Jesper Olsen. An unused substitute in the 1985 FA Charity Shield, he fell out of the first team picture in mid-November of the 1985–86 season, only returning to the starting eleven in October and November of the following campaign. His time at Old Trafford was limited after Atkinson was replaced as manager by Alex Ferguson. Barnes took to hiding in the communal bath waters in the dressing room to avoid Ferguson's famed 'hair-dryer' treatment.
He was transferred back to Manchester City in 1987, but soon fell out of favour and was loaned out to Bolton Wanderers, Port Vale and Wimbledon. After leaving Maine Road in 1988, he embarked on a remarkable tour of global football, playing a handful of games for Hull City, SC Farense (in two spells), Bolton Wanderers, Sunderland, Stockport County, Footscray JUST, Bury, Drogheda United, Tampa Bay Rowdies, Stafford Rangers, Northwich Victoria, Wrexham, Radcliffe Borough, Mossley, Hamrun Spartans, and Cliftonville. This took him to Portugal, Australia, Malta, the United States, and both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
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