Whenever Watford cross swords with Liverpool, it evokes memories of John Barnes' illustrious contributions to both clubs.
The legendary former England winger made his name at the Hornets in the early 1980s as they rose to prominence under Graham Taylor.
Born and initially raised in Jamaica, the son of a military officer from Trinidad, Barnes moved to London with his family when he was 12 years old.
He joined Watford from non-league Sudbury Court at the age of 17 in 1981 and was quickly parachuted into the first-team at Vicarage Road.
Over the next six years, Barnes made 296 appearances for the Hornets, scoring 85 goals.
Along with fellow winger Nigel Callaghan, Barnes supplied strikers Ross Jenkins and Luther Blissett brilliantly.
Watford won promotion to the top flight in Barnes’ first season and beat Manchester United on their way to a League Cup quarter-final too.
In 1982/83, Watford's first ever season of top-flight football, they stunned everyone by finishing second behind Liverpool and Barnes was a pivotal figure with 10 league goals and numerous assists.
He is universally regarded as the best black player to have represented England and his goal against Brazil in the Maracana in 1984 remains iconic.
Barnes described the slaloming effort which saw him dribble through the Brazil defence to score as an “out of body experience”, which summed up how special it was.
When Kenny Dalglish took him to Anfield for £900,000 in 1987 it proved to be one of the shrewdest pieces of business in Liverpool’s history.
Already a top team, Barnes made them better and in his first season Liverpool were crowned champions with a style and panache that made “Kenny’s boys of ‘88” one of the most-loved sides in the club’s history.
English clubs were been banned from Europe at the time but that Liverpool side would surely have been a match for the continent's best.
John Aldridge stepped up following Ian Rush's brief departure and the signings of Peter Beardsley and Ray Houghton added a new dimension.
Yet Barnes was largely unstoppable and, in addition to collecting a league title winner’s medal in his debut campaign at Anfield, he also picked up the PFA and FWA awards.
The two-time Footballer of the Year served Liverpool with distinction for a decade - scoring 108 goals in 407 appearances.
There were almost too many stunning strikes to list but a few in particular live long in the memory.
Two months after becoming a Liverpool player, the Reds hosted early-season pacesetters QPR at Anfield and destroyed them 4-0, with Barnes scoring a stunning brace at the Kop end.
Those two goals became the norm for Barnes, who won two league titles, two FA Cups and a League Cup during his Liverpool career.
Towards the end of his playing days, Barnes reinvented himself as a ball-playing central midfielder and, after short stints at Newcastle and Charlton, he moved into management at Celtic.
After a shock Scottish Cup defeat at the hands of Inverness Caledonian Thistle, prompting the infamous headline from the Sun "Super Caley go ballistic, Celtic are atrocious", Barnes was sacked.
The 53-year-old then had a spell in charge of Jamaica before returning to club management with Tranmere Rovers in June 2009, only to be axed after 11 league games, of which he won only two.
Barnes has not since returned to management and it remains to be seen whether he ever will, but his contributions to Watford and Liverpool will never be forgotten.
