FORMER Liverpool winger John Barnes’s reign as Tranmere Rovers manager began yesterday with him vowing to take the chance to prove he can be a success in club management.

The 45-year-old has signed a two-year deal at Prenton Park and has installed Jason McAteer as his assistant.

Barnes replaces Ronnie Moore, who was sacked earlier this month after three years in the hot seat.

The Anfield legend quit his role as Jamaica head coach to take on the job and it will be his first taste of club football since his unsuccessful stint at Celtic boss in the 1999/2000 campaign.

Barnes admits he has a point to prove but is relishing the challenge.

"I consider myself a local, Jason is even more local than me and it’s a fantastic opportunity for both of us to come and work here," he said.

"At Watford I was taught the value of the relationship a football club should have with its community and I have already been really impressed with the work Tranmere do in the community.

"They are a strong family club and I always thought it would be a fantastic place to come and work.

"John Barnes coming to Tranmere is not John Barnes superstar, he is exactly the same as any other manager in the division regardless of what they may or may not have done as a player. That is how I want to be judged.

"The type of player I was carries no water whatsoever.

"I hope people don’t look at my name, I hope they just look at what I am doing to help the team go forward."

Barnes is determined to instil "hard work" and "discipline" in his side.

"It’s not a situation where I want to be a trophy manager," he said.

"The fact that I may have played at the highest level and been the type of player I am, people may have a misconception of the type of coach I want to be.

"I will be a manager who insists on hard work, discipline, desire and commitment from my team.

"Unfortunately people think you have to be a defensive midfielder or a hard-tackling centre-back to have those ethics.

"When a flair player becomes a manager people think he has to have players of a certain quality to succeed.

"The type of manager I am – and was all the way back to my Celtic days – is not the type of player I was.

"The fact that I have played for Liverpool and England is out of the window. I am not bringing any of that here.

"Togetherness, spirit and organisation. These are the qualities we need here.

"I am happy that people think John Barnes was a fantastic left winger, but if people are thinking that Tranmere are suddenly going to be just like Brazil, that’s not the situation whatsoever.

"The desire, spirit and togetherness that Tranmere showed last season is exactly what I am demanding from them this year."

Barnes’s first priority is to strengthen a squad depleted by the recent loss of skipper Antony Kay to Huddersfield and goalkeeper John Achterberg, who joined Liverpool’s backroom staff.