Newcastle (the previous season's Premier League runners-up) endured a disappointing league campaign and finished 13th, although they did reach the 1998 FA Cup Final, and Barnes went onto the field for the fourth FA Cup final of his career. However, Newcastle lost 2–0 to Arsenal, and following the sacking of Dalglish early in the 1998–99 season, he was left isolated and shunned along with a number of Kenny Dalglish and Kevin Keegan era players including Rob Lee and Stuart Pearce. Barnes with many others was dropped from the first team by new manager Ruud Gullit and spent several months in the reserves despite, in his opinion, "excelling in training" and showing he had lost none of his quality if some of his pace. He felt that himself and others were deliberately being cold shouldered to make it known Gullit wanted his own players in; Barnes had worked briefly with Gullit during the 1998 World Cup ITV commentary team, and they had played numerous international matches played against each other in the 1980s and 1990s, but they were not friends. Barnes knew it was the last straw when even his MBE from the Queen was overlooked by Gullit after a presentation had been given to Stuart Pearce for receiving one – this was in the winter of 1998 and he knew he was unwanted. Barnes left the club on a free transfer to newly promoted Charlton on 10 February 1999.