So I suppose he has made it as a player in a sense that he has played a large part in helping a team win a Championship (we will win it) however lets see where he spends the majority of his career and I would say his likely to be a Div 1 at best but more likely Div 2.
You are moving the goalposts now though, the OP said he was not good enough for us, not that he was not enough to be a Championship player.
I suspect very few fans think of Barnes as our number one striker, but then he cost £60k compared to Muzza's £300k. What I can't understand is that we are top of the league after a good few dismal seasons and some fans still get more enjoyment out of having a go at players etc.
Why not just enjoy it while it lasts, history tells us we spend as much time at the bottom of a division as we do at the top.