Premier League

How The Latest Joey Barton Controversy Proves That He’ll Never Change

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The ironic thing about the recent fallout between Joey Barton and Neil Warnock is that they seemed made for each other.  Both love using ‘A big boy did it and ran away’ as an excuse to explain their mistakes, because it’s never actually their fault when things go wrong.  It’s only been a few weeks since Neil Warnock lied while attempting to defend Joey Barton’s red card against Norwich, claiming that Bradley Johnson had gone to ground following what looked like a headbutt from Barton.  It was a questionable decision, but Johnson didn’t go to ground holding his face.  While that red card may not have been justified, it was another example of Joey Barton losing control, and being unable to stay out of trouble.  Failing to control his temper is something that has plagued Joey Barton throughout his career, on and off the pitch.

Barton broke into the Manchester City first team when he was 21 and he appeared to be a talented player, a good passer of the ball and competent set piece taker.  But his short temper and behaviour on and off the pitch has always hampered his career.  At City, Barton stubbed out a cigar in the eye of a youth player, allegedly assaulted a teenage Everton fan during a pre-season competition in Thailand, and assaulted team-mate Ousmane Dabo.  Yet when he got his head down and concentrated on football, he performed well, winning City’s young player of the year award after the 03/04 season, and earning an England cap in 2007.  But the assault of Dabo ended his career at City, and he joined Newcastle in June 2007.

The move to St. James Park seemed to offer Barton a fresh start, but it wasn’t long before he was making negative headlines again. 

After a pre-season injury, he made his debut for Newcastle in October, and attracted attention after a high tackle on Dickson Etuhu during a game against Sunderland.  In December he was arrested on suspicion of assault, with CCTV footage showing him attacking two men.  He was sentenced to six months in jail in May 2008, serving 77 days. 

He returned to action for Newcastle at the end of August, but not for long, as he received a 12 match ban (with 6 suspended) for his assault on Dabo.  In addition to his suspension, injury ruled him out for most of the season, before he returned to the team in May 2009.  Newcastle were battling relegation when he returned to the first team, but he again let himself and his team down, rashly taking out Xabi Alonso against Liverpool, receiving a straight red card.  Caretaker manager Alan Shearer was less than impressed, and Barton was suspended by the club after an alleged row with Shearer and assistant Iain Dowie after the match.  Newcastle were relegated, but Barton was back in the picture under Chris Hughton as Newcastle tried to come straight back up.

Amazingly, Barton managed to behave himself for the entire season, and helped Newcastle to win the Championship.  During the 10/11 season, he received a three match ban after punching Blackburn’s Morten Gamst Pedersen, and made crude gestures towards Fernando Torres against Liverpool.  He played 32 games as Newcastle finished 12th, but over the summer relations between Barton and the club soured as he refused a new contract.  Before he joined QPR, he was involved in more controversy against Arsenal.  After confronting Gervinho when the Arsenal striker went down in the penalty area, Barton went down holding his face after a slap from Gervinho.  He claimed to have been punched (special mention for Steven Taylor, who was telling officials Barton had been elbowed, despite the incident happening behind his back) and Gervinho was sent off.

Which is where we came in.  After the incident with Bradley Johnson, Barton took to Twitter to tell everyone that he hated players over-reacting to get opponents sent off.  Barton loves Twitter, regaling his followers with famous quotes (well done Joey, on discovering great-quotes.com) and trying to pass himself off as some kind of intellectual.  But the real Barton usually comes out, and he’s argued with Harvey from So Solid Crew, ranted about Matt Holland and most recently criticised Neil Warnock.

So the more things change, the more they stay the same for Joey Barton.  However many times he claims to have reinvented himself, the real Joey will always come out.  He’ll always be a loud mouth, he’ll always let his team down, and he’ll NEVER be a great footballer.

For more blogs, follow me on Twitter @DavidWDougan or @TheGlassCase

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