Newcastle’s Joey Barton recently stated to the media that he has finally overcome the problems that have dogged his career for the last two or three years.
Indeed, his violent tendency to hit people (or just stub out cigars in their eyes) prompted a swift exit from his first club Man. City and time in prison for assault two years ago.
“I took the punishment on the chin and have tried to become a better man since. For some people that will never be enough, but today I am satisfied with who I am and the journey I’ve had to take,” he told Sky Sports News.
“A lot of kids won’t look at the Beckhams and the Owens as role models. Maybe they’ll look at Joey Barton and think, ‘He made lots of mistakes, he went to jail and he came back’.
“That’s what drives me on – to be a shining light to people who messed up.”
This kind of statement often passes without comment but when you actually consider what the 27-year-old has done, it becomes all the more resonant. In fact, when I let my kids look up to the likes of Joey Barton it will be on a cold day in hell.
But, I find myself searching for answers. Why do I find this incredulous statement an affront to my sensibilities and why do I vilify Joey Barton as the Premier League’s devil incarnate? This, I shall now attempt to answer.
Those perhaps more pious than me might think it’s a tad harsh to simply write somebody off as an unhinged lunatic. To label people and make sweeping generalisations about them based on a tiny collection of events in their lives is surely wrong and yes, he went to prison, but so do lots other people. Last I heard he was doing a load of charity stuff for people with addiction problems and youngsters who turn to crime and get into trouble. That means he’s a decent bloke who deserves our forgiveness doesn’t it? Not to my mind.
Like suffering from death by a thousand cuts, his misdemeanours and shameful episodes of violence are so numerous that his reputation has taken a hit from which it will never recover. Over the space of four years the public were slowly drip fed a litany of horrendous assaults (both verbal and physical) that Joey had metered out to teammates and Joe Public alike.
It all started well for him and two years after making his debut for Man. City, he was awarded the club’s 2003/04 Young Player of the Year Award. However, this marked the watershed of his honeymoon period and it rapidly went downhill from there on in.
In July 2004 he sparked a 10-man brawl during a practice match with Doncaster Rovers after ruthlessly hacking down an opposition player. Then came along the infamous cigar incident when he used youth team player Jamie Tandy’s eye socket as an ashtray at the club’s Christmas party. Unimpressed with Barton’s antics, Manchester City considered sacking him there and then and probably now wish they had. He eventually apologized and forked out £60,000 in fines.
The following summer, Barton was sent home early from a preseason tour of Thailand after assaulting a 15-year-old Everton fan who was forced to pay a heavy price for yelling abuse at him. He had to be physically restrained by teammate Richard Dunne from nearly killing the poor boy before manager Stuart Pearce sent him on an anger management course and fined him £120,000.
His behaviour appeared to improve with therapy until in September 2006 he was shown on live television baring his backside to Everton fans. The FA did not look kindly on this childish and petulant exhibition and fined him for bringing the game into disrepute.
Barton decided that it was time to let his mouth do the talking and seemingly sensibly discovered that the need for violence can often be circumvented through proper discussion and verbal exchange. Unfortunately, all that it achieved was instead of physically hurting people, Barton would insult them instead and Stuart Pearce was forced to ban him from speaking to the media after he rather unfairly branded several of his teammates ‘substandard’ following the 2006/07 season.
This regrettable incident ushered in Barton’s first brush with law and the final chapter of his career at Eastlands. The midfielder was to receive a four month suspended sentence and community service in May 2007 for a viscous training ground assault on Ousmane Dabo on whom he inflicted several head injuries. Barton’s career should really have been over at this point but despite the altercation with Dabo and his growing reputation as a mindless thug, Newcastle came to his rescue and signed him for £5.8m.
The Toon were rewarded for handing him a fresh start less than a year later with Barton being jailed for his part in another violent assault. Astonishingly Newcastle stuck by him and he would go on to form an integral part of the side that won the Championship Title last season.
For all is undoubted merits as a footballer, here is one animal player I most certainly do not look forward to seeing in the Premiership next season.
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About the Author
Frankly I and many others couldn’t careless whether you want to see him in the top flight or not.
But obviously I didnt know that sad little ****s like you writing on a sh*t website are authority on such matters.
Barton has suffered from people like you having their 2 pence worth without knowing the truth, Firstly Tandy tried to set fire to Joeys trousers, I’m not saying it deserves the cigar incident but it certainly gives some sort of reasoning for it.
I personally regard as someone who has friends currently trying IVF treatment as they cannot conceive naturally that mercilessly aborting a child just so the papers cannot reveal the gory details of an affair with his friends girlfriend ************************************ As worse than a couple of scuffles with some grotty scouse kids who brought it on by mouthing off at Barton in the first place.
CC,
Two points from me..
1. I’m not your secretary, so either asterisk your swear words or you won’t get published in future.
2. Steer away from stuff that gets me in court while you are sat watching ‘This Morning’ or ‘Trisha’.
To be fair to Newcastle United it was KK who stuck by Barton as (allegedly) the Board – aka Fatman – wanted him out.
Maybe that was just KK getting his own back on Ashley and Wise before he buggered off – who knows ?
Anyway JB knows what he has to do and either he does it this season or he ends up on the gravy train that is the NASL playing with Becks and Henry because no other Premiership club would take him if he transgressed again.
So what does the make Gerrard? Oh I forgot he was tried by a bunch of his fellow scousers that wanted to see him play on the weekend.
Maybe you wont ever want your kids to look up to Joey, but if they end up in jail for something that happens in every night in every city and then come out, showing by their actions that they are trying to change their ways I am sure you’d give them a second chance.
Wouldn’t you also want to show your kids your were the sort of person that could forgive and forget, that woudn’t judge a person based on half truths and media reports but would make an effort to seek the truth themselves? Maybe you should worry more about the values you yourself present to your readers and your kids rather than bad mouthing someone who is trying to better themselves.