Barton escapes jail

The midfielder, capped once by England, was given a four-month suspended prison sentence and ordered to do 200 hours community service after admitting to punching Ousmane Dabo, 31, during an argument at training.

Barton, 25, is already serving a six-month sentence for an attack on a group of people outside a Liverpool branch of McDonald's on Boxing Day last year.

Today's sentence has been suspended for two years. Barton has also been given a nine-month supervision order and ordered to pay £6,500 costs, with £3,000 going to his victim.

>>guardian.co.uk

And hopefully there draws a line under this whole saga - one that now of course doesn't even involve a player any longer at the club.

Despite all of his protestations since the incident, Barton changed his plea at the last minute - which avoided him being handed down a further sentence on top of the one he is currently serving for this incident, something The Daily Mail I'm sure would question.

Barton is expected to be released from prison fairly shortly, and Newcastle have announced they intend to have 'discussions' with him - rumours range from sacking him through to cutting his wages, but it is fair to say that his career has pretty much fallen apart at this point, considering that eighteen months ago he appeared to have seemingly resolved off-field issues, and was forging a reputation as a leader of the City side and gaining international honours.

As he walks free from prison in the foreseeable future, all that of course is now history and he must surely consider himself lucky to even have a semblance of a career he can attempt to salvage.

Barton pleads not guilty

Barton appeared for a brief hearing at Minshull Street
Crown Court in Manchester to set a trial date where he will face charges of
assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
Barton, dressed in jeans, trainers
and a dark blue shirt, spoke only to confirm his name and enter his not guilty
plea.
He is accused of attacking then team-mate Ousmane Dabo during a
training ground bust-up on May 1 this year while both were playing for
Manchester City.
Richard Varden, prosecuting, said the earliest date a trial
could be held was June 30 next year.
He added: "I realise it seems a long
way away although it's a straightforward allegation, there is an additional
factor in that the defendant is a Premiership footballer."

-teamtalk.com

Whilst footballers have landed themselves in court on numerous occasions in the past, I don't believe there has ever been an instance where a footballer who is a defendant potentially faces the prospect of former colleagues (who are still playing in the same league) in the witness box testifying against him.

For that reason in particular (if indeed it does happen as despite what they think of Barton, I don't think they would relish being dragged into court over this) this is something that I think is going to generate a lot of media interest when it does come to trial.

More pearls of wisdom from Joey Barton

Joey Barton has ripped into Manchester City, insisting his
former club will soon prove him right in moving to Newcastle.
Barton left
Eastlands in order to seek success elsewhere, but it is Sven Goran Eriksson’s
revamped squad who are flying high above The Magpies in third place.
The
controversial midfielder is confident that trend will not continue though,
insisting things are about to come crashing down around a lifeless City dressing
room.
“Sometimes you’d walk in and you could hear a pin drop,” Barton told
The Daily Star.
“It’s lost a lot of characters like Robbie Fowler, Andy
Cole, Ben Thatcher, Nicky Weaver and myself.
“I speak to people still there
and they tell me they have so many languages, there’s no banter now.
“As
well as they’re doing right now, it’s only a matter of time before it comes
slamming to a halt unless they address that.
“(In the Newcastle dressing
room) if anyone speaks talking French or something the gaffer shouts ‘speak
effin English, I don’t want any of that foreign s**t in my dressing
room’.”

-Setanta Sports

Looking back, it seems remarkable that Barton left the club with a large portion of fans feeling quite sad about the whole issue and that he had to left, but from the couple of times he has opened his mouth since leaving, he has surely used up any goodwill that was there.

These latest comments are just plain ridiculous.

I know what kind of dressing room I would prefer at the club, and it involves young, hungry players who want to achieve things and win trophies as opposed to the 'characters likes Robbie Fowler, Andy Cole, Ben Thatcher, Nicky weaver and myself' whose team bonding antics of the past left a lot to be desired.

As for 'banter', I'm sure examples such as using Ousmane Dabo's head for shooting practics and calling your team mates out following a geam was condusive to 'banter' and fostering team spirit.

I think the fact that the interview first appeared in The Daily Star says it all, but a word of advice for Joey - you engineered a move away from the club so do not think you have a right to be able to comment on the goings on this season as you are no part of the success we are currently enjoying.

As for the comments regarding Allardyce's approach in the dressing room - that speaks volumes in itself and we can be thankful that he never made it as our manager.

Joey Barton - The Saviour

Barton Article from MEN

"Were it not for myself, Micah Richards and Richard Dunne the club wouldn't have had Shinawatra, the Premier League and Sven.
"I think they could easily have gone down last season but for a couple of results."

Yep Joey if it hadn't been for a couple of results we would have gone down, those results if you remember correctly Joey were over Christmas, when you where suspended after one of your little petulant strops.

Now go practice trying to beat the first man on corners and stop making your self look a bigger twat than you are.

Barton charged with assault

The Newcastle midfielder Joey Barton has been charged with
assault following his alleged training-ground bust-up with former team-mate
Ousmane Dabo. Barton, who is claimed to have attacked Dabo at the end of last
season when he was still at Manchester City, was formally charged with assault
by police after answering bail in Manchester today.

- The Guardian.

Not an entirely surprising story, but perhaps pleasing that it is someone else's problem now rather than ours and just serves as a reminder as to just how much progress has been made with the squad over the past month given what a huge hole his transfer appeared to create in the midfield, not to mention his status as top goalscorer last season

Barton bailed again

Joey Barton was re-bailed on Wednesday by police
investigating an alleged assault on a former team-mate during a training ground
bust-up.
The England and Newcastle United midfielder allegedly attacked
fellow player Ousmane Dabo.
Barton was due to answer bail on Wednesday but
was rebailed until August 2 while police make further inquiries.

-Teamtalk.

Everyone's a winner

Well, that was all wrapped up very nicely in the end eh?

How to solve a dispute over whether a player is owed a £300,000 payment? Simple. The buying club makes an improved offer of £300,000 for said player. Selling club accepts and said player presumably pockets the payment leaving both clubs able to claim the upper hand in the matter.

All it realistically leaves is another hole in the line-up from last season - and on the day the fixtures are released, in which scanning through them doesn't reveal a whole lot of points on offer at the moment

City hit back in Barton contract row

"At no time have we divulged the details of Joey's contract,
or would we ever do so with any player.
"Sadly this is now in the public
domain through no fault of Manchester City.
"It is disappointing that Sam
Allardyce has chosen to make these claims public. We will continue to have a
good relationship with Newcastle."

- Paul Tyrrell.

I'm pleased that the club appear to be digging in over this issue, and hope it is not just being done for good PR. It is a difficult one as technically both parties can make a strong claim to be in the right (contractually not morally), but I believe City to hold the upper hand as his release-fee clause is effectively Barton's transfer request, something confirmed by the Mick McGuire of The PFA:

"But this is not an easy situation because City believe Joey
is not entitled to the money, because it was the player who triggered to move by
activating the part of his contract that says he can talk to other clubs who bid
£5.5m. City believe that by doing that, he effectively asked for a
transfer."

With all instances such as this, there is likely to be a degree of mediation involved from various bodies but I suspect it may well come down to who wants it more - us to get rid of Barton, or Newcastle to bring him in.

Allardyce 'Flabbergasted' Over Barton

Well you have to hand it too Fat Sam, his teams might not entertain but he certainly does ! In what can only be described as a joke interview , Allardyce has dragged his huge head into the row between City and Barton stating City are out of order.

Interview in Full

Just a few points Sam :

"They are out of order. This is a private matter, a confidential issue that should not have been made public,"

Your right Sam it is a private matter, so dont go shooting your mouth off to the Manchester Evening News.

"I'm flabbergasted and want the situation resolved"

Not as flabbergasted as I was that the so principled NUFC that sacked Kevin bond for been involved in the bung scandal then appointed who a TV show perpetrated to be the main protagonist.

"I am just trying as Newcastle manager to secure a player of this kind and quality and the deal has been held up"

Fair Point Sam, should have been your only statement on the issue.

"I cannot understand it because City didn't pay anything for this player as he came through the youth system and are selling him for over £5million"

What ? So City believe they are in the right (as does Barton) but they should give him the money because he came through the Youth Team ? Ok Sam.

"It's not really for me to comment. All I know is that this is a matter for Joey to sort out and I hope it is resolved as it has stopped him putting pen to paper."

Your fucking right you alleged bung taking Fat Twat 'ITS NOT FOR YOU TO COMMENT' first bit of sense you have made.

For it what its worth I think Barton will end up with the money, and whilst I was originally a bit disappointed that Barton was leaving, Though he had made his position at the club untenable, Im now glad to see the back of the Chav Scum.

The club and supporters have stood by him through THREE Assaults one on a minor, a couple of FA charges and asking for a transfer on deadline day. In Joeys world we 'owe him' the world 'owes him'

So well done to club for showing Joey Barton up for all that he is. When the PFA / FA or whoever finally make us pay up send the money in a big brown envelope to St James Park FAO Sam Allardyce asking when the hypocrite is going to take legal action against Panorama like he promised and ask him to pass it on too the other hypocrite.

What price loyalty?

JOEY Barton's transfer from City to Newcastle has hit a
delay over a £300,000 "loyalty" pay-off.The midfielder would be due the money
from the Blues if he was sold on without putting in a transfer
request.
Barton has not put in a transfer request - but City
insist they will only allow him to complete his move to St James' Park if he
does.The 24-year-old England international has been on his way out of Eastlands
ever since an alleged training ground incident involving Ousmane Dabo in April,
which sparked a police investigation.
City allowed Barton to speak to Newcastle and West Ham
under the terms of his contract, which allowed him to have talks with any club
who put in a minimum offer of £5.5m for the player. Despite that, City are
adamant that they never listed him, and that they have not granted him
permission to leave Eastlands.

-MEN.

It strikes as amazing that Barton can seemingly demand a 'loyalty' bonus after having engineered a transfer to a side where he admitted he felt 'wanted' - not to mention a doubling of his salary.

The 'loyalty' payment is something that a player that is entitled to if he is effectively sold against his wishes - in effect not having submitted a transfer request to the club. It is therefore a difficult situation with Barton as it appears that after the Dabo incident it was more or less mutually agreed that Barton would be allowed to leave.

For me what strikes as not right about Barton's actions is whilst there could be an argument he is 'entitled' to the money, after the loyalty (not to mention the overwhelming support) the club has shown him over the past couple of years throughout his various midemeanours.

Checking out some of the message boards the opinion is strong that the club should dig in over this and refuse to make the payment.

I agree entirely and if Barton and Newcastle are that desperate to make a deal, then surely they can come to sort of arrangement between themselves.

Barton signs for Newcastle

The BBC are reporting that Joey Barton has turned down a late offer from West Ham in order to join Newcastle United.

The club announced it had accepted bids of £5.5 million from both West Ham and Newcastle, leaving Barton with a straight choice between the two sides - but it appears as though he has hitch his load to Big Sam's bandwagon.

All academic now I guess, but I thought it would have come down to an interesting choice between the two sides as although West Ham put in a great escape to avoid dropping into the Championship, both sides have new(ish) managers looking to strengthen the side and have money behind them both in terms of players and what financial deal they could offer Barton (with the BBC report suggesting a figure of around £70,000 per week).

Status wise, both sides have a history and tradition that is not too disimilar - although Newcastle clearly have the edge in terms of attendance figures.

Did it come down to Allardyce being the deciding factor?

Barton heading to Newcastle

Sky Sports News understands that Joey Barton will sign for
Newcastle United on Monday - assuming that captain Scott Parker completes his
own move to West Ham.
Sam Allardyce has instigated a transfer merry-go-round
since arriving on Tyneside and, having opted to allow Parker to return to
London, is on the brink of signing Manchester City's controversial midfielder
Barton. -

Sky Sports

It appears that Barton will arrive as Scott Parker departs St. James' Park for West Ham, bringing a disappointing end to his City career.

It was inevitable that he was on his way out of the club, and the only thankful bit of news is that we appear to have received the £5.5 million 'asking price' as stipulated in his contract. Hopefully, once the takeover business has been resolved, this money will be earmarked for his replacement - something that will be sorely needed.

Barton - Most wanted?

The venerable WillieMcKay has been in the press today talking up Joey Barton, and espousing the benefits of what he could bring to a potential new club.

McKay confirmed that Barton is on the way out from City, stating that the club have told him that if the £5.5 million release clause is triggered from his contract he will be sold and McKay has kindly thrown Everton's name into the hat as one of the sides who have ensured his mobile phone has been 'red hot' - interestingly some of the interested clubs are reported to be from outside of the Premiership.

The Guardian ran a poll on it's site today, asking readers if Barton was available on a free would they be happy to have him in their side. Current figures at the time of writing show 77% would not welcome him into their club.

There will of course be no shortage of takers for Barton though, and it is certain that he has played his last game at the club. I expect most interested parties to bide their time though, in the hope that the longer he technically remains a City player the keener the club will be to rid their hands of him.

The one thing I will be most surprised about in the whole saga though is if we do actually get anywhere near the £5.5 million figure for him - as I imagine most interested clubs would be looking at around half of that.

Psycho's Last Stand ?

A quiet week in the build up to the derby, just multi billionaire former presidents, recently capped by England and 2nd best player of the season suspended with the likelihood of him never playing for the club again and other recently capped rising star linked with a move to dark side, amongst other things !!

So we go into our 'cup final' (do i have too pay Red Issue for that?) with even the most optimistic blue as downtrodden as the route from Old Trafford to Piccadilly train station, the feeling is very much one of 'preparing ourselves for the worst'

Scenes from Fight Club have been predicted for the stands as rumours that lots of reds have seized on the apathy and foreboding of many blues to snap up tickets for the city ends of the ground, at least some might stay in their seats at the end whilst the city players partake in the traditional end of season 'lap of honour'.

And then there is matters on the pitch !! obviously Johan (well he thinks he is !) Barton will be missing and never one to do things by halves he took out his natural replacement in Dabo. Thanks Joey. The Rags will welcome Evra and the drugs cheat back to their defence.

On the touchlines Surly Alex has had his usual whine about something or other whilst Pearce has commented on the fact that he believes this game means more to us than their supporters. You know Stu, the media might love you but your fast become the most hated man at Eastlands concentrate a little bit more on your own job than passing judgement on other teams. This just might be your last home game, particularly if it all goes wrong. So save your energy for the dressing room and get them fired up like you used to be instead of this media darling luvvie you have become.

Prediction - 1-0 - our very own georgie boy to complete uniteds greek tragedy.

No Surrender.

Barton escapes punishment

From the MEN:

JOEY Barton will not face internal club discipline for
his impassioned outburst at Watford last weekend.The England international will,
however, be called in for a chat with boss Stuart Pearce to explain his
views......But the manager indicated he would stop short of slapping a fine
on the player.
"You will have to ask Joey about his emotions and the
words he used. He had plenty to say for himself after the game so he is probably
the best one to talk to," was the manager's guarded response to his feelings on
the subject. Let us hope what he had to say came from a care for the club. "He
doesn't face internal discipline but I will speak to him in respect of my
thoughts about what he said. The reason I cannot go into detail in respect of
what Joey said is that there is so much of it I would be here all
day!"

Richards in, Barton out for England

Fairly predictable stuff but the latest England squad sees Joey Barton axed following his debut against Spain in the recent friendly, but Micah Richards keeps his place in the squad for the double-header against Israel and Andorra.

There was a little speculation that senior members of the squad had called for Barton to be left out due to his 'big-time Charlie' antics when he was in the last squad. Despite ruffling a few feathers with some of his comments about the team, surely it was inevitable that McLaren would revert to type and plump for the tried and trusted faces when it came to the 'serious' games.

When it rains...

From reuters:

Manchester City footballer Joey Barton has been
arrested and bailed on suspicion of assault and criminal damage, media reports
said on Tuesday.
Barton, 24, who won his first cap for England as a
substitute in last month's friendly international against Spain, was arrested
over an incident involving a taxi driver in Liverpool in the early hours of
March 4, the reports said.
"I can confirm a 24-year-old man, from Cronton,
Cheshire, was arrested on suspicion of causing criminal damage and assault," a
Merseyside police spokeswoman said.
Barton's club said in a statement it had
no comment on the reports.

Dunne and Barton hit-out and challenge the squad

Ahead of the biggest game of the season later today and the newspapers this morning are hardly paining a picture of a happy camp at City at the moment.

Joey Barton has been claiming that some of his teammates do not share his own ambitions, and talking to Sky Sports he said:

"I want to win trophies, I want to play in the UEFA
Champions League and I want to play in the European cups. "I want to play at the
highest level and I want to test myself and I don't think anyone can have any
qualms with you for wanting that.
"Whether it's this season or next season
we all have to strive at this football club to achieve it, every single one of
us.
"There's no point me wanting to achieve it and ten others not, and I
don't think that's the case.
"I think at the minute it's a case of five or
six wanting it and five or six not.
"I think as soon as we get the playing
field level and eight, nine or ten wanting it then we'll start achieving
things."

However, it is perhaps Richard Dunne's comments to The Observer which are perhaps more scathing:

'We are not scoring enough goals and two or three
players are going missing when things go against us,' he says. 'At home, in
particular, we seem to go into our shells, or at least some of us do. That's the
disappointing thing. We are not a good enough team to win games with just seven
or eight players, we need everyone to pull together. We can't afford to have
players hiding. I feel let down by certain people and I'm sure the manager does
too, but it's not his fault. The squad is not big enough for everyone to be
pushed and when that happens you get people operating in a comfort zone.
'When a manager only has limited funds to spend on new players, the ones he
does bring in need to hit the ground running, and that hasn't happened either.
Foreign signings are always going to need time to adapt, but at this stage of
the season you need to be giving 100 per cent. It should be a matter of personal
pride.
'We go to Blackburn as underdogs and we are away from home so to some
extent the pressure is off, but in the league we have got a really hard run-in.
We are not going to be able to survive just by picking up points from bad teams,
we are going to have to beat some good teams. We've got to
improve.'

Whilst The Times has a similar piece, but adds:

"Managers live by their transfer deals. I’m sure the
manager feels let down but it’s not his fault if the personal pride in a player
is not there.” I don’t think we’re scoring enough goals,” Dunne said. “I think
there are a couple of people going missing during games. And we’re not

good enough team to have just six or seven players turn up every weekend. We
need 11, 14 players putting effort in. If your skill isn’t holding up the least
you can do is put the effort in.
“There’s the likes of Joey Barton who you
know you can rely on to be there fighting every week, but there’s others who go
into their shells. It’s a lack of self pride and they need to understand in
their own minds what they’re doing. They’re hiding from the rest of the team.”

Whilst not uncommon for Barton to speak his mind, it is quite rare for Dunne (even as captain) to be very vocal in the press - and even less so for it to be with a critical tone.

I don't think he is particularly the type to stir up trouble within the club, and perhaps, ahead of such an important game and stage of the season, he is playing a little psychological game here and aiming to throw down a challenge to the team as a whole that it is time to stand up and be counted.

Shocked...

...by this news?

I didn't think so.

Redknapp keen to add fuel to the fire

Harry Redknapp has been all over the press today in his condemnation of Joey Barton, saying much along the lines of "'ere, he meant to do him you know", even managing to link the incident in the same breath as Ben Thatchers elbow on him:

"Barton deliberately did Pedro. He deserved a red card and
anyone who says it's an accident needs their heads looking at. Pedro was running
the game before he got hurt and I'm annoyed because Pedro is a good player and a
good professional who doesn't go around kicking anyone. But now he's copped it
twice against City. He's the one suffering here."

Redknapp for me is pretty much a rent-a-quote type of guy, more than happy to play things out in the press (note his 'interest' in Distin after the game, an argument that it is tapping up?) and seems to have an opinion on anything and everything - much the opposite of son Jamie, who has yet to offer anything remotely insightful on Sky.

Stuart Pearce, quite rightly, has come out strongly in support of Barton today and talk of a 'witch-hunt' is not far wrong when excerpts such as this in The Mirror are being published:

"It's odd he should drag his heels when somebody else's are
available.
There are those who believe the tackle was accidental. They also
believe in fairies, Father Christmas and the cheque's in the post".

Chris Bailey wrote a good piece in todays MEN which echoed a litle of what I was suggesting yesterday in that Barton has become the latest 'pantomime villain' for the press, and The Guardian also back this up, touching on the issue of the disappointment the City board feel over this.

The disappointing thing about Redknapp's comments are that he is accusing a player of doing something when he has no knowledge of whether he intended to hurt Mendes or not. To suggest a player deliberately set out to 'do' another player are comments are of an inciting and inflammatory nature, and imagine his reaction if Stuart Pearce had come out after the game and accused Mendes of acting up? Incidentally, Mendes is unlikely to miss any further action.

Stuart Pearce has provided a measured, eloquent response on the subject, saying:

“I think reputations are created around people, sometimes
justly and sometimes unjustly.
“I have to stand in front of the Press after
every single match and answer questions on all kinds of scenarios and quite
often it is clear that some of them have got together to explore an angle of
attack whether that be about a bit of talent, a diving incident, a foul or a
great save.
“There is normally one thing. At Portsmouth it was Joey, but
after reviewing the incident, the semi-nastiness and people trying to put words
into my mouth was unfounded. That disappointed me a great deal.”

Yet the press are only to happy to jump all over 'Arry's opinion and run along with it, regardless of the consequences it causes.

p.s. Still no footage of Barton's offensive gesture to be found.