Joey Barton gets six months in jail - See page 4

[Guest alex]

Most people probably know people who've done stuff worse than this and got away with it. I'm not condoning it either before anyone asks.

 

If I knew someone who had done something like this, I wouldn't want to associate with them ever again. In this instance, I don't want him having anything more to do with the club.

Good for you.

 

Thanks. I do have a pretty decent moral grounding.

Do you want a medal or something?

 

I had no idea they'd brought back the old Medals For Morals incentive. If you could pass along the details of where I can apply, that'd be fantastic. I can hardly wait.

You see, if you were funny too, you'd be flawless.

[Guest alex]

Do we have any choice but to sack him? He'll be out for six months yeah, but the psychological effect prison time will have on him plus the fitness he'll lose from not training regularly will probably irreparably damage his worth as a footballer.

 

It's not as if he was a world-beater to begin with. Hopefully there's some get out clause in his contract we can exploit.

 

Every chance he'll be out in half that given the state of the prisons...

 

It could have the effect of humbling him and at the very least, it'll keep him out of trouble in the summer

Might finally sort him out, a la Tony Adams.

[Guest Ebolarama]

Most people probably know people who've done stuff worse than this and got away with it. I'm not condoning it either before anyone asks.

 

If I knew someone who had done something like this, I wouldn't want to associate with them ever again. In this instance, I don't want him having anything more to do with the club.

Good for you.

 

Thanks. I do have a pretty decent moral grounding.

Do you want a medal or something?

 

I had no idea they'd brought back the old Medals For Morals incentive. If you could pass along the details of where I can apply, that'd be fantastic. I can hardly wait.

You see, if you were funny too, you'd be flawless.

Who's trying to be funny? I just love the look of nested quote boxes.

[Guest alex]

I'll be honest like in that I'm not really that bothered mainly because he's not that good. Better than he's shown in his time here though.

[SUPERTOON]

Very suprised by the support he is getting

[midds]

I think a lot of people are wanting what's best for the club tbh. Ripping his contract up, if that's even an option, and releasing him on a free doesn't do us any favours.

 

He'll walk away and he'll have cost us £5.3m plus wages in his time here and we'll have to spend even more to replace him.

 

Can see both sides of it.

[Guest alex]

Very suprised by the support he is getting

I'm not btw. The only reason I wouldn't sack him is because it's for the good of the club imo. I do think people are very quick to condemn though. Also, I had a pop at him at the time - he should never have even been in the situation where this could have happened for a kick-off. What I am slightly surprised by is that people seem to be basing their views on the verdict and sentence. Neither of which should have come as a shock.

[Adam]

If he wasn't a prem league footballer and his brother had't done what he had done, he would of gotten off scot free.

[ToonTastic]

Sounds like he's been behind bars for a month now just the press haven't been allowed to mention it till today. That means he's got 2 months min left of his sentence 5 if he serves the full whack. However he has the other problem of the next sentencing come up at the end of June for the man city fight thing. If he's found innocent fine he'll be out by pre season training probably and he comes back, if he's found guilty he's out on his end and will probably be behind bars till Xmas. Either way can't see the club paying his wages while he's banged up.

[Baggio]

I'm more worried about what affect it'll have on Summer signings if we have to sign another player within the same budget.

 

What if we have to sign a striker with less quality because some of the money we were going to spend on a better one has to stretch to covering Barton too?

 

Would people still be happy Barton's been released?

[Guest Coubury]

Stick by him!

[Guest elbee909]

Sorry if it's been said already, but:

 

"Barton knocked a man to the floor, straddled him and hit him up to 20 times while his cousin threw food at his victim. He then hit a 16-year-old so hard he knocked out his teeth. This after ten pints and five bottles of lager."

 

Cancel the fucker.

[thewellander]

Sorry if it's been said already, but:

 

"Barton knocked a man to the floor, straddled him and hit him up to 20 times while his cousin threw food at his victim. He then hit a 16-year-old so hard he knocked out his teeth. This after ten pints and five bottles of lager."

 

Cancel the fucker.

 

Agreed.

[Guest alex]

If he wasn't a prem league footballer and his brother had't done what he had done, he would of gotten off scot free.

No he wouldn't man.

[Rich]

It's a fucking tricky situation, made even worse by the fact that he's still waiting for trial for a further two offences, including the Dabo one which he could get royally fucked with now that this is on his record as well.

 

I wouldn't be surprised to see him shot of.

[afar]

I can see both points of view here in keeping or getting rid.

 

From a moral point of view, absolutely no alternative but to release him. But to be honest I'm not that bothered by the morals here, we could play a front two of Osama Bin Laden and Saddam Hussain (before his death of course, because he's lost a yard of pace since then) as long as they were banging in 30 goals a season each.

 

Surely when they drew up the contract, taking into consideration his previous, the club would have protected themselves against this happening. If so cancelling his contract should be considered, yes we loose the sell on fee but we save an awful lot in wages, and he's not exactly un replaceable.

 

Keeping him would mean that we don't have to worry about filling yet another hole in the squad, he's done decent since KK took over, at least, he'll be available for selection (presuming the Dabo verdict goes his way or he doesn't get his jail term extended) before christmas. He might even come back more focussed, he won't have the trials playing on his mind and may even be determined to repay the trust the club has shown in him.

 

I've got a feeling the club are waiting for the Dabo verdict before annoucing anything, I would be hugely surprised if they haven't been fully prepared for this.

 

 

[Baggio]

It's a fucking tricky situation, made even worse by the fact that he's still waiting for trial for a further two offences, including the Dabo one which he could get royally fucked with now that this is on his record as well.

 

I wouldn't be surprised to see him shot of.

 

I don't think this can be used when sentencing for the Dabo incident as it happened after that took place.

[Shak]

What I am slightly surprised by is that people seem to be basing their views on the verdict and sentence. Neither of which should have come as a shock.

 

This.

 

Were people expecting him to get away with a slap on the wrists or something, been blatantly obvious for a while that he's off to prison and we all knew what the offences were.

 

I can see both sides of the arguement tbh. Don't think footballers should be expected to be role models or anything, but at the same time this is some very serious stuff he's been convicted of, and he's obviously a bit of a scumbag at the end of the day.

 

My guess is that we'll be hanging on to him, for the simple fact that I'm sure the club knew this was coming and yet we stuck with him in the team until the end of the season, even once we were safe. No point keeping him in there if we were planning to release him once this inevitable verdict came.

[Rich]

It's a fucking tricky situation, made even worse by the fact that he's still waiting for trial for a further two offences, including the Dabo one which he could get royally fucked with now that this is on his record as well.

 

I wouldn't be surprised to see him shot of.

 

I don't think this can be used when sentencing for the Dabo incident as it happened after that took place.

 

Aye, of course technically it shouldn't be, but he'll be standing trial before a regular jury.

 

I'd say the chances of this "not being taken into account" are slim-to-none, unless they get 12 people who haven't seen a sports section for the past 6 months.

[Baggio]

It's a fucking tricky situation, made even worse by the fact that he's still waiting for trial for a further two offences, including the Dabo one which he could get royally fucked with now that this is on his record as well.

 

I wouldn't be surprised to see him shot of.

 

I don't think this can be used when sentencing for the Dabo incident as it happened after that took place.

 

Aye, of course technically it shouldn't be, but he'll be standing trial before a regular jury.

 

I'd say the chances of this "not being taken into account" are slim-to-none, unless they get 12 people who haven't seen a sports section for the past 6 months.

 

Oh right, I thought you were talking about it being considered when the judge passes sentencing.

[Rich]

It's a fucking tricky situation, made even worse by the fact that he's still waiting for trial for a further two offences, including the Dabo one which he could get royally fucked with now that this is on his record as well.

 

I wouldn't be surprised to see him shot of.

 

I don't think this can be used when sentencing for the Dabo incident as it happened after that took place.

 

Aye, of course technically it shouldn't be, but he'll be standing trial before a regular jury.

 

I'd say the chances of this "not being taken into account" are slim-to-none, unless they get 12 people who haven't seen a sports section for the past 6 months.

 

Oh right, I thought you were talking about it being considered when the judge passes sentencing.

 

No worries, I didn't exactly make it clear, was merely talking "guilty/not guilty".

 

I'd be more worried if he'd been fucking brilliant for us, as others have said, but by the same token I don't expect all of our players to be angels. Like Alex said previously, I'd bet most people know others/have relatives who've done worse in their time than this specific incident.

 

Not fussed either way I suppose.

[Rich]

If found guilty of the Dabo thing, does anybody have any real idea of what sort of sentence he could face?

 

I know it's apparently "up to 5 years", but I'd eat a hat if he got that.

 

What would be the realistic outcome?

 

I'd say as a club we're probably waiting on the verdict for that one before making any decision.

[Guest Heneage]

Why sack him he's look good the last few games.

[James]

I think the club should stick by him in all honesty. For not entirely philanthropic reason.

 

Only agree to some extent.

 

Another missed pre season though could mean he isn't anywhere near his best until March once again. Assuming we now have to sign someone to make up for this, we'd hope to sign better players, therefore legitimately cancelling Barton's contract to cut the wage bill on a player no-one will want and can't get into our team.

Surely you either agree or disagree.

 

What I'm trying to say is that a decision on Barton should be made on footballing reasons, as it could be too costly for us to get rid no matter how badly he has behaved.

 

Footballing wise, we have to consider how long it took him to get fit after missing pre-season. Wasn't anywhere near good enough until March. With that in mind, we need to get a direct replacement. It is possible that we are looking to sign additional players in midfield too.

 

If we get these players, a half fit Barton definitely shouldn't get in the team for all of next season and after another round of signings the following summer, he could be even more in the cold.

 

If we believe this to be true, then we need to consider whether anyone else will pay more than peanuts for him. If they won't what good is having a player on his wages going to do for us financially.

 

In which case, everyone would be better off if we cancelled his contract while we have legitimate grounds.

 

However, if Keegan realistically believes that he'll be better than anyone else once he finds fitness again, we should keep.

 

However, the latter scenario probably means that we haven't done too well in the transfer market....

[Baggio]

If found guilty of the Dabo thing, does anybody have any real idea of what sort of sentence he could face?

 

I know it's apparently "up to 5 years", but I'd eat a hat if he got that.

 

What would be the realistic outcome?

 

I'd say as a club we're probably waiting on the verdict for that one before making any decision.

 

I would have thought the sentence for that would have been less than what he's just received for this one.