Joey Barton

[Guest Kenton Magpie]

Okay maybe sensation is strong.......

 

Be good to have Routeledge back on the wing I take it?

 

[Dave]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1328914/Joey-Barton-It-moment-stupidity-I-anger-issues-turn-rage-Im-role-model-.html

Joey Barton: It was a moment of stupidity. I have anger issues but it should not turn to rage. I'm not even a role model to myself...

 

By Matt Lawton

Chief Football Correspondent

Last updated at 11:24 PM on 11th November 2010

 

Within seconds of punching Morten Gamst Pedersen in the chest, rage stepped aside for regret inside the troubled mind of Joey Barton.

 

He was still angry, but he was angry with himself. Angry that he had once again let himself down. He knew there was no justification for what he had done, even if he felt that Pedersen had tried to provoke him with a needless shoulder barge during Wednesday night’s encounter between Newcastle and Blackburn.

 

‘As soon as it happened I was thinking, “Oh for f**k’s sake. I can’t believe I’ve done that”,’ the 28-year-old said yesterday.

 

Like any player, he hoped that he might get away with it. ‘When I realised the referee hadn’t seen it, I tried to convince him I’d just shoved Pedersen,’ he said. ‘Anyone would because you know you could be in trouble, and for the sake of your team you don’t want to get sent off.

 

‘But at the training ground this morning I watched it with all the lads on television. I just turned to them and said, “That’s me out for three games”. I was obviously sorry.’

 

Yesterday the FA wasted little time in charging Barton and, once he had admitted violent conduct, the Newcastle player received a three-match ban.

 

But for Barton it means more than that. It means a return to his many crimes and misdemeanours.

 

Another avalanche of criticism for the thug of a footballer who will never learn.

 

From the midfielder, however, there will be no complaints. Because for all his faults — faults he is the first to admit to — he is bright enough to recognise that it will be no less than he deserves.

 

Yesterday he went a stage further and said something really quite extraordinary. He thanked the newspaper industry for playing a part in saving him from himself, even if a spell in prison probably had rather more to do with it.

 

‘With the charge sheet I already have, these things are always intensified,’ he said.

 

‘But if the papers hadn’t reported the many things I had done, I’d still have issues with alcohol and anger and I would have probably p****d my career up the wall. I wouldn’t be playing for Newcastle United.’

 

He’s been playing extremely well, providing much of the ammunition from midfield that has enabled Andy Carroll to force his way into contention for the England squad Fabio Capello will name tomorrow.

 

But Barton still has ‘issues’, still has what he describes as a daily battle to control the demons. ‘Everyone knows I have anger issues and on the pitch people are going to test my temperament,’ he said. ‘I realise that. But then people ask me, “Have you not changed?” And I say “No, this is me, I have this aggression in me, and I’m trying to handle it”.

 

‘My reaction was wrong and I have to take responsibility. But I’m not a changed man because it’s who I am. It’s something inside me, a natural instinct, that makes me stand and fight. I just continue to work at it. I’ll always be fighting to curb it and it’s a battle for me. I have these anger issues but I know that when it turns to rage, like it did against Blackburn, it is not acceptable.’

 

In the interview Barton gave to this newspaper last year, he spoke of the work he has done with the Sporting Chance Clinic. Of the guidance and support he receives, on an almost daily basis, from Peter Kay, the man who runs the unique charity that was created by Tony Adams to help sports stars with destructive behaviour problems.

 

It was Stuart Pearce, then the manager of Manchester City, who sent Barton to see Kay after his player had stubbed out a smouldering cigar in the eye of a team-mate at the club Christmas party and then got into a fight with a 15-year-old Everton fan during a tour of Thailand.

 

And it was Kay whom Barton then turned to when he ended up in a Liverpool police cell on December 27, 2007, for the vicious, violent assault that led to 74 days inside.

 

Kay whom he called when a fight with Ousmane Dabo at Manchester City’s training ground eight months earlier had left him facing yet more criminal charges.

 

He even called him in the wake of that now infamous Newcastle dressing-room bust-up with Alan Shearer and Iain Dowie after his red card at Liverpool.

 

‘I’ve tried calling him today but he’s a bit busy with Gazza,’ said Barton.

 

He does appear to be trying. He has not touched alcohol since the assault in Liverpool and, after one night in a cell with a monster of a man with no teeth called Chopper, he made a promise to himself that he would never be in such trouble again.

 

He did not want to give people further reasons to rank him, in his words, alongside ‘the anti-Christ, Chairman Mao and Hitler’.

 

Last year, he reflected on the moment when ‘a light came on’ in his head. ‘I remember sitting in the holding cell waiting to go into court, and there is all this graffiti on the walls,’ he said.

 

‘I’m just reading it when I see this message left by someone: “I don’t know why you are here, what you are here for but someone wants you to learn a lesson. Don’t be a fool and don’t put yourself in a position where you have to read this again to learn.”

 

‘It was like someone had put something in my way. Like a light had come on.’

 

He insists the light is still on, and he could point to the fact that punching an opponent in the chest during a match is not going to land him in jail. But Barton is in no mood to hide behind such excuses because he knows he remains ‘a work in progress’, a guy who still has anger-management issues.

 

‘Footballers are role models and I have always recognised that,’ he said yesterday.

 

‘But I’m not even a role model to myself. Drink was a big problem for me. That was one of the reasons I ended up in prison, and I can see more clearly now that I have abstained from it.

 

‘But I have to take responsibility for what has happened. I saw Sam (Allardyce) after the game and I said I’d been stupid. I’ll ring one of the boys on the coaching staff at Blackburn — I know them all from when they were at Newcastle with Sam — and I’ll get Pedersen’s number so I can apologise to him. I’ll have to issue an apology to the club as well.’

 

And he’ll keep trying to stay out of trouble.

[GM]

Good to see he's had his PR team working overtime to conjure up some sort of defence for his actions.

[Cronky]

Did anyone see this 'shoulder charge'? I couldn't see any physical contact from Pedersen, and assumed that he said something.

 

You can't expect the ref or the FA to make a judgement about how hard the punch was, or where it connected. He threw a punch, there was some connection, that's it.

 

I fear this ban will cost us. He's been a very important player for us.

[Guest Slarth]

Good to see he's had his PR team working overtime to conjure up some sort of defence for his actions.

 

I think it's him just being honest tbh

[madras]

Good to see he's had his PR team working overtime to conjure up some sort of defence for his actions.

 

I think it's him just being honest tbh

i'd rather he lied and controlled himself.

[Tachikoma]

Did anyone see this 'shoulder charge'? I couldn't see any physical contact from Pedersen, and assumed that he said something.

 

You can't expect the ref or the FA to make a judgement about how hard the punch was, or where it connected. He threw a punch, there was some connection, that's it.

 

I fear this ban will cost us. He's been a very important player for us.

 

It was just a brush really, when Barton was rushing on to the scene and MGP was walking away from it. If that really was the cause Barton needs to stop skipping his anger management classes.

[TaylorJ_01]

What a fucking joke. Ban him for this but let loads of other incidents go.

 

Typical anti-Barton reaction.

[madras]

What a f***ing joke. Ban him for this but let loads of other incidents go.

 

Typical anti-Barton reaction.

who else got punched like ? (though if you mean the huddlestone stamp then I agree)

[TaylorJ_01]

What a f***ing joke. Ban him for this but let loads of other incidents go.

 

Typical anti-Barton reaction.

who else got punched like ?

 

Don't be stupid, man. A little nick to the ribcage is nothing compared to an actual career-threatening injury from an unneccessarily dangerous challenge.

[garth]

Did anyone see this 'shoulder charge'? I couldn't see any physical contact from Pedersen, and assumed that he said something.

 

You can't expect the ref or the FA to make a judgement about how hard the punch was, or where it connected. He threw a punch, there was some connection, that's it.

 

I fear this ban will cost us. He's been a very important player for us.

 

Yes they showed the incident on the news, and you can clearly see Pedersen going into Barton with his shoulder a clear provocation. Still it doesn't excuse him for the way he reacted. Good to see him accept his punishment, now it's time to get over it and move on, looking forward to seeing him play soon as possible.

[madras]

What a f***ing joke. Ban him for this but let loads of other incidents go.

 

Typical anti-Barton reaction.

who else got punched like ?

 

Don't be stupid, man. A little nick to the ribcage is nothing compared to an actual career-threatening injury from an unneccessarily dangerous challenge.

are you referring to ben arfa ? then the rules were followed in that the ref said he saw it and acted accordingly...rightly or wrongly thems the rules.

[jdckelly]

What a f***ing joke. Ban him for this but let loads of other incidents go.

 

Typical anti-Barton reaction.

who else got punched like ?

 

Don't be stupid, man. A little nick to the ribcage is nothing compared to an actual career-threatening injury from an unneccessarily dangerous challenge.

are you referring to ben arfa ? then the rules were followed in that the ref said he saw it and acted accordingly...rightly or wrongly thems the rules.

then the rules don't make sense

[KaKa]

Good to see he's had his PR team working overtime to conjure up some sort of defence for his actions.

 

Pathetic.

[madras]

Good to see he's had his PR team working overtime to conjure up some sort of defence for his actions.

 

Pathetic.

in what way ? we've heard it all before from joey, he gives great interview then does this sort of thing, he even has cheerleaders who want him applauded for not assaulting someone in 18months.

 

whenever i think of the joey fan club i think of chris rocks "niggers" set.

[Oakie Doke]

the media reaction to this has been over the top but also to be expected. This is Joey Barton afterall, they've been waiting for him to slip up for a while.

 

I wonder if he would have got an England call-up tomorrow if he hadn't done this? We'll never know.

[Neil]

As far as I'm concerned, Barton has been an absolute idiot. More so because he's actually looked calm and collected this year so far. It was an act of total madness and will rightly see questions about his temperament being raised again.

[madras]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1328914/Joey-Barton-It-moment-stupidity-I-anger-issues-turn-rage-Im-role-model-.html

‘My reaction was wrong and I have to take responsibility. But I’m not a changed man because it’s who I am. It’s something inside me, a natural instinct, that makes me stand and fight. I just continue to work at it. I’ll always be fighting to curb it and it’s a battle for me. I have these anger issues but I know that when it turns to rage, like it did against Blackburn, it is not acceptable.’

 

http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/2213/joeyv.jpg

sorry joey, it means your as thick as fuck if you cant take it and time it to get your own back, there are plenty of opportunities on a football pitch to get someone back.

[Neil]

I thought it was a decent article.

[madras]

I thought it was a decent article.

it was, but it's a bit like a wife beater saying he'll never do it again or he knowss that it's wrong and he'll try to stop it.

[Neil]

Well, yeah. I think more than anything Barton has put a big hole in the trust many people put in him with regards to becoming a less angry, more contained professional footballer.

[KaKa]

Good to see he's had his PR team working overtime to conjure up some sort of defence for his actions.

 

Pathetic.

in what way ? we've heard it all before from joey, he gives great interview then does this sort of thing, he even has cheerleaders who want him applauded for not assaulting someone in 18months.

 

whenever i think of the joey fan club i think of chris rocks "niggers" set.

 

You guys must live in some kind of fantasy cukoo land. I personally give Joey Barton credit because I feel he has come a long way. He is no longer getting into trouble off the field, which was very much standard previously, and even on the pitch he has taken a lot and has handled himself quite well (Wolves game for example) for the most part.

 

Why people suddenly expect him to turn into some kind of saint I will never know, ridiculously unrealistic. Even players who do not have the kind of problems he has had, sometimes show poor judgement and lash out. It happens almost every week for goodness sake. Fellaini just yesterday and Huddlestone's stamp a week ago also, just off the top of my head. Obviously what he did wasn't right but at least he's acknowledged his mistake and has admitted he has to continue to try to learn to control himself better.

 

Some people on here seriously need to get off their high horses. God knows what some of you lot get up to in your everyday lives. I'm sure your all perfect yourselves. Jesus.

[Kaizero]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1328914/Joey-Barton-It-moment-stupidity-I-anger-issues-turn-rage-Im-role-model-.html

‘My reaction was wrong and I have to take responsibility. But I’m not a changed man because it’s who I am. It’s something inside me, a natural instinct, that makes me stand and fight. I just continue to work at it. I’ll always be fighting to curb it and it’s a battle for me. I have these anger issues but I know that when it turns to rage, like it did against Blackburn, it is not acceptable.’

 

http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/2213/joeyv.jpg

 

[Neil]

Good to see he's had his PR team working overtime to conjure up some sort of defence for his actions.

 

Pathetic.

in what way ? we've heard it all before from joey, he gives great interview then does this sort of thing, he even has cheerleaders who want him applauded for not assaulting someone in 18months.

 

whenever i think of the joey fan club i think of chris rocks "niggers" set.

 

You guys must live in some kind of fantasy cukoo land. I personally give Joey Barton credit because I feel he has come a long way. He is no longer getting into trouble off the field, which was very much standard previously, and even on the pitch he has taken a lot and has handled himself quite well (Wolves game for example) for the most part.

 

Why people suddenly expect him to turn into some kind of saint I will never know, ridiculously unrealistic. Even players who do not have the kind of problems he has had, sometimes show poor judgement and lash out. It happens almost every week for goodness sake. Fellaini just yesterday and Huddlestone's stamp a week ago also, just off the top of my head. Obviously what he did wasn't right but at least he's acknowledged his mistake and has admitted he has to continue to try to learn to control himself better.

 

Some people on here seriously need to get off their high horses. God knows what some of you lot get up to in your everyday lives. I'm sure your all perfect yourselves. Jesus.

 

Well I dunno about you but I have this totally unrealistic expectation that a player on my team wouldn't punch an opposition player. This doesn't happen every week and you're the one living in "fantasy cuckoo land" if you're seriously trying to mount any sort of defence here.

[wormy]

Can't see how anyone can defend him. He's shown self-control in the recent past. If anything this proves he won't change, he's done well for a while now, and still he has to lash out. Just makes me feel like I'm always going to be watching him thinking 'when this time'.

 

Like someone said a page or 2 ago, can't believe people are attempting to applaud him for going 18 months without this. I like to think someone can control themselves a bit better than that.

 

How bad the punch itself was is irrelevant. He's a smart guy clearly, he knows that stuff like that's going to be highlighted instantly when it's him.