Joey Barton, the Newcastle midfielder was today sentenced to 6 months in prison for assaulting a man and a 16 year old boy during the season of goodwill on Boxing day last year. He admitted to the charges (he was caught on CCTV) which included punching the man up to 20 times and of breaking the 16 year olds teeth minutes later. His excuse was having drunk 10 pints of lager and 5 bottles of beer and he is now citing a drink problem.
Barton is what Scousers refer to as a "no mark." He has plenty of form to support the incidents of Boxing Day and his excuses are paper thin; he was sent home from a pre-season tour after attacking a 15 year old Everton fan when Richard Dunne had to stop the attack. On that occasion he took anger management classes; at a Man City Christmas party he stubbed a cigarette out in team-mate Jason Tandy's eye. Since then he has managed to get into a fight with Ousman Dabo and effectively ended his career by giving him a detached retina.
Previous managers have colleagues have stood by him and done their bit to help when needed; Tony Adams, Stuart Pearce, David Moyes and now Kevin Keegan. It's time Barton learnt his lesson and realised that he is in a privileged position in the public eye. If he doesn't learn it now I suspect he never will and his future is mapped out for him. He will have to go some way to match his half-brother who is doing a 17 year stretch for his part in a racially motivated murder. Like I said, Barton is a no mark.
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