Bigmouth Strikes Again

Apparently Joey Barton is a George Orwell fan. Further inspirations include George Washington and Morrissey. I know, pretty wacky, and on the face of it it appears as convincing as Rupert Murdoch claiming he is humbled. His Twitter account description reads something like this:

''I decree today that life is simply taking and not giving. England is mine and owes me a living''.

The Smiths - Still Ill



Do we care about Joey Barton as much as he thinks we do? Since his foray into Twitterland, in a blatant attempt to enhance a reputation that was (is) lower than an Arsene Wenger transfer bid, he has not been discreet in sharing his thoughts. This recent episode of Barton's incident-laden career appears to have begun following the departure of 'close-friend' Kevin Nolan last month, feelings compounded further by the January exit of Andy Carroll.

He may be quite rightly disillusioned by Newcastle's insistence of selling their prize assets, signifying a lack of ambition to progress as a club. Unfortunately he has utilised the unprofessional tactic of airing his forthright opinions via the modern medium of social media, specifically Twitter. If you follow @Joey7Barton you may have noted that his persona and character is a far cry from the troublesome, notorious one that he has developed throughout his career. In Twittersphere he comes across as highly literate, recently Tweeting ''Training done today, off to buy some books and have a coffee'', a lover of soulful lyrics of which the majority  are penned by The Smiths, politically motivated and aware and dare I say it, intelligent. It is somewhat surreal. So this is real Joey Barton, one that prefers tea to a Bacardi Breezer, and the poetry of Dylan Thomas to that of Ludacris?

People's memories are notoriously short. It appears that in modern society the ability to play football well is sufficient to make-up for any past indiscretion’s, no matter how serious. With Barton generally incident-free for the best part of a year and the re-brand process in overdrive, he is judged not on his numerous past misdemeanour's but on his stellar efforts on the pitch. After years of consigning him to the gutter, the media has now embraced Joey. He is news-worthy either way. When I think of Joey Barton I can't shake the visions of him savagely decking some lad in the street. Further villainy includes stubbing a cigar in the eye of a youth team colleague when at Citeh, an attack on team-mate Ousmane Dabo during a training session (in which he admitted causing 'Actual Bodily Harm') and the mid-match abdominal jab administered to Morten Gamst Pedersen. And there's more.

Another Newcastle fan revolt against the board is overdue, it's been at least 5 months after all, so maybe he has been rather shrewd in taking them on. He has included in various Tweets phrases underlying his passion for the club and the 'pride and honour in wearing the shirt' which will no doubt endear him further to the Newcastle faithful. Whilst the board are no saints, unfortunately it appears the NUFC fans are siding with Barton. In Geordie-land this means one thing: a 60,000 strong army of fans (who should surely be at work?) outside the stadium calling for Mike Ashley's head. 


In my opinion he deserves little sympathy for the situation he has created or any respect despite the grandest of efforts. He's hardly saved a kitten from a tree. Some may see this as harsh. I was impressed when following the MGP incident he admitted publicly to having serious anger management issues that he was striving to address.  Consequently discretion should be the order of the day. Most professionals would air such views behind close doors.

What cannot be argued is his contribution to NUFC on the pitch: no player assisted more goals from set-pieces in the league than him and Newcastle's win % without him was a big fat zero. In the space of 6 months the club has sold arguably their 3 most influential players in Andy Carroll, Kevin Nolan and Joey himself, assuming he leaves. It doesn't stop there, with talented left-back Jose Enrique expected to exit also, voicing his dissatisfaction in recent weeks in a similar Twitter tirade. He was fined a cool £100,000. With the season expected to begin with a negative mood surrounding St James' Park and a sizeable void of goals that is yet to be filled, this could well end up being a tough campaign for the Geordies. Maybe some value in backing them at 6/1 (across the board) to be relegated.

One team you can near-on guarantee he will not be joining is Wolves. An incident last season, involving utility donkey Greg Halford, resulted in Mick McCarthy bringing in a media law firm to educate the squad into use and potentials dangers of Twitter. Halford was on loan at Pompey but had returned to Molineux to view Wolves’ league match against Chelsea. He proceeded to Tweet ''With Steven Sidwell in the stands, read what you like into that''. The following day Sidwell signed for Fulham and not Wolves. I can only begin to imagine the hellish wrath incurred by Halford as a result. I imagine a telling off from Big Mick is at the Christian Bale end of the spectrum.

Although not banning it outright, you can tell that Big Mick is not a fan, labelling potential mis-users as 'numpty's' and 'twits'. ''Say it to my face, not Twitter'' is McCarthy's stance. Consequently, I can't see Joey heading to the West Midlands. Although imagine the graft in a midfield quarter of Stephen Hunt, Jamie O'Hara, Karl Henry and Joey Barton. Gritty.

In other news......

- Manchester United lose 8-2 to Marseille. People of Surrey, do not fret, as the composition of the 2nd half team included Fabien Barthez, David Ginola and numerous French celebrities. And Phil Jones.

- Stubborn Arsene Wenger decides to punish petulant booing fans by not signing Phil Jagielka and vowing to improve Sebastian Squillaci.

- Tottenham Hotspur attempting to sign numerous stars by generally keeping hush, hoping that they do not realise they failed to qualify for the Champions League.

- Fernando Torres has scored a goal.

- El Hadji Diouf still AWOL, lets hope he stays there.

- Liverpool threaten to lose 3 friendlies in a row 3-0. Recover from 2-0 down against Valerenga to win 3-2. One for Candy and a brace for Agger. Agger two two two.....

- In other news Liverpool's 19 midfielders to fight for their place. Good news for Charlie Adam.  Not so good for Stewart Downing.

Ok, see you then.