The dramatic transformation in mood and direction at QPR moved up another gear on Friday when Newcastle United midfielder Joey Barton signed a deal that will make him the club’s highest paid player in history.
Joey Barton, a 28-year old from Huyton in Merseyside, is one of the most controversial figures in English football today. This summary can neatly be split into the long list of disciplinary incidents that the press will focus on when reporting this signing, and the footballing ability that Neil Warnock wants him to provide for QPR.
On the pitch Barton has been in outstanding form over the past year for Newcastle United where he made 84 appearances and scored eight goals in four years after signing from his first club Man City for £5.8m in 2007. Barton was turned down by Everton, Liverpool and Nottingham Forest as a junior before flourishing at Man City where he won England Under 21 caps and became a mainstay of the side.
The other half of Barton is not so savoury, and almost entirely self inflicted. At Man City he missed a chance for a full debut when he was summoned from the bench during a game with Middlesbrough only to find he’d lost his shirt. Later he was sent off in the tunnel at half time of a game at Spurs for abusing old QPR favourite referee Rob Styles – City were 3-0 down at the time but won 4-3.
In April 2004 he stormed out of City’s Eastlands ground after being left out of the team for a game with Southampton, then in the summer he sparked a mass brawl with an ugly challenge in a friendly game at Doncaster and by the end of the year he was facing club disciplinary action for stubbing out a cigar in youth teamer Jamie Tandy’s eye at the club Christmas party after Tandy had tried to set fire to his shirt. In 2005, again under provocation, he attacked a 15-year-old Everton supporter while on a tour of Thailand and was sent home and enrolled in anger management classes. Then in 2006 he responded to taunting from Everton fans at the end of a game at Goodison by walking off the field with his shorts pulled down, baring his arse in their direction – he was fined £2,000 by the FA.
After England’s poor 2006 World Cup campaign he was openly critical of squad members who returned home and immediately released books on the experience. When he was subsequently called up for a match with Spain at Old Trafford Frank Lampard, author of one of the monotonous tomes which had attracted Barton’s ire, openly stated his disapproval at Barton’s comments. When Barton arrived for a team breakfast Lampard moved away from him to sit at another table to which Barton apparently responded: “Don’t worry, I wans’t going to steal your breakfast you fat prick.”
In May 2008 he was cleared of assault and criminal damage after a row with a Liverpool taxi driver dating back to March 2007. In summer 2007 he described some of his fellow City players as ‘substandard’ and subsequently headbutted Ousmane Dabo during a training session. Dabo pressed charges and Barton was given a four month suspended sentence and fine after pleading guilty. He was also banned for six matches and fined £25,000 by the FA.
In December 2007, after moving to Newcastle, he was arrested again for an assault in a McDonalds in Liverpool at 5.30am one morning. CCTV images showed him punching one man 20 times and breaking the teeth of another. He was sentenced to six months in prison and served 77 days. On his return he said he wanted to be a role model but after a sending off in a game at Liverpool and subsequent dressing room row with then manager Alan Shearer he was suspended by Newcastle for the rest of the season.
At the start of last season he was seen to punch Blackburn’s Morten Gamst Pederson in the chest resulting in another three game ban and this summer he was told he could leave Newcastle for nothing and made to train with the stiffs after criticising the running of the club on his prolific Twitter account.
He has signed a four year deal at Loftus Road, reportedly worth up to £80,000 a week, and takes on Lee Cook’s old 17 shirt. Whether he is available for tomorrow’ trip to Wigan is a matter of some conjecture – both Barton and Warnock stated he would be available in QPR Player interviews filmed on Thursday, but a delay in the deal today may have seen the paperwork filed after the noon deadline. Chances are we won’t know for sure until 12.30pm tomorrow.
“It's been quite a whirlwind, so to get things finally sorted and draw a line under it all is a great relief. The ambition of the club really impressed me. There's obviously a great set of lads here already and that's why they had such a great season in the Championship. The gaffer is talking about adding two or three more bodies and that, combined with the potential of the Club and the new owners' ambitions, bodes really well for the future." -Joey Barton
"He's coming here to show people what he can do. He wants to get back into the England team. He's very enthusiastic. People will say one or two things about him, but they've said stuff about me in the past too, so I won't worry about that. He's a winner. Even without the armband on, he's a captain every week. He's a lot better play than people give him credit for. Hopefully we can harness all his positive characteristics and get the best out of him. I think with Tony's backing and Amit coming back on board this is a really positive step for the Football club." -Neil Warnock
“This should be a great day for QPR. Think the right support has been given to our manager Neil Warnock.” @tonyfernandes
The transformation at QPR since Tony Fernandes completed his buyout of the club ten days ago has been absolutely remarkable – and it’s only likely to become more so as we tick towards the transfer deadline on Wednesday night. Three weeks ago QPR’s official spin machine was using Kieron Dyer’s long since finished England career and Jay Bothroyd’s single 15 minute appearance for his country almost a year ago to make their free transfer arrivals sound more impressive. Now, with Shaun Wright Phillips tipped to follow Barton into Loftus Road next week, we’re signing players who could actually play for their country this season while at Rangers.
In Barton’s case that ‘could’ can be changed to ‘should’ because Fabio Capello is so desperate for a player in his position that he is continuing to select Scott Parker despite him playing his football in the Championship – although that too is about to change. Barton was one of the stand-out performers in the Premiership last season as Newcastle consolidated their place back in the top flight after winning promotion. By rights he should be named in the England squad whenever he’s fit and pushing to be selected for the starting 11 more often than not. He should also, at 28, be signing for a club a good deal more established than us for a sizeable transfer fee.
The reason he’s not is because Joey Barton the footballer is only half the story. Rarely has there been a character like Barton in the history of the game, with an almost unprecedented ability to self destruct. He will know himself, because we’re reminded often enough that he’s actually quite intelligent contrary to what his behaviour may have you believe, that his actions over the years have restricted him from becoming that multi-million pound international midfielder. He’s created a situation where, aged 28 and in the form of his career, most clubs won’t touch him with a barge pole. It’s a waste, but he could do for QPR this year what Adel Taarabt did for us last. Both players are only here at QPR because they’re flawed individuals and one of the most intriguing parts of Barton’s move to Loftus Road is how they will fit into the same team and get on with each other. To put it in slightly starker terms and open up a sweeptstake opportunity – how long will it be before Barton sticks one on Adel?
You see with Barton the problem isn’t stupidity, or alcohol, or anything else other than temper. His list of previous offences is impressive but in almost every case he was provoked and it’s a simple case of not being able to control his temper. The cigar in the eye incident is the one levelled against him most often, a disgraceful and unforgiveable act that could have permanently disabled a young team mate. However a less reported fact in that story is that Barton only did it because said young team mate, Jamie Tandy, was actually trying to set Barton’s shirt on fire at the time. Similarly the attack on a 15-year-old Everton fan in a hotel in Thailand started after the youngster had abused Barton and kicked him in the shins. The incident with the taxi driver in Liverpool, the infamous fight in McDonalds that eventually saw him jailed and banned from the game – they all have this theme running through them of a disproportionate response to what initially started as an offence against him.
Barton doesn’t drink these days, and in fact spends most of his time quoting philosophers on Twitter. One more story about how intelligent and well read Joey Barton is and I’m going to blow my bloody brains out. He’s not a reformed character, because the problem wasn’t something he can reform – it was and remains his temper. On the opening day of the season against Arsenal the reformed Joey Barton responded to an obvious dive in the penalty area by Gervinho by picking the Arsenal man up by the throat and wrestling with him before then, ironically, cheating himself and hurling his body to the ground after a small slap on the side of the face. Had he responded in a normal way then he would have been the hero – stamped on by Alex Song behind the referee’s back and then almost conned out of a penalty by a play acting striker. Instead he again made himself the villain through his actions. He can Tweet about Isambard Kingdom Brunel until he’s blue in the face – the short temper and disproportionate response to perceived wrongs remains.
And so it comes down to whether you can overlook these obvious failings and focus on the football ability alone – as Neil Warnock is doing. Undoubtedly Barton is better than any player we currently have on our books and we stand a much better chance of staying in the Premiership with him than we would do without him. He’s also got plenty to prove, which is a quality Warnock likes in his signings. But is this enough?
This time last year I was writing articles to the effect that I’d rather finish tenth in the Championship without Marlon King than win the division with him. Ultimately we got the best of both worlds but on that occasion I couldn’t overlook that particular scumbag’s history, even if Neil Warnock believed he would bring something to our team. I’d have found it hard to go to QPR any more had he signed to be honest. Barton does have redeeming features while King is a thick, loathsome, piece of shit and that’s how I’m justifying this clear hypocrisy to myself. But to be honest the simple fact is Barton is a bloody good player so I’m more willing to ignore his previous misdemeanours. Fickle, hypocritical – I’m both of those things and more besides.
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