…which isn't going to be easy considering how much venom one side has shown! First of all, my opinion is that the supposed 'headbutt' wasn't worthy of a red card BUT I do think Barton gave the officials the opportunity to make a mistake. What he DID do though is blatantly swing an elbow towards two Norwich players in the lead up which for some reason, the BBC failed to show. I however will show it later! THEY were worthy of a red card so maybe they gave red for the wrong incident. Totally understand why the red card was given though - there was definitely intent on two or three occasions to do harm. Concentrating solely on the supposed headbutt, at the time and in real time it certainly looked like a headbutt from Barton and I wasn't surprised at all to see a red card produced but I think after seeing numerous replays from different angles, it seems to be more of a prod from Barton. However, what an absolute tool for doing it. The incident was entirely instigated by Barton. Where I think the major issue is and seems to have been slightly ignored as fans argue about who cheated or not, is how the officials came to the resulting red card decision. THAT is where the controversy lies. It looked like the ref saw it - he was practically looking straight at it, but he didn't stop the game. Why? The linesman didn't flag for anything. Why not? He seemed to award the red card. Or did the fourth official give it? The arguments with the ref which followed show players complaining of an elbow rather than a headbutt and most of the fracas between players was actually down to the foul AFTER the 'headbutt' by Simon Lappin which should have been a yellow card. What has annoyed me the most though is that only one view of the incident has been shown on MotD and it only features the 'headbutt'. As shown below on my link, there are other views where there is a whole host of things that Barton did before the alleged headbutt which kicked it all off. In the context of all that, Barton was clearly treading a fine line and seemed ready to explode. First of all, he smashed an elbow in Zak Whitbread's direction, before turning and lumping Bradley Johnson with the other elbow. Then followed a trip by Johnson before Barton barged into him. THEN Barton definitely lent his head into Johnson's face, whose reaction was hardly as extreme as Barton's frankly despicable fall to the floor against Arsenal's Gervinho earlier in the season so he simply has NO grounds for complaint in my opinion. Live by the sword, die by the sword Joey. Here is the video of the elbows preceding the red… (15 seconds onwards) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=deC9cFYTPNY Talking of MotD, the BBC seem to have a Barton-love-in at the moment. Has there ever been a footballer who has become so well known despite having such a low level of ability and obscene disciplinary record? Why the fascination??? They can't wait to interview him or get him on their sofas... Anyway, back to the incident, it is difficult to tell if there was contact but Johnson's 'flick' was certainly exaggerated. As the game proceeds, there aren't many complaints by Norwich players towards the referee. Johnson eventually goes to the ref claiming an elbow AFTER the game is stopped for the Lappin foul. Grant Holt remonstrates with the linesman AND the referee NOT to send Barton off. In my opinion, QPR's argument, if they feel they have one, should be with the officials and the officials only who gave the red card for completely the wrong incident. Johnson's reaction did not make the refs mind up. He didn't see his reaction. At the end of the day, the person who got Barton sent off is Barton himself. The bloke is a prize A muppet and unfortunately his manager is likewise. To me, it seems that anything to distract people from how badly they are doing on the field will be chomped on. Warnock's laughable comments re: Van Persie at the weekend were the most stupid I've heard from any football manager, EVER. He should be charged for those comments. Who does he think he is?! Has he ever seen Helguson play? This is the man who allegedly ordered his players to pretend to be injured so that a match could be abandoned when they were losing and down to 8 men through indiscipline. This is a man who constantly brings the game into disrepute. As for the game, yes it obviously turned the game in our favour to anyone outside viewing in, although I would argue that Norwich controlled the opening minutes before the goal and after - QPR only had a few touches of the ball in the City half. The goal came out of the blue and in my opinion the better team would have won regardless of the red card and the better team were Norwich by some distance before the red, despite being a goal down. Credit though to QPR in the 2nd half who I thought played brilliantly for 25 minutes and put us under immense pressure. Wright-Phillips, not a player I rate, was a key player for them and it makes you wonder why he didn't start. Maybe blame the manager??? QPR, spurred on by their 'injustice', played a million times better without Barton and I doubt they would have played that well had the Barton incident never happened. At the beginning of the season, Norwich were the ones being called 'naive' by 'experts' on MotD as the opposition used so-called 'clever' tactics to win penalties, free kicks and get our players sent off. At the time I said if we didn't start to use these so-called 'tactic's then we would go down. Stoke and West Brom fans agreed that once a team learns how to use these 'tactics' they will survive in the top flight. A little top-flight know-how. They were right. And we have learned. Lets face it, if it was such a shocking decision, Warnock would appeal against the red. He isn't. He gave a lame excuse why. But then that's Warnock for you. Full of excuses. We deservedly took all 6 points. We are the better team.
One way to put it also is... What if at the same ground the same match and same time but Johnson went and done what barton had done, your telling me that qpr fans wouldnt want a red card dished out... And if he hadn't then after the game Colin would have come out and splouted I cant believe the ref hasn't seen it or sent him off etc etc etc. I still say from the angles of the camera there wasnt a headbutt but in my eyes there was movement of joey towards Bradley and in that one and only moment the ref or whoever sees it they have to make a decision and I think 9 out of 10 refs would have made the same choice.
there was definitely intent. the lack of an actual 'headbutt' is why i state it being a harsh red card, seeing as the decision of the referee clearly indicated he had given it for a 'headbutt'. fact is, barton would have rolled around on the floor had the boot, or rather the head, been on the other foot... i mean, err... neck! he certainly has form... (30 seconds in) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lboF3iWdYzw&feature=related
The laws are clear and simplistic enough. Although Joey Barton is far too 'simplistic' to comprehend them. If you raise a hand above neck height as in a punch, slap or throttling manoeuvre - not necessarily deck the opponent, you'll get sent off. Likewise head butts or similar aggression using the head as a weapon. The most disappointing thing for me is how a large group of QPR fans can see no wrongdoing by their player - actual contact with Johnson or not, and are vilifying Norwich as the bad guys in all of this. Great post, Supers
We have to understand that QPR fans are expecting much more from their club than we are. Mr Lotus has gone in with all the media coverage, his enjoyment of the limelight and the thought that big bucks are going to be spent. The fact is they have disappointed their own fans with their performances and they must have thought they had 3 points coming yesterday. The fact is they were outplayed for the majority of the game apart from 15 miutes after half time when they dominated. I put on the match link that with all our possession we were making hard work of winning it. QPR fans are lashing out because they feel aggrieved but it just isn't us in 9th or yesterdays game that riles them. Its that they are just above the drop and I guess Warnock might find out soon how his employers value his input into the club. I couldn't give a hoot if Barton never plays another game. He is a bully boy who can't back it up. Remember his squawling against Gervinho. "He punched me" was bollocks, it was a slap and thats what bullies are like. He isn't even that good a player. His career is nosediving down the clubs and he han't much further to go. Anybody who stubs out a cigar in somebodies eye wants locking away. Not given 20K a week or whatever he gets.
cromer we aren't the bad guys in all this, thats for sure. we were the bad guys at bolton when tierney went down but this was totally different. joey barton has been playing the game for a long while and warnock has been a manager for longer than i've been alive. even the crappest of crap managers will tell his players before the game to 'try and get under barton's skin and get a reaction' - you're absolutely kidding me if you don't think warnock says that to HIS players too, to get a reaction from certain characters... and there you have it. johnson slightly exaggerated but he didn't make a song and dance about it. barton was the only player who couldn't cope and as usual, barton is the plum who has cost his team. they could have beaten us yesterday. who was their best player? wright-phillips. why was he on the bench? poor management. i can't remember the last time a warnock team beat norwich - and we've had some awful teams during that time. he's way, way out of his depth and i predicted he was the most likely to be out of his depth at the start of the season
good post redruth i think you are bang on with your assessment of qpr. their fans must feel slightly let down. they may not say it but they have an owner who talks the talk, but as yet, may not walk the walk. delia and mcnally turned fernandes down so he can;t exactly be 'all that'! that first 30 minutes yesterday, despite us being behind, we were in total control - they barely crossed the half way line apart from for their goal, which was taken very well. they are well short of our squad in terms of quality in my opinion, despite most probably ALL their players earning more than any of ours. somehow, the 'operation global brand qpr' may well end in tears, as it does at all smaller clubs who get ideas above their station... ipswich *cough* town *cough*
i read a report of fernandes wealth some time ago. he is very rich in businesses and property owned (air asia) but not that cash rich now he has invested in the purchase of qpr, so they may not be spending mega in this transfer window, though he may go out on a limb and chance it.
i read that too. he is actually only worth about £160m - thats more than enough for me but isn't delia worth £70m, and she is a poor millionaire... expect loans
The QPR fans are now calling for warnocks head, maybe they can get Joey to take it off with a better placed headbutt than yesterday!
maybe, just maybe, their fans will realise where the blame for that defeat TRULY lies... with the manager's inability to change the match in his favour. lambert did. we didn't play great and they could have beaten us
Going on their forum, it seems to be the case that people recognise that they have a squad of good players but NW can't blend a team or get his tactics right. He is not a PL quality manager unlike ours who clealry is of high quality.
Tarabt was more or less anonymous yesterday. He did a great piece of footwork in our corner late on and then hit his cross straight at a defender. Faurlin flitted in and out like a butterfly and to be honest apart from a superb shot and goal, Barton was anonymous until the drama. Derry looked their best player for much of the first half breaking up our attacks and passing to a team mate. That sums them up. Promise but not doing the basics right. We let them off the hook a bit by overpassing from left to right back to left rather than what Pilkington did in the first half and Johnson kept trying, which flattered them. I thought after Bolton, they were the worst we have played all season.
agree 100% with that redruth good free kick from taarabt though and an equally good save by ruddy. sadly details such as that moment of high quality football have been forgotten about...
I like how NW is considering not to appeal against the red cos he has no faith in the system! Right-o what ever you say colin...
It seemed a bit ill tempered game leading up to the sending off, Barton raise his elbow twice in a lot of peoples eye's that's violent conduct, but let's put this one away or we'll have the QPR fans on here whittling on about it like a group of old ladies. So let's put it this way Joey acted like a twat and got sent off there is no argument on that one.
Can I suggest that anybody professing to be as impartial as possible, who then proceeds to judge some as "a muppet", is either an ironic genius or a simpleton. Joey Barton is a cringeworthy human-being at times, but I think it takes a real "muppet" to not accept that his behaviour has improved a great deal since his earlier troubles. Perhaps tweeting bullchat has taken away much of the time he'd spend doing anti-social things... The OP is moronic if he thinks the media love him, though. Looking at one paper today calling him a bad-boy with his FIFTH red-card (that was the newspapers caps locking, not mine by the way)... Yeah, five reds in a career let them feel justified in criticizing him, and failing to highlight the pathetic nature of the dismissal yesterday. Barton has a perfect right to be upset about the red-card, as do the QPR fans, and I don't think it's out of line to say they would have been in better shape to beat you with 11 men. The worst thing about this whole saga is Norwich goading QPR fans and vice versa, grow the **** up.
They do say that things even them selves out over a season and tbh, it rightly did in that game! Bartons card may or may not be justified in which ever way you look at it... But QPR were lucky they ended the game with 10 cos helguson should have seen a straight red for his terrible challenge on drury!!
