Barton stripped of captaincy and fined £575k

Will the muppet ever learn?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2012/jun/25/joey-barton-fined-wages-stripped-captaincy

Joey Barton has been stripped of the Queens Park Rangers' captaincy and warned his contract will be terminated for one more serious indiscretion following an internal review into his dismissal at Manchester City on the final day of last season.

Barton accepted he "deserved every punishment I received" after QPR's investigation into events at the Etihad Stadium on 13 May stopped short of sacking the 29-year-old but included a six week fine and exclusion from the club's pre-season tour of Asia.

On top of a £75,000 fine from the Football Association, Barton, on a similar sum each week at Loftus Road, will pay over £500,000 in total for elbowing Carlos Tevez, kicking Sergio Agüero and aiming a headbutt at Vincent Kompany as he exited City's title-winning contest in disgrace.

The midfielder received a 12-match ban from the FA last month and admitted on Monday that the suspension, plus the loss of the captain's armband, would hurt him far more than any financial penalty. But Barton has been left in no doubt that QPR will terminate the lucrative four-year contract he signed upon arrival from Newcastle United last summer should he err once again.

A club statement confirmed: "Following a full internal investigation, Queens Park Rangers Football club can confirm Joey Barton has been fined six weeks' wages and will no longer be club captain. The 29 year-old midfielder will also be absent from the club's pre-season tour of Asia in July. The club has also reached agreement with Barton that if he seriously breaches the club's disciplinary procedures again, the club reserves the right to terminate his contract."

Barton, who was arrested for affray earlier this month following a night out in Liverpool with his girlfriend, issued an unreserved apology. It read: "My behaviour was wrong and I accept the punishment that has been imposed upon me as a result. I apologise to the manager, my team-mates and of course the QPR fans for my actions. I also apologise to the Manchester City players, staff and supporters."

He later tweeted while on holiday: "I was reckless and deserved every punishment I received. Money comes and goes, it's not important to me. Losing the captaincy and missing 12 games, is what really hurts. I was stupid and that what happens when u do dumb things. I am confident ill bounce back. Cannot wait. That's all I have to say on the matter. I wish to put it behind me now and help QPR, once available of course, push on towards the top half."

The QPR chief executive, Philip Beard, insisted the club's sanctions were appropriate for Barton's eruption at City. He said: "It was important that we took our time to make sure we came to the correct decision, which I believe we have achieved.

"Joey's behaviour, which led to his red card at Manchester City, and his subsequent actions were completely unacceptable and we have made our feelings on this matter known to him. I am really pleased with the way in which the club and Joey have worked towards reaching a sensible conclusion and we fully believe he will respond to these sanctions in the correct manner."

 

lucky, he's still got a job

 

Any other line of work and I would be a sacking. The dick will never learn.

 

lol

 

Wow, no matter how much he's got, he's not going to like that.

£575k is a short sharp reminder to make sure it doesn't happen again. At least it'll make him think twice.

 

This, I think its a shame because in his last year here, he looked like he was learning from his mistakes but since he joined twitter he has been on a downward spiral and QPR are absolutely correct to sack him as captain. If you did that at work tomorrow you would probably get arrested and end up going to prison so why should he be any different.

 

They should have sacked him! Simple as that. It would happen in you behaved like that in any 'normal' job. Yes, it's an awful lot of money, but it's 6 weeks wages to him. Most people would take years to earn what he does in a month. He won't learn from that.

Captanicy being removed - nothing more than a slap on the wrists to somebody with his mentality.

The only way to have made an example of him would have been to tear up his contract and show him the door. They've missed the boat.

 

How would sacking him benefit QPR in any way? He'd get offered a contract from another Premier League club and they'd lose out on a transfer fee.

What he did wasn't even that bad anyway. The fuss that it's caused is way out of proportion to what actually happened. It was no worse than an average fight outside a pub or a nightclub.

 

Maybe they think what he gives them on the field is worth giving him another chance.

 

They'd save themselves £60k a week for a nutter who never learns.

What he did was mental. You can't play it down. And it's on te back of a history of these outbursts. You can't compare it to a Friday nigt brawl at a nightclub after beers, because he did it while 'working'. With the kind of money in football these and attendtion given to Premier Leagure players, they need to b role models. They are in the limelight and every lad wants to be like them. If they tink that is 'OK' behaviour, then what will happen?

Sorry, but no more excuses. He's had more than his fair share of chances and if I'd been at QPR, he'd be walking.

 

And like I said, he'd be off at some other PL club competing against QPR. There is absolutely no notable benefit to them by getting rid of him.

I'm not "playing down" what he did - I'm looking at it honestly for what it actually was. The first incident with Tevez was a reaction to Tevez hitting him. It's a sending off. Tevez should have gone too but since he's a media favourite he gets away with it. Not much to mention there.

The kick on Aguero wasn't nice but again not as bad as people make out. It's one that would sting for a bit but do little else. After that Kompany and the rest of the City players surrounded Barton and started shoving him and grabbing onto his head. In that sort of situation anyone would have lashed out. He didn't actually touch anyone either, which should be remembered.

The reality of it is that it's quite a small little scuffle that gets blown way out of proportion because it's Joey Barton. He could give shake someone's hand and people would be trying to get him banned for assaulting them.

As for him being "working" - Footballers "work" and standards of behavior has and always will be different to 'normal' people. I'm not happy about that either but it's the way it is.
If we're going to blame Joey Barton for not being a good role model then we also need to be looking at all the rappers who glamourise violence in almost every song they make, and all of the people involved in violent movies, games and TV shows as those are all far more damaging.

 

I agree there

 

Hit him where it hurts, suspend his Twitter account!

 

Lucky boy. At least he had the sense to accept it all with good grace.