Joey Barton on Newcastle

No idea if this has already been posted, straight from Barton's new website:

A new club and a new start

When my time at City had run its course, I headed up to sign with Newcastle. I felt I had a better chance of winning things with Newcastle and I really fancied working with Sam Allardyce.
I’d heard good things about him from other players and you couldn’t fault the job he’d done with Bolton. I was ready to put everything that had happened at City behind me and have a new start.
I joined a team with players like Michael Owen, Mark Viduka, Shay Given and Obafemi Martins. I couldn’t help but think we had a decent chance of a run at a European place and doing well in the cups. Back then, Arsenal, Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool, were very much ‘The Big Four’, but there was a real feeling around the place that this Newcastle team could push them all the way, and maybe just nick a place in the Champions League. I’d gone for a lot of money, and really wanted to show the fans what I could do, and maybe have a go at getting myself into the England set-up.
Injuries. Bans. Trouble at the Toon.

I didn’t quite work out that way though! In a pre-season game against Carlisle I broke my fifth metatarsal and was out for months. I spent 77 days in prison for assault. Then, after a brief comeback, the FA banned me for six matches for the Dabo incident. I came back for the derby against Sunderland: I got loads of coins thrown at me as I warmed up and we went onto lose 2-1. I only had about a month’s football before a crunching (but perfectly good) tackle from Lee Catermole put me out for a couple of months with a medial ligament injury. I came back in January, played twice more and broke another metatarsal and was out for another three months.
Then when I finally got back to fitness, I got a rush of blood and clattered Xabi Alonso with a late tackle. So that was that. I was banned for three games by the FA for that tackle. And then I was banned for the rest of the season by Newcastle for pointing out a few home truths to Alan Shearer and Iain Dowie.
Relegation. Promotion. And a sad farewell.

It turns out that relegation wasn’t such a bad thing for Newcastle. We gelled as a team, got a decent manager in Chris Hughton and found our feet and our confidence. For the first few matches anyway – I bust my foot again against Plymouth and was out until mid-April. I came back for the last seven games of the season and helped the team finish the season as Champions. But I don’t feel that I deserved the Championship medal that I got that season. Even though I played games, scored goals and created opportunities, it just doesn’t feel right. I was just a small part of it. I didn’t earn it the way that players like Kevin Nolan or Fabricio Coloccini did.
That next season, the first one back in the Premiership with Newcastle, was probably the best of my career. I played regularly. The team was playing pretty well. I had no major injuries and I wasn’t getting lots of bans and punishments. Perhaps the highlight was coming back from 4-0 down against Arsenal at St James’ Park. I scored two penalties, Leon Best snaffled a goal and Cheik Tiote hit a screamer. Four all. Job done. Great day.
Despite a decent first season in the top flight, a 12th place finish and being one of their best players that year – things didn’t end well with Newcastle. They were selling their best players (Andy Carroll, Kevin Nolan, Jose Enrique) and I couldn’t keep my discontent to myself. So after lots of posturing and nonsense by the chairman and the board, I was told I could leave on a free transfer. To this day, I look back on my time at Newcastle with great pride and emotion. I loved playing in front of all those Geordies and I’ll always have a soft spot for the black and white stripes.


Clear dig at Big Al there, no mention of 5-1

 

poor old Joey... has a pop at everyone but himself.

 

He had his faults but I must admit I liked the guy.

 

When did he write this? Surely he still can't believe that we were 'selling our best players'? Jose wanted out and Carroll was a no brainer, the standard of players that replaced them is ludicrous. Silly Joey. I also like two word references to prison, bans, sendings off etc etc. Penis.

 

Last summer there was huge discontent about Nolan etc leaving... You've just replaced them very well and moved on!

 

He wrote this recently, website only just gone live. I still can't help liking him.

 

Sorry...... I can't help it. I still like Joey immensely.

 

How ironic that nobody will ever be able to be anything but philosophical about his career!

If anything, some of the admiration I had for him has been slowly eroding away again since he left. I wish that appearance with Paxman had have been after the sending-off incident vs Man City! They'd probably have brought him on like Hannibal Lecter...


He just seems like a vengeful, hateful little chap again, whose mouth and idiocy has hampered his professional career and his life in general. His ramblings on twitter make him at once the worst internet forum warrior, and Eric Cantona karate-chop all in one... I'm glad he's gone, and I'm just astounded by the amazing management that kept him on the leash while he was with us! Hats of to Chris especially!

 

"They were selling their best players (Andy Carroll, Kevin Nolan, Jose Enrique) and I couldn’t keep my discontent to myself. "

Doesn't have the bollocks to admit he was wrong and that our recruitment policy turned out to be brilliant, loved him for his performances his last season here, but he does come across as a delusional, self important bellend

 

I think his lack of self awareness really has cost him a decent, consistent top flight career. Not a champions league quality player and England regular as some seem to think but a decent premier league player like say, Styilian Petrov or Danny Murphy. The problem is his apologies are insincere he truly doesn't see what he does wrong, for example he quite recently (an year or so ago) said on the Alonso incident that he was a "play actor who's had a hand in getting a lot of players sent off". Does he really believe that he would've got away with diving in towards someone who was in the corner flag and going nowhere fast? He's a self-aggrandizing prick who thinks he's far more intelligent and articulate than he actually is.

 

At the time an awful lot of us were saying (or thinking) exactly the same thing. Isn't hindsight wonderful!

 

Agree. At that moment in time, you couldn't blame Barton, or the others. A lot of us were feeling disillusioned by the transfer policy to be fair. Yes, it has turned out well, but we could never ihave seriously magined that losing Carroll, Barton, Nolan + Enrique and bringing in some relatively 'unknown' (to me anyway) players from across europe would be the right step.

Of course, I'm delighted to have been proven wrong. But at the same time, I bear no grudge on the players that left us. Would welcome the likes of Carroll + Jose back any time.

 

I've got a soft spot for him, because he can be funny at times, and when he keeps his head down and just plays he's decent. But his pseudo intellectual bullshit is annoying and he's not half as clever as he thinks he is. And as others have said, he just can't ever admit he's wrong about anything.

Shame really, because if he was a little bit more professional, he probably could have achieved much more.

 

I like the guy ...demons and all. there is a refreshing honesty (even if its a flawed honesty..but we all have that about ourselves occasionaly) about him that I like. And unlike the vast majority in his position, he actuualy says things that potentially 'rock the boat', rather than keep his head down and say whats convenient/what people want to hear ..and calls it how he sees it.. makes a refreshing change to me..warts n all

we need more people like him..saying things as they see it rather than yet another PR approved banality