Hughes urged to ditch Barton as captain

12/01/2012
by David McIntyre

Paul Parker has urged his former team-mate Mark Hughes to strip Joey Barton of the QPR captaincy.

Parker, a popular skipper during his time at Loftus Road, insists sacked boss Neil Warnock was wrong to give the armband to Barton following the controversial midfielder’s move to west London.

Hughes will be without the suspended Barton for his first two matches in charge, after which time he is likely to have signed at least a couple of influential players.

And Parker said: “I think ‘Sparky’ should take the captaincy off Barton.

“I hope he brings in someone who’s earned the right to be captain – someone who knows how to conduct himself off the pitch as well as on it.

“I don’t see what Barton did to warrant being made captain. I totally disagreed with Warnock’s decision to give it to him.

“Leave Barton to get on with being what he is, which is a half-decent Premier League player.

“I’m quite happy to eat humble pie if he proves to be more than that, but I just don’t see it.”

Parker, who played alongside Hughes at Manchester United, is also hoping the new Rangers manager can get the best out of Adel Taarabt.

He believes Warnock was too quick to sideline the Moroccan after Taarabt struggled to adapt to the Premier League.

“I was extremely disappointed with the way Warnock handled Taarabt this season,” said Parker.

“He should remember that one man got QPR out of the Championship: Adel Taarabt.

“He’s a very talented player. Hopefully Sparky can nail him down and get the best out of him.

“Taarabt’s got as much talent as Paul Gascoigne with the ball at his feet, but he doesn’t have Gazza’s mentality when he’s not got the ball.

“Working with Mark Hughes will be good for him in my opinion. He can make him a more complete player.”

http://www.westlondonsport.com/qpr/hughes-urged-to-ditch-barton-as-captain/?



Give this man a prominent pundit role, seldom have someone talked so much sense in such a short space of time!

Keep 'em coming Paul

 

Have to say this is a classic "Leave Barton to get on with being what he is, which is a half-decent Premier League player."

 

I can see where he is coming from but it would be better to do it next season, If I had to give the arm band to anyone else other than Joey, it would be Luke Young

 

Yeah, said it on another thread that keeping Joey captian would probably be the wisest choice, for now.

 

Couldn't of said it better myself
Paul Parker is totally right here IMO
It comes from a fantastic football player who I believe is one the best English defenders of all time

Barton and Warnock got a lot of things wrong re Taarabt and some very dim ****s believed the stuff they put out Well one has paid the price let hope the other one ****s it up for himself as well . Parker sums him up 100% half decent ... The other half is very poor

Taarabt Tevez SWP that enough to put the ****s up any team above us

 

Yeah, what a slap in the face.

 

Never mind Paul Parker... Keep 'em coming Norway!!

Thing is we R not only QPR, we R possibly also in transition from reconditioned Ford Cortina to something as yet undefined but more modern, slick and sporty.

Imho Barton was the right man for the rougher, in-yer-face' NW model - but we just couldn't push-start the ****er! Waiting to see what Hughes rolls out - but IF it were to be something with Tevez / Samba / Santa Cruz type features, I agree with PP, we probably wouldn't want Joey at the wheel!

**** me. Am I dreaming talking like this? Hulse was on the bench when we were getting mullered by the fakes a few days ago... Nurse!!

 

Put it this way then. He didn't do it alone. But take Adel out of the equation and there's no way we would be playing United and Liverpool now!

 

Bloody hell....I could have written that myself!!!

 

I would encourage Hughes to ditch Barton full stop. He's not conducive to good team morale and it's only a matter of time before the next 'incident'.

Whilst I think the time was right to change Warnock, had JB not been sent off against Norwich (and had we held onto a draw v. Sunderland) another four points might just have been the difference between Neil staying or going. Fine margins in this league.

 

Barton is staying - any thoughts to the contrary are just wishful thinking on your part.

Reasons:

1) Hughes has made him captain publicly - he won't go back on his first decision so quickly unless he is given a footballing reason to.
2) Barton is one of the few Premier League players we have. Even if Parker considers him 'half-decent', having a half-decent Premier League player is better for us in our current position than a dozen 'talented' Championship-level players.
3) Nobody else will want to buy Joey Barton at present.
4) It'll cost too much to pay him off.
5) With Faurlin out, fact is we need him to come back after his suspension and lock down that midfield area for us.

Simples. I'm not his biggest fan, but this is simple logic.

 

Exactly.

 

This.

Per usual you're right on the money Willy

 

Yeah, I don't think Barton has done anything since becoming captain to justify taking it off him - the three match ban was harsh in my view, although Barton is naive if he thinks opposing players won't play act to get him penalised - because Barton has done the same to other players.

As for Parker's sympathy for Adel, it has to be remembered that Adel's position, having been a major part of why QPR went up to the Prem, was that he wanted out of the club asap!

 

Such old news!!

 

Which is probably why Goldie used the words "it has to be remembered"?

 

We need Barton all right, especially now we have lost Ale. We also need Adel to create something for us. Last few games when Adel was back and playing well I didn't notice any friction between him and Barton - hope it stays that way - but watching on television I may have missed it, was there any?

 

As Warnock found out we're not in the Championship any more, no assists and no goals this season suggests Adel might be on his way back there with Neil!

Let's get some proven premiership players in