Aye the cigar incident is a famous one, but quite often a lot the facts of it are missed out...The lad was a youth player at the time and is usually referred to as a child, but Barton was only a year and a half older. The lad set fire to the back of Barton's shirt, Barton turned round, saw red and reacted...That youth player has since gone on to Prison himself for stabbing his pregnant girlfriend with a fork and beating her in front of their daughter (who was a toddler at the time)
Not justifying it, but its far more understandable when there's facts attached.
The fight with Diabe seemed to me like something that blew up from a nothing incident into a serious enough fight, although I'm sure things like that happen (to a less serious degree) quite often in football.
The fight that put him in prison is nothing short of mindless thuggery. He was an idiot, and has admitted as much himself, but he's done his time and is now eligible for work, as would any other 'criminal' be once they're released...The only issue is he's a footballer who makes millions.
I can understand why you'd say it, and honestly, there have been times (when he went to prison) when I really didn't want him in our team, but he does seem to have turned a leaf and after following him on twitter for a while, he seems to be an intelligent, decent enough lad!