For me, the Joey Barton saga is now over. The club have handled the situation, dished out his punishment and have been shrewd in adding the disciplinary clause into his contract. I dont think we should waste another stroke of the keyboard on this matter and instead should now look forward to the new season, our new training ground, our new coaching and scouting set up, our new signings, our new planes and seeing Ali Faurlin back in a QPR shirt. One final note is I hope when we do eventually appoint a new captain, they wear the QPR shirt with the honour and pride of QPR legend Alan Mcdonald. R.I.P. Macca.
Very well put Mortlake. I would liek to say that the club does have the resources to let him rot but have chosen not to do so. I'm also convinced they could have negotiated his departure (I don't think it would have been a straighforward case of £12M or nothing). This suggests that the club don't see him as devisive in the dressing room or a negative impact on the sponsors brand (although the non-attendance of the trip to Malaysia might be seen as the punishment for that). I would feel sure that Mark hughes has been involved in deciding his ultimate fate too. They also acknowledge the family aspect of the club and obviously won't want to tarnish its name. The club might be trying to phase him out (ie get rid in January when clubs are more desperate and he'll be elligible to play) but I feel confident that the club will do/are doing everything on their terms and with the short and long term interests of Queens Park Rangers at heart.
It's over until he does the next very stupid and irresponsible thing in his growing list. A couple of stints in prison didn't seem to teach him much so it's hard to see how a fine and a ban are likely to have a bigger effect on him. When the time comes, it'll be interesting to see what constitutes a breach of the club rules serious enough to warrant the now-possible termination of contract.
