Mediawatch get it spot on about Twitter and Joey Barton

i wouldn't want that c**t anywhere near our club.

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A 'Second Chance'?
Since Barton got the attention of the Twitter world for a few hours yesterday by basically doing the equivalent of jumping up and down and shouting 'LOOK AT ME! LOOK AT ME!', and his subsequent turfing out by Newcastle, Mediawatch has noticed a troubling shift in opinion about yer man.

Assorted e-mails and other such missives have almost tried to paint Joey as some sort of working-class hero. Simply because he seems to be a few IQ points above the average grunt-level footballer, people seem in thrall to him.

The Daily Mirror's Darren Lewis said on Monday: 'If he doesnt get another club Joey Barton could always go into marketing. Cant remember the last time Twitter held its breath like this.'

A Newcastle fanzine editor is quoted in The Sun this morning as saying: "You have to admire both Kevin and Joey for coming out and telling the fans what a shambles Newcastle United is behind the scenes."

'His talent is not in doubt,' has been another popular refrain, and while he may be a fine footballer in theory, he's only actually displayed anything like that talent for one of his four years at Newcastle.

Those four years were of course interrupted by a spell in Strangeways, during which Newcastle continued to pay his wages. Compare that with Dave Whelan at Wigan, who sacked Marlon King before the judge's gavel had finished banging. The idea that Barton has been treated badly - an idea that he and his agent Willie McKay are trying to peddle - is laughable.

For those thinking that Joey deserves another chance, let us remind you of the number of second chances Barton has enjoyed...because many of you seem to have forgotten.

He stubbed a cigar out in someone's eye. His eye. He started a fight in a friendly match against Doncaster in 2004. He attacked a 15-year-old Everton fan (admittedly under some provocation) on another pre-season tour. He made Ousmane Dabo look like this, then earlier this year called Dabo a 'pussy' over the incident. And, of course, spent a couple of months inside for battering seven shades of something unpleasant out of a man near a McDonalds in Liverpool.

For any Premier League manager apparently willing to give Barton another 'second chance', remember how many of those he has tossed away.

Posted By: Ralf Scrampton, Aug 2, 13:25:52