The good the bad and the ugly. And then there's Joey Barton.
Over the years in the game of professional football (soccer, for you Americans) there have been more than a few unsavoury characters. George Best's sublime skills were almost overshadowed by his alcoholism and womanising, Roy Keane ended a fellow player's career with a challenge that he admitted was intended to cause harm and Lee Hughes served half of a six year sentence for causing death by dangerous driving - an offence made worse by him fleeing the scene. Add in Tony Adams, who drove into a wall whilst under the influence and serial addict Paul Merson (drink, drugs and gambling) and you have a motley collection of villains.
The current bad boy of English football is Newcastle United's Joey Barton, although describing him in those terms implies that he's a loveable rogue, who can be redeemed. He isn't.
Barton's misdemeanours began when he was still a Manchester City player. They include stubbing out a cigar in the eye of a youth team player whilst on a night out, running over a Liverpool fan in his car and being sent home from a pre-season tour of Thailand after an altercation with a fifteen year-old Everton fan. This was just the warm up.
After a quiet period, which lulled his club into a false sense of security, Barton really got into his stride, with a vicious attack in training, which left team mate Ousmane Dabo injured and unconscious. This was followed by an assault on a teenager outside a MacDonald's restaurant in Liverpool at 5.30 am on 27th December 2007. Merry Christmas.
Now Barton's appalling behaviour is catching him up with him. He served just under half of a six month prison sentence for the latter offence and was given a four-month sentence, suspended for two-years for the incident with Dabo. Jordan Spencer, Barton's yule-tide victim is suing for damages, as is Jamie Tandy, the youngster whose eyelid was used as an ashtray. On Friday 5th September, Barton is due to stand before an FA disciplinary committee, who are likely to impose a lengthily ban from the game, for the attack on Dabo.
Given all this, you'd think that no football club would touch Barton with a barge pole. Not so. Newcastle's owners wanted to sell him and there was at least one taker. However, he's staying put because manager, Kevin Keegan has publicly stated his support for the player.
It seems that in football, anything goes.
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