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Posted on June 5th, 2009 | 10 Comments |

Joey Barton: Should he stay? Or should he go?
Joey Barton: Should he stay? Or should he go?
Should he stay or should he go?

OK enough of the song titles….

Joey Barton, where to start? Forget his misdemeanours. Forget his unreliable temperament. Forget how little he’s actually played for us. OK, so that’s pretty difficult. Point being, can we afford to ignore these pressing issues and yet conversely can we afford not to? Is a man we paid dearly for in transfer fees and wages and arguably even more so in damaging publicity, really worth it? Let me begin by saying that once upon time I was a supporter of Mr Barton. I was lured by his obvious intelligence and articulation when speaking. I was accepting of his apparent remorse for past and present misdemeanours. I have since however, in addition to taking a continued disliking to him, decided that this is something we’ll forever make a loss on, one way or another.

The facts as they are –

  • Joey Barton has not proved his worth on the pitch other than in glimpses.
  • Joey Barton has not been convincing that he will behave such that he’s sufficiently available on the pitch.
  • Joey Barton is a poor advert for our club when we need some shining positive beacons.
  • Joey Barton is being paid a hefty wage despite all of the above.

Barton has been quoted as saying –

“I’m looking forward to going back to the club in July,” . “I just hope I’m welcome. My intention is to stay with the club so I’m concentrating on getting back to peak fitness. My intention is to help Newcastle get back into the Premier League.” . “If Alan Shearer takes the job and he doesn’t want me, then my hands are tied,” .

Personally, I like to put faith in people and have that faith rewarded. In the short term, I don’t believe Barton has the capacity to fulfill that. Too many false promises and hollow words. There is potential there and undoubtedly he could be a hero in The Championship and perhaps the club, at some point, could have played a part in his ultimate rehabilitation. As current circumstances stand, however, I believe the club in it’s entierity is in enough trouble without having to nursemaid someone with obvious off-field as well as on-field issues. Rightly or wrongly, I’d prefer he was someone else’s player and someone else’s problem.

NUFCBlog Author: bowburnmag bowburnmag has written 234 articles on this blog.

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Comment on this post

10 Responses

  1. Worky-u think we will come up next year?
    Team 4 next year:
    -Harper-
    Beye-bassong-taylor-naughton
    Lovenkrands-barton-butt-duff
    Beckford-carroll

  2. Barton is off the wall. He needs to have a long look at the man in the mirror and decide if he wants to change his attitude and become a half decent footballer or not. If not then we should tell him to beat it.

  3. After his prison spell I’d hoped Barton really had learnt his lesson and I was prepared to give him another chance.

    I wouldn’t exactly say I was ‘happy’ about it as I was already beginning to think he was becoming a liability but, you know, I could tolerate going with the flow and seeing how it turns out.

    His sending off against Liverpool was dreadful but what finished him for me was his row with Shearer. A player disgraced like that should keep his mouth shut, listen to the manager and take the heat he’s due.

    I had hoped that he’d learnt at least that much, but apparently not.

    He’s a good midfielder but as far as I’m concerned he’s had his last chance.

  4. Terrific piece. I tend to agree that we will lose either way…

    My personal view is that we should hold off on making decisions on any players future until the club is stabilised. Obviously the out of contract players should be on their bikes for financial reasons. My concern is the lack of time available to build a quality squad in time for next season, or, at least in time for the closing of the window. We need to hang onto our ‘small squad’ and add to it, before allowing too many players to leave.

    As troublesome as Joey is, he’d be a cracking player in the CC. Then again, all year we’ve been saying, “if only we could just get Barton on the pitch…”. Then what? He’d break a few legs and see a few cards.

    Living in Australia, Andrew Symonds is big news here. Getting sent home from the Twenty20 World Cup following a series of indiscretions. Whilst it may not be fair to compare two persons in such a manner, some people to appear to have an inherent problem in respecting authority or natural order.

    Great blog guys. Love the spin you lot are putting on articles. There’s a quirk to it. Spoilt for choice now Ed is staying on.

    Cheers

  6. There’s only so many chances you can give someone. We can no longer afford to have this huge Risk of Joey Barton exploding either on or off the pitch…..time to wave goodbye.

    He is simply not value for money.

    See ya joey

  7. Well Mr.Barton was in Newcastle yesterday, god knows what for, but i would imagine he was having talks with the club, ironic that he put his nicey nice statement out yesterday morning.

    Seen him and a friend at central station 8ish last night going for train (with golf clubs) but to be honest, i very much doubt he was back here for a cheeky game of golf.

    I dunno with him, i want him to do well, i want to see that spark hes got and frustration to turn things around in a game, i want him to be able to turn the corner and prove to himself aswel as all his doubters that he can do it. But on the pitch its come so few and far between during his time with us, and his off the field activities…well just nothing needs to be said about that.

    As much as id like him to do well, and try and have faith in him, i just cant see the worth to the club on a grande scale in having a time bomb on and off the field.

    Maybe he just needs one more chance? maybe i said that the last time…..and the time before as well.

  8. Alanmc09 says:
    June 5, 2009 at 1:12 am

    “Worky-u think we will come up next year?”

    Alan, I’m sitting on the fence there (a bit)!

    There’ll have to be a HUGE reorganisation with lots of new players, and it will time for them to gel. Of course, it could all go well and we could get promoted straight away (hope so), but it may be through the playoffs after a shaky start and a late surge, and we may not. In many respects it’s harder for a “big” club like ourselves or Leeds than it is for a middling club like Birmingham City or Watford because of the reorganisation involved. I AM sure that we’ll be back up eventually, but I don’t think that we should just expect it straight away and look at it like a “cakewalk”.

  9. Good player, but theres too much baggage. This affects the morale of the team, and the team always comes first. It should anyway.