Pedersen praises Joey.
Posted on November 16th, 2010 | 61 Comments |
The well documented incident has been a talking point since it occurred, as Joey was caught clearly punching Pedersen in the stomach during Newcastle’s home loss to Blackburn.
Pedersen said he was happy to accept Barton’s apology and now wants to put it behind him. He spoke about his conversation with Joey;
“I couldn’t answer the phone at that moment but he left a nice message on my answering machine and I called him up the minute we had finished our team meeting.”
“Joey shows that there is more to him than what came out on the pitch the other day, and I really appreciate it. It’s not everyone who has the courage to call to apologise after such an episode, but Joey did without hesitation.”
“Both me and Joey are professional and fully agree to put this behind us, and that we can laugh about the whole thing next time we meet.”
Great reaction by Morten Gamst. Wouldn’t it be great if everyone could adopt that attitude on the matter. You don’t need me to tell you how much negative press this has got Joey over the past week.
It seems as if it’s water under the bridge now and Morten Gamst will have no problems shaking hands and sharing a joke with Joey when the pair meet again.
Toonsy quite correctly pointed out that Joey has been composed this season despite being a blatant target for the opposition, Wolves away being the best example.
I have a friend that described Joey as ‘scum’ after the incident. He claims Barton should quit football over the incident which I find very extreme. Though Joey still has obvious anger issues, on the whole he is certainly dealing with them a lot better these days. He’s in wonderful form, and long may it continue.
If we want to talk about ‘scum’ in football how about we look at the Celtic fans with their distasteful banners? That is scum.
I won’t get into Joey’s past all over again because we all know it and he’s no angel. I won’t even defend his actions against Blackburn because they were unnecessary. I will say that I hope people will take a leaf from Pedersen’s book and get over it and this admission from Pederson should act to draw a line underneath the whole affair.
Joey, for me, has been our player of the season thus far and it will be great having him back after his suspension.
Howay the lad!
Hands up to the guy, took some courage to do that. He admitted he still has anger problems but is trying his best to curb them. I agree he has been in brilliant form this season