Barton takes the free kicks, corners, throw-ins, and now the Armband!

Posted on April 6th, 2011 | 72 Comments |

Barton: Announced as captain by Pardew
Barton: Announced as captain by Pardew
With Captain Kevin Nolan picking up his 10th yellow card v Wolves in our great win at SJP on Saturday, and hence the mandatory 2 game ban, and also Alan Smith out with a long term injury, it’s come to pass that our battling Midfielder and many fan’s ‘player of the season’, Joey Barton, has been told he’s going to be entrusted with the Captain’s armband, at least for the next couple of games.

I guess it could’ve gone to Fabricio Coloccini, with him being a very experienced Argentinean international and ever present. But I tend to think Alan Pardew is trying to do what a lot of managers try by giving the armband / responsibility to the player that has the drive, determination and passion that the Captain needs to have. I’m not suggesting Colo doesn’t have said attributes, more that it is the perfect opportunity to allow Joey Barton to step up and show the football world how far he has come since his much reported brushes with authority. Plenty of footballers have been ‘made’ in such circumstances. For Joey to get this honour is a big step for Alan Pardew, but I, for one, think it’s been coming for some time now. The lad never shirks responsibility on the pitch and has shown immense patience over this season, sometimes up against great odds and provacation.

Some will say it’s part of the ‘buttering up’ underway to get him to sign on the dotted line of a new contract, it could be. But it also shows what everyone at the club thinks of his input since regaining full fitness this term and his ability to motivate the rest of the team. It will also force opposing managers, players and more especially, referees and even the odd pundit to reassess their built in and often out of date attitude towards him.

Joey will be speaking up for the team on the pitch and will be called over by refs to discuss what happens in games. A far cry from the obvious target for the hardknocks of the game attempting to goad him into reacting to their foulplay, or referees that take the easy option and issue soft free kicks or hand out nonsense yellow cards when Joey makes a tackle.

Just because it’s Joey Barton.

I’ve always thought that Joey would make a great captain and he’s just the sort of guy you’d want to line up beside, going into the the white heat of a Premier League match. Joey still has a way to go to turn around what plenty out there want to perpetuate about him. We’re going to get loads of raised eyebrows and worse, no doubt? But this could be the start of a whole new chapter for the lad.

One this writer welcomes.

He must feel very proud to be given this opportunity, but at the same time, he thoroughly deserves it.

It could be the making of him!

What do you reckon?

Howay the Lads!

NUFCBlog Author: CLiNT FLiCK Cut me in half & it'll say Newcastle United F.C. just like a stick of Black 'n' White rock! CLiNT FLiCK has written 42 articles on this blog.

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72 Responses

  1. It is a great decision to make him captain because he deserve to wear that armband..

  2. Here here!

    Let’s hear it for or against, the ‘one & only’ Joey Barton.

    Love him or loathe him he’s turned his life around, long may it continue.

    Well done Joey!

    ;)

  3. Great choice and to me an obvious one,along with Tiote the most influential player in the team.On a lighter note, looking at your headline,do you remember when Geremi used to take all the free kicks, corners etc. What a joy it was watching him never getting a ball past the 1st defender.

  4. It had to be either him or Harper with Nolan and Smith both missing and i am never that keen on a keeper being captain . Its great to see that he has got his head sorted to such an extent that he can be made skipper , now for the contract extention and an England call up together with Nolan . i am just gutted that Best is ruled out for the rest of the season just when he was starting to show that he can do a job at this level .

  5. Mick G,
    aye, laugh a minute that was.

    :)

    Now we have Joey showing how it should be done.

    ;)

  6. Axel,

    agree fully mate.

    Not keen on ‘keepers being capt. either, too far back off the play.

    Aye,
    gutted about Best too, it was just starting to come good for the lad. But at least he’s done something worthwhile now, which will take a bit of the pressure off of him.

  7. CLiNT FLiCK your right about the pressure being off of him and he can at least start pre season with a lot of the doubters off his back . Hopefully he will be fit to start the pre season and he has proved to be at least a good squad player , i have a feeling with an extended run in the side he can show us even more than he has up to now . After all this period up until the injury was his first real chance , last season all the strikers where on fire at about the time he signed for us and faced an uphill battle to break into the side .

  8. @ Mick G & Clint Flick…..

    What are you lads on about…Geremi was a dead ball specialist….come on lads….the precision and accuracy required to achieve that amount of conisitency when hitting the forehead of the first defender every time must have taken hours to perfect on the training ground!!!

    He was easily worth every penny of his 60k per week :-)

    In all fairness though; Joey’s set pieces are great from corners or free kicks into the box. But what we do lack is a real goal threat from around 18-30 yards these days. Hopefull Ben arfa may be able to give us that threat from a direct strike at goal. Remember when we had Laurent and Nobby on either wing; mshearer who could smack one in…We would get a min of around 5-7 goals per season from free kicks x

  9. Northern _jedi Tiote can hit them from distance , just ask Arsenal :)maybe if we put Raylor in a trance and tell him he is playing against us every time we get a free kick , that might work ;)

  10. Looks like Pardew is trying his best to keep Joey at the club.
    Do we think that being captain for 2 weeks will make up for the pay cut and lack of 5 year deal?

    Top player, Hope he is a great success as captain and gets the deal he deserves!

  11. While Joey is a logical choice for Captain, this may backfire. Joey is already quite chatty with the refs and changing that into a formal relationship could affect how the refs take his running commentary. Some might see that as dissent from the capt. rather than the banter from a field player. Let’s hope the refs treat hm as they would any respected captain.

  12. Doug says:
    April 6, 2011 at 4:28 pm

    “Do we think that being captain for 2 weeks will make up for the pay cut and lack of 5 year deal?”

    Doug, Isn’t it a three year extension he wants, with the club only offering him only two years?

  13. Axel,
    bang on mate.
    Couldn’t agree more if i tried.
    :)

    Jedi,
    Raylor does have a nice line in free kicks like and did you see that goal v Stanley, was it? Wow!

    :)

  14. Worky, Doesn’t he have a year left and he wants 4 more?

    I might be wrong.

    For a player who has nothing to prove at this level there is no risk what so ever in giving him a long term deal.

  15. BeeGuy,
    na mate,
    that’ll buy him a bit more grace with the refs.
    It might even focus their minds on making correct decisions about him, rather than just thinking: ‘Oh! It’s JB, yellow/red card.
    ;)

  16. ‘Barton takes the free kicks’

    I wish he had let Ferguson take the last one, something might have come of it. :)

  17. As long as Nolan gets the armband back, this is a good move. I can’t remember a better captain than Nolan, but I have to say, Barton has genuinely earned the chance to wear it when he’s not available.

  18. At first I thought give it to Collo, then I read various people saying Barton (including now Pardew as if to jump on the bandwaggon). Anyhoo. I would give it to Shola. Let me explain.

    Shola is, by far a longer serving player (not just from newcastle) than any other candidate. (Excluding Harper who is in the wrong position IMO)

    Barton plays well; this season. He has been good every time he plays and we have only won when he plays, Collo is also good on a regular basis. Ameobi on the other hand is not always good. He has off games, especially away. He was however, superb against Wolves.

    Best is now out for the rest of the season and Lovenkrands did well against Wolves but still isn’t really good enough at this level. I would give the armband to Shola personally, just to see if it gave him that extra boost. Also I personally think he has more right to it than Barton who has had one good season here to be honest and a very dodgy history. You might not agree with that but I think Shola, having played for us for 10 years and coming through the club deserves the captancy more than them.

  19. DJG,
    that’s a decent shout mate.
    The only problem with it that i can see is that Shola doesn’t play regularly enough, mostly through injury.

  20. Yeah mate maybe, but think he could manage a few games fingers crossed, plus we’re gonna need him till the end of the season fingers crossed again.

  21. DJG,
    ya’ right mate.

    It’s always touch & go with Shola on the injury front though, isn’t it.

    He did play a blinder on saturday though.

    Who is that masked man?

    :)

  22. i like the plain white sleeves its different, and i wonder if the names n numbers will be gold with the puma logo being gold its the real shirt like the collar is the same as some other leaked puma shirts for next season they will probably wear it v wba last day of season

  23. Davy,
    i hope they don’t do the massive white block on the back like this seasons. I prefer more black than white on the home shirt, but that’s just me!
    :)
    Don’t mind the gold no.s though.

    Wonder what the away shirt will be?

  24. well i for one dont like it the black stripes down either of the sleeve of the shirt look awful looks like arsenals home top with black stripes on it, well i guess if the team performs in it then shirt sales with go through

  25. but just cant help that the shirt feels like you have big shoulders which well help for the thinner bloke ;)

  26. An interesting piece in today’s Indie and in particular, his take on what he’s looking for before he signs a new contract: It seems there’s more than money at stake – if his words haven’t been lost in the Englis/ French transalation!

    Barton admitted he had been unsettled by Carroll’s departure in January and wants Newcastle to prove they can match his own ambition before he extends his contract, which has a year to run. “It’s important to respect the people who come to the stadium or watch the games on telly,” he said. “That’s what I told [the Newcastle management]. I told them the goal shouldn’t be just to survive, to finish 16th or 17th, every season.

    “We had a good player, Carroll, and we sold him. I told the management that I was worried, that I was scared this might happen every year. But they assured me they don’t want to go down that road.”

    Barton, however, was not entirely convinced by the talks and is urging Newcastle to act by tying their leading players to new deals. “I don’t know if I believe them,” he said. “I told them I might stay this summer because we have some good players and money to spend. But I’m going to wait and see if players like Kevin Nolan, Cheick Tioté and Jose Enrique stay.

    “If Nolan signs a new deal, I will as well. But I hope the club step things up. I want to be ambitious and I think the club share that desire.”

    Here’s the full article and it’s clear that Joey’s not a one to hide his light under a bushell!

    http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/international/barton-drop-teachers-pet-barry-ndash-im-englands-best-midfielder-2264160.html

  27. ‘Barton labelled Barry “a teacher’s pet” and likened the player, who captained England in their last game against Ghana, to a tortoise.’

    How can Barton call anybody slow. He’s one of the slowest players I’ve seen apart from Geremi. :)

  28. @ 33 i noticed you were on here last week slagging worky off for whatever reason & on the same night you were calling clint – worky’s arse licker – on toonsy’s site.

    what was that all about then? – a bottle of woodpecker in the park with your school mates no doubt.

    in future stick to the fizzy pop son or you’ll probably end up getting brayed again.

    worky – do the reet thing & ban him.

  29. Now then Army69 and how’s thou?

    I guess that apart from the small number of manic depressives on the site, we’re all fine!

  30. TROJAN 69 says:

    White lightening’s still the perfect little eye opener before breakfast!

  31. thunderbird red label,drink three of them when you are fifteen,still have nightmares now.

  32. ANTONE KNOW WHETHER ENRIQUE FIT FOR VILLA?

    i’m guessing we’ll play same formation, but is Tiote back?

  33. Milner says:
    April 7, 2011 at 4:20 pm

    “ANTONE KNOW WHETHER ENRIQUE FIT FOR VILLA?”

    Milner,

    Alan Partridge said:

    “Chiek Tiote will be back for Manchester United, but we’re a little short for Villa. Jose Enrique trained yesterday, and I don’t think he’ll be a problem for Villa.”

  34. Cheers worky,

    i assume we’ll be seeing ameobi and McLoven start the game, despite (i feel i must admit) poo’pooing them myself, but it worked last week, and there’s not really much choice in the matter these days, i suppose…

    for shits and giggles tho, I’d like to see Ameobie and Ranger start together – if Ranger really wants to step up from impact sub to 1st choice – then he needs to show ability in forming a strike PARTNERSHIP.

  35. Milner says:
    April 7, 2011 at 4:30 pm

    “Cheers worky,

    i assume we’ll be seeing ameobi and McLoven start the game, despite (i feel i must admit) poo’pooing them myself”

    Nee botha, Milner. I thought that I was the last person on the planet who still used the the term “poo pooed” or “pooh poohed” as an expression of deprecation, mild contempt or scorn.

  36. roy cropper

    you really are a sad knacker arn’t you. I bet you were the kid at school that got bullied wern’t you. If worky wants to ban me thats up to him not you. ;)

  37. Roy Cropper says:
    April 7, 2011 at 11:43 am
    @ 33 i noticed you were on here last week slagging worky off

    You follow me around slagging me off. So is that different rules that apply to you than everybody else then. ;)

  38. DJG says:
    April 7, 2011 at 5:32 pm

    “you really are a sad knacker arn’t you. I bet you were the kid at school that got bullied wern’t you.”

    Howay man, DJG. Simon created a ‘blog especially for all that nasty, backbiting stuff. Why don’t you just keep it on there? ;-)

  39. 48 workyticket says:
    April 7, 2011 at 6:26 pm

    Howay man, DJG. Simon created a ‘blog especially for all that nasty, backbiting stuff. Why don’t you just keep it on there?

    Did he, I thought it was to get away from all the nasty, backbiting stuff that was starting on here, and that has pretty much been the case.

    Also Roy’s Rolls, whoever you are; next time your slagging me off on one of these blogs don’t try and kid people that you know how I think, who I ‘copy off’ and that I sit in the park with a bottle of fizzy chemicals. You don’t know anything about me. Now kindly Naff off.

  40. worky, I don’t come on this blog and don’t tend to get involved in any bad blood. however….

    Why did you just use that exchange between DJG and roy as an excuse to slag off sy and .co.uk ?

    This happens all the time, you make a snide little comment out of the blue then play the innocent victim when people react to it.

    You really need to grow up and move on with your life for fook sake!

  41. Worky I see your trying to get a dig into Toonsy’s and his blog again, is it because your annoyed that this place is going down hill fast, because a lot of people got sick of your nasty snide underhand remarks, and decided to move over to nufcblog.co.uk.
    You really are a sad little man :lol:

  42. Is that the best you can do :lol:, I would give up the name calling unless it was to someone’s face, and stick to something you know more about ;) begging and scrounging

  43. workyticket says:
    April 7, 2011 at 7:27 pm

    The Clampetts are back.

    Who are you referring to exactly? Clampett(s) is plural so I am guessing you mean myself and Dave.

    I have never ‘been’ so it’s not possible I could be ‘back’

    I asked you a question which wasn’t answered. I will ask it again…

    Why did you just use that exchange between DJG and roy as an excuse to slag off sy and .co.uk ?

  44. Big Dave says:
    April 7, 2011 at 7:33 pm

    “Is that the best you can do , I would give up the name calling unless it was to someone’s face, and stick to something you know more about begging and scrounging”

    Dave, you do realise that you’ve just proved my original point? Or is the irony lost on you?

    Why do you waste so much of your life with all this petty guff?

  45. 55
    workyticket says:
    April 7, 2011 at 7:49 pm

    Big Dave says:
    April 7, 2011 at 7:33 pm

    “Is that the best you can do , I would give up the name calling unless it was to someone’s face, and stick to something you know more about begging and scrounging”

    Dave, you do realise that you’ve just proved my original point? Or is the irony lost on you?

    “Why do you waste so much of your life with all this petty guff?”

    “Howay man, DJG. Simon created a ‘blog especially for all that nasty, backbiting stuff. Why don’t you just keep it on there? ;-) 2

    HAHAHAHAHA, you really are mental aren’t you? take a step back and listen to yourself.

    YOU <<<<<<<<<<< start the 'petty guff' then try and turn it around as if you are the innocent party, just like I said in my original comment. the word 'hypocrite' springs to mind.

  46. No you don’t worky, but I put time and effort into something (.co.uk) which you decide to slag off for absolutely no reason. yes, sy created the blog, but there are contributors who don’t appreciate your slander. So keep it to yourself.

  47. apologies CLiNT, don’t like to ruin anyone’s blog experience, people don’t come on for this craic!

    Don’t believe it’s fair the way the blog I have wrote articles for gets slagged off flippantly and just want to make worky aware that it isn’t appreciated

  48. Clint sorry to drag all the usual shit up on your thread mate, But worky just cant help himself so had to start it all over again @ 48 then the childish name calling @ 52.
    So my apologies Clint ;) oh and your doing a good job mate

  49. I don’t think I should have to apologise for contributing to a thread and then being needlessly slagged off by someone who basically knaa’s nowt. I will always try and defend myself and I won’t apologise for it.

  50. Moreno & Big Dave,
    i appreciate the response lads, really, i do, thanx.

    I know there have been some issues between a few people on here & while it’s deeply unfortunate it’s getting a bit tiresome reading it.

    I’m not singling anyone out, but i’d just like to ask ‘all concerned’ to have a think, pull back, agree to disagree, call a truce, let bygones be bygones, whatever needs to be done. So in future we can all enjoy a great blogging experience whichever blog we’re on. ‘Cos as far as i can see there are some great NUFC blogs out here, with good craic, that people wanna contribute to, either posting or commenting.
    I know it’s difficult to climb down sometimes, but please, for the sake of the blogs, commenters, & fans of NUFC that read but don’t even comment (who are maybe put off somewhat) let’s get over this & move on & concentrate on what’s important & what we are here for, great craic about the team we ALL LOVE…N.U.F.C.

    Howay!

    TA!

    Keep the faith!

  51. CLINT about time someone is talking with a open mind,just leave,if one cannot,do what we used to in the past to some silly bloggers “dont” reply.

    love reading your threads mate,but its what i would expect off a durham lad ;)

  52. Cheers ice,
    how ya’ deein’ mate?

    Thanx for the encouragement mate, really appreciate it man.
    Words of wisdom, as per!

    ;)

  53. Clint I dont comment on here much now, but I still read all your Threads mate your doing a good job keep it up ;)
    As for a Truce I thought there was one called a couple of weeks back mate.

  54. CLINT ime canny mate,they stress is nee good for the old ticker,being a toon fan doesnt help at times,but its still ticking “just”lol

  55. Big D,
    nice one, ta!

    Let’s ALL try & ‘not bite’ if someone/anyone says something provocative then?

    I know it’s difficult, but let’s give it a shot.

    Reet, i’m asking nicely for all to truce, & one that sticks.
    Once & for all!

    Cheers for your understanding lads!