Joey Barton

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Joey Barton
Personal information
Full name Joseph Barton
Date of birth September 2, 1982
Place of birth Liverpool, England
Height 5 ft 9 in
Position Midfielder
Club information
Current club Manchester City
Number 8
Youth clubs
Manchester City
Professional clubs*
Years Club Apps (goals)
2001- Manchester City 108 (11)

* Professional club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only and
correct as of 21:37, 4 November 2006 (UTC).

Joseph "Joey" Barton (born 2 September 1982 in Liverpool) is an English footballer from Huyton, who currently plays in midfield for Manchester City.

Contents

[edit] Club career

Barton made his first team debut against Bolton Wanderers on 5 April 2003[1] . His first senior goal came in a 2-0 win over Spurs at White Hart Lane on Good Friday, and he ended his first season with a run of seven consecutive starts.

Barton began the 2003-04 season as a first team regular. Following his second Premiership goal (against Blackburn Rovers), he was rewarded with a call up to the England U21 squad for their Euro qualifiers against Macedonia and Portugal.

Barton's career has so far been punctuated with disciplinary problems. His club considered sacking him after an incident at a Christmas party where he poked a cigar in junior player Jamie Tandy's eye. The following summer Barton was sent home from a pre-season tournament in Thailand after becoming involved in a fight with a young Everton fan[2] and also saw an altercation with team-mate Richard Dunne, which resulted in Dunne injuring his foot after kicking a wall in anger. These incidents resulted in Barton undergoing anger management therapy at the request of Manchester City manager Stuart Pearce and paying out £120,000 in club fines.[3]

In September 2004 Barton signed a new contract that kept him at Manchester City until 2007. However, on 30 January 2006, Barton handed in a written transfer request. The next day, Manchester City rejected a verbal offer for Barton from Middlesbrough (reported figures ranging from £3 million and £4.5 million), with Stuart Pearce asserting that a deal could still be done to keep him at the club. During the following week, Barton admitted that making such a request was hasty and wrong and apologised to the club. Though there were rumours that Barton would join Middlesbrough in the summer of 2006 due to the breakdown of contract talks, on 25 July he signed a new four-year deal ending speculation about his future.[4]

Joey Barton scored the penalty against Arsenal in their home game against them in the 2006-2007 season to give Man City a historic 1-0 win over Arsenal. On September 30, however, he was captured by television cameras [5] exposing his rear end to Everton fans following Man City's injury-time equaliser in a game at Goodison Park.[6] On October 10, Merseyside Police looked into it but took no further action, but Barton was fined £2,000 and warned about his future conduct by the FA, escaping a ban.

In a recent interview with the press, Barton mentioned that "people say that Joey Barton does xyz on the football pitch".

[edit] Personal life

In November 2005, Barton's 17-year-old half-brother Michael was convicted of the race murder of Liverpool student Anthony Walker. Anthony, who was 18 and black, was killed with an ice axe at McGoldrick Park in Huyton, Merseyside, in July 2005.

Joey Barton had made an appeal for his half-brother to give himself up and subsequently gave evidence during the trial. Michael Barton will serve a minimum of 17 years and 8 months behind bars. The Bartons' cousin Paul Taylor was jailed for 23 years and 8 months.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Chris Bailey, Barton lifts City's gloom, Manchester Evening News, 7 April 2003, accessed 18 October 2005
  2. ^ Rob Hughes, Enigmas of 2 tarnished stars, International Herald Tribune, 7 February 2006, accessed 17 September 2006
  3. ^ Unknown, Fans Saw the Whole of the Moon, Footballers are Idiots website, 1 October 2006, accessed 1 October 2006
  4. ^ Unknown, Barton signs new deal, Manchester City official website, 25 July 2006, accessed 25 July 2006
  5. ^ Video Clip, Barton - Exposing his backside, 30 September 2006, accessed 30 September 2006
  6. ^ Unknown, Police to probe Barton incident, BBC Sport, 30 September 2006, accessed 30 September 2006

[edit] External links


Manchester City F.C. - Current Squad

1 Isaksson | 2 Richards | 3 Thatcher | 4 Jordan | 5 Dabo | 6 Reyna | 7 Ireland | 8 Barton | 11 Vassell | 12 Weaver | 14 Dickov | 15 Distin | 16 Onuoha | 17 Sun | 18 D. Mills | 20 Samaras | 21 Hamann | 22 Dunne | 24 Beasley | 25 Hart | 26 M. Mills | 27 Trabelsi | 28 Sinclair | 30 Corradi | 33 Johnson | 39 Laird | 43 Miller | Manager: Pearce