Joey Barton gets a taste of his own medicine

It's amazing how the advent of the Twitter age has turned past villains into today's victims. I should be quick to add that this does not apply to everyone, but to those who have mastered the act of drawing enough attention to themselves, to build a loyal and affiliate base of fans.


Joey Barton is one of such privileged few. Prior to Twitter, Joey Barton couldn't catch a break. From bar fights to beating a teenage kid, to jail time, Barton was worse than the Joker in a Batman movie. 


Recently, the trouble prone English midfielder has found a comforting medium in Twitter, where he can express his 'hurt' feelings and get a 'fair trial' in the eyes of his followers.


Barton's latest grief is his sending off in Queen Park Rangers' last home game against Norwich City. Barton was given his matching orders in the 36th minute of the game for an alleged head-butting of Norwich player, Bradley Johnson. This incident occurred after the QPR captain had put his team ahead with a fine finish (yes, he occasionally shows flashes of talent every once in a while).


Joey's issue is that the match officials never really saw any foul play, but rather relied on Johnson's reaction to a 'slight' coming together to eject him. Subsequently, there's been arguments back and forth between players and both managers as to validity of the claim.

Barton may have a point in his claim that Johnson over reacted. However, game footage shows that Barton encroached Johnson's personal space in a threatening manner, with some form of contact occurring.


Whatever the right verdict may be, Footy Bozz is really not interested the Refs decision. We are more interested in Barton's hypocrisy. Let me explain -

See the picture above? That was Joey Barton (who was with Newcastle United at that time), initiating aggressive contact against Arsenal's Gervinho in the opening game of the season. 

An upset Gervinho eventually half-slapped Baron on the face as they both squabbled in a maze of players. Barton went down like he had been shot by a snipper, prompting Gervinho's immediate ejection from the game.

An unrepentant Barton took to Twitter thereafter to proclaim it was part of the game, and that Arsenal should get over their grief. That's fair. We can appreciate that.

With regards to the Johnson case, we say to Joey Barton, GET OVER IT! IT'S PART OF THE GAME!!!

Twit that!

Sincerely, Footy Bozz.