Barton: I deserve to lose captaincy
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Joey Barton (right) says 'Losing the captaincy and missing 12 games is what really hurts'
Joey Barton admitted he was "reckless and stupid" after being stripped of the QPR captaincy and fined six weeks wages for his sending off against Manchester City on the final day of the Barclays Premier League season.
The 29-year-old was hit with a 12-match ban and fined £75,000 by the FA last month after being dismissed for elbowing Carlos Tevez, then kicking out at Sergio Aguero as he left the pitch before aiming a headbutt in the direction of Vincent Kompany. Following their own internal investigation, QPR have now imposed further sanctions on the controversial midfielder.
Barton apologised in a statement on the club's official website, which he later expanded on in a series of Twitter posts, he said: "I was reckless and deserved every punishment I received. Money comes and goes, it's not important to me. Losing the captaincy and missing 12 games is what really hurts."
He added: "I was stupid and that what happens when u [sic] do dumb things. I am confident ill [sic] bounce back. Cannot wait.
"That's all I have to say on the matter. I wish to put it behind me now and help QPR, once available of course, push on towards the top half.
"Have a good day people. Thanks for all the lovely tweets of support. Speak soon xx."
Barton has a long history of controversy, both on and off the pitch. In 2008, he was given a six-month jail term after admitting assault and affray.
During his time as a player at Manchester City, Barton was fined after he stubbed a lit cigar in the eye of young team-mate Jamie Tandy during the club's Christmas party. Earlier this month, Barton was arrested for affray following a night out in Liverpool with his girlfriend.
In his official club statement, the player issued an unreserved apology, which read: "My behaviour was wrong and I accept the punishment that has been imposed upon me as a result. I apologise to the manager, my team-mates and of course the QPR fans for my actions.
"I also apologise to the Manchester City players, staff and supporters."
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Peter Marsh your tag is well named - you must be a "troubled individual" if you think that moron Barton is worth supporting. You can be passionate and a hard tackler without being a nut job thug!
I'm sure Joey is very pleased with the support he gets on Twitter- he probably knows them both.
Mr Marsh It will be a while before you enjoy watching your darling volatile thug ! It's quite worrying when it's actually perceived that this conduct and character is "passion" Give me "fairy Jessie's" anyday over ignorance
FYI, Zidane the "hero" ended his international career with a red card ! for violence on the pitch
Christopher, it was a contact sport 30/40 years ago when the game was much harder and tougher but back then the players were known as sportsmen and there is nothing sportsman like about kicking and headbutting professional players just becasue your unhappy at a decision. There' s no room for that in everyday life, especially not a football pitch.
Also stubbing a cigar out in a youngsters eye and breaking a team mates jaw are criminal offences and even if one of his previous offences would not of put him in jail the amount of charges would of by now if he was not a footballer.
Discuss things like gentlemen without going to extremes? From you, christopher? Hardly. Check your own blog response to Danny zulu. Still if this is a new leaf I'm glad to see you've turned it.
And Football is not a contact sport in the way that Rugby is, and even in Rugby deliberately attacking an opponent is likely to result in a player being sent off, and in extreme cases, banned.
Football becomes a contact sport when ill judged tackles take place. Elbowing an opponent in the throat , kicking a second in the back and attempting to head butt a third don't come into any of those categories. Barton was, and almost certainly will remain, a thug with huge and ultimately uncontrollable, anger management issues. There's a point where listening to his apologies becomes a useless exersize. He's no more able to control his behaviour than you are.
