BobbyBiscuit Posted December 30, 2009 Report Posted December 30, 2009 Joey Barton has been blamed for many things but the Newcastle United midfielder cannot be accused of a lack of candour. "Most footballers are knobs," said Barton today in a radio interview which is unlikely to prove popular with his fellow professionals. "I meet a lot of them and they are so detached from real life it's untrue. But there was a stage when I was like that." The 27-year-old, who says he is a changed man since giving up drinking two years ago, expressed dismay at footballers' isolation from the wider world and the rampant materialism of many of his peers. "Driving around in flash cars and changing them like you change your socks, wearing stupid diamond watches and spending money like it's going out of fashion in the middle of a recession when some people are struggling to put food on the table for the kids – it's not the way to do it," he said. Interviewed on an edition of BBC Radio 4's Today programme which was guest-edited by his mentor, Tony Adams, Barton said that he was only jolted out of the game's "Peter Pan" world – in which agents organise players' lives, taking care of such mundane basics as bank accounts, bills, mortgages and car insurance – by his addiction to alcohol and inability to control his anger. A series of unsavoury incidents led him to the Sporting Chance Clinic, which was founded by Adams, the former Arsenal captain. Barton, who served time in prison for his part in an assault in Liverpool city centre two years ago, said the clinic "gave me the tools to understand myself, basically. It helped me grow into a man". The gulf between Barton's upbringing in Huyton, Merseyside and life as a young player at Manchester City was obvious. "I was earning £20,000 a week and yet I didn't even know how to behave, I was just a child," he said. "You grow up in an environment where, as long as you're a good player, you're told that you're the best all the time. But whether you're the best footballer in the world or the best golfer or the best cricketer, you're a human being. You might be good at that [sport] but you might be crap at life." Barton's misdemeanours included stubbing a lit cigarette into the eye of a City team-mate; slapping a fan; assaulting a former City colleague, Ousmane Dabo; and the aforementioned attack on a 16-year-old outside a branch of McDonald's in Liverpool. "My last night out probably cost me £500,000 plus my reputation," he said. "I must have been as close as you can get to self-destruct. I had two choices, basically. Either you carry on what you're doing and your career's gone, or you address it." Barton, who is close to full recovery from a serious foot injury, says the British media helped to change his character. "I am very thankful to the media of this country," he said, suggesting that regular vilification in print and broadcast media forced him to confront several issues. He also said: "There's stuff I got away with. But I'm very fortunate, because of my profile and the job I do and the fact that I'm in the public eye, it got addressed. And it's only the fact that I'm grounded by the trouble I've been in that's forced me away from being in the football world." After counselling and introspection, Barton has decided that he is, essentially, "a simple bloke". "I don't want to be famous," he said. "It was never for me about the cars, the women, the money – whatever people perceive to come with it. I love football, I want to play football." Quote
minijc Posted December 30, 2009 Report Posted December 30, 2009 That's quite good that, cheers for posting it, I've always liked Barton even when all the shit was happening with him and he was a good player. Quote
TENEMENTFUNSTER Posted December 30, 2009 Report Posted December 30, 2009 That's quite good that, cheers for posting it, I've always liked Barton even when all the shit was happening with him and he was a good player. Really? He didn't even like himself. Heard the interview on 5live, came across really well but let's wait and see if he really has dealt with his knobbishness. Quote
minijc Posted December 30, 2009 Report Posted December 30, 2009 Same here. Did you have a physiatrist aswell? Quote
minijc Posted December 30, 2009 Report Posted December 30, 2009 So because he didn't like himself I'm not allowed to like him and back him, fari enough, when I was younger I never liked myself so I kinda know how he must have been feeling. Quote
TENEMENTFUNSTER Posted December 30, 2009 Report Posted December 30, 2009 So because he didn't like himself I'm not allowed to like him and back him, fari enough, when I was younger I never liked myself so I kinda know how he must have been feeling. Same here. Quote
TENEMENTFUNSTER Posted December 30, 2009 Report Posted December 30, 2009 Did you have a physiatrist aswell? No. Well I don't think so anyway. I didn't like you. Quote
Kowalski Posted December 30, 2009 Report Posted December 30, 2009 Did you have a physiatrist aswell? Genuine question: A what??? Quote
Kowalski Posted December 30, 2009 Report Posted December 30, 2009 A shrink? He did a good job as you've definitely lost weight Quote
minijc Posted December 31, 2009 Report Posted December 31, 2009 LOOK AT ME I'M MINIJC! Away to start stalking me now, are you? FUcking freak. Quote
Harcus Posted December 31, 2009 Report Posted December 31, 2009 No, funnily enough I read threads on this site. Not sure what relevance your experience with a "physiatrist" has to anyone on this site, or any other site for that matter. Quote
baggy89 Posted December 31, 2009 Report Posted December 31, 2009 I can kind of see where MiniJC is coming from. You have to admire Barton's ability, his desire to get stuck in and his SOBER moral compass. However his ability to self destruct quite so spectacularly, on the whole precipitated by a couple of shandys, is a disgrace and utterly un-befitting of an overpaid footballer, the likes of which he himself pours scorn on. I hope for his sake that he can sort out his demons and has not completely wasted his talents as a footballer, or for pissing off the obvious up themselves knob-heads of the modern game. Quote
Azteca1903 Posted December 31, 2009 Report Posted December 31, 2009 Barton has had plenty of these epiphanies and then lumbered on to his next fuck-up. While he talks a good game for someone so unreliable, he is yet to prove that he is sound mentally with consistent performances on and off the pitch. Quote
Slim Posted December 31, 2009 Report Posted December 31, 2009 To be honest, I like to see the mental footballers who inject cocaine into their eyeballs and set fire to taxis off the pitch and drop kick opposing players then start fights with the opposition mascot on the pitch. Far more entertaining than boring drones like Alan Shearer. Who gives a fuck about being sensible when you're getting paid 100 grand a week? Quote
Guest rocket debris Posted January 4, 2010 Report Posted January 4, 2010 Joey Barton likes cabbage yet is unversed in late 19th century Italian opera? There's a conundrumdeedum to fuck with your onions. Quote
Tyrant Posted September 20, 2011 Report Posted September 20, 2011 Joey Barton - Prize fucking wanker. If anyone's a knob it's you. I for one was delighted to see him get some of his own medicine from Carl Henry. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMUGTDn6EFg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5i6n8B_pSzA http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9AfwVuttS4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wlz5tO1F9JI Quote
tlg1903 Posted September 20, 2011 Report Posted September 20, 2011 he reminds me a wee bit of keane. Clearly not a stupid guy by any stretch of the imagination but when the blood starts pumping and is in a competitive environment he loses the plot a bit. He's clearly talented and a winner, i dont mind him to be honest as i find him highly entertaining. Quote
TENEMENTFUNSTER Posted September 20, 2011 Report Posted September 20, 2011 Just don't be around him when the competitive cigar smoking starts . . . . Quote
Kowalski Posted June 4, 2012 Report Posted June 4, 2012 Footballer Joey Barton has been punched in the face outside a nightclub in Liverpool. Merseyside Police said officers were called to Eberle Street at about 05:30 BST following reports of a disturbance outside the Garlands club. They confirmed that a 29-year-old man who had been injured voluntarily left the scene. Two 21 year-olds are being held on suspicion of a public order offence and are currently in police custody. Quote
BigAl Posted June 25, 2012 Report Posted June 25, 2012 Stripped of QPR captaincy and fined £500k Also stated further incidents will see his contract terminated Quote
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