Joey Barton: Football’s most controversial figure?

For Premier League fans, Joey Barton will stick in the memory for his on-field antics, aggressive play, and controversial antics away from football, but who is he really?

Barton was born in Huyton, Merseyside in 1982. Following his parent’s separation, Barton lived with his grandmother, who he claimed helped keep him away from drug abuse and other illegal behaviour common on the estate he lived in, per an interview with FourFourTwo.

Barton started his youth career with Everton before moving to local rivals Liverpool soon after. He struggled to settle at the Merseyside clubs and moved to Manchester City’s academy aged 15.

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In a 2011 BBC article, Tom de Castella describes Barton as, “an autodidact, educating himself.” This showed during his school career, leaving St Thomas Becket secondary school with 10 GCSEs.

Barton broke into the Manchester City senior side aged 20. In November 2002, he was scheduled to make his senior debut against Middlesbrough, but lost his shirt at half-time, per Sky Sports.

The midfielder would have to wait another five months to make his debut, appearing as a substitute against Bolton in a 2-0 win for the Cityzens. His first senior goal would come two weeks later against Tottenham, per BBC Sport.

Barton first made the headlines for all the wrong reasons in 2004, having sparked an all-out brawl with Doncaster Rovers during a friendly match, having “hacked” an opposition player, per BBC Sport.

It didn’t take long for Barton’s troubles to move off the pitch. 2005 saw Barton break a pedestrian’s leg whilst driving late at night, before physically assaulting a 15-year-old Everton fan on a preseason tour of Thailand. Per Sky Sports, Barton was fined £120,000 and sent to anger management training as a result.

Despite playing well for Manchester City during his time at Maine Road, Barton’s behaviour was getting worse, forcing the club to move on. The trigger point was a training ground assault on Ousmane Dabo that left Dabo unconscious and with a detached retina, per BBC News. Barton was arrested and charged, his eventual guilty plea earned him a four-month suspended sentence.

June 2007 saw Barton move north to play for Sam Allardyce’s Newcastle. The Magpies paid £5.8 million for the midfielder.

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Barton’s behaviour failed to improve despite the move. December 2007 saw Barton arrested for assault again, following an incident in Liverpool. The magistrate eventually sentenced Barton to six months in jail, of which he served 74 days, per The Guardian.

2008 saw Barton’s legal issues continue as a 2005 assault came to light. Jamie Tandy, a Manchester City trainee, alleged that Barton had assaulted him at the club’s Christmas party, including stubbing out a lit cigar in his eye, per The Guardian. Barton eventually settled the matter out of court, paying Tandy £65,000.

Barton eventually worked his way back into the Newcastle squad, playing his first match in three months on the 3rd of May 2009. He was sent off for what manager Alan Shearer described as a “coward’s tackle” on Xabi Alonso, resulting in an indefinite suspension by the club.

Newcastle eventually grew tired of Barton, allowing him to leave on a free transfer in 2011, signing for QPR soon after. Around this time, some in the media tried to portray Barton as an intellectual who was trying to change his behaviour. Tom de Castella for BBC News described Barton as a “budding philosopher.”

Despite Barton’s Renaissance Man persona online, his violence continued on the pitch, famously assaulting various members of the Manchester City team and coaching staff during the “Aguerooo” game on the 13th May 2012. As a result, Barton was fined up to £500,000 and stripped of the QPR captaincy, per Eurosport.

Following his initial spell at QPR, Barton would spend time at Marseille, Burnley, and Rangers during the rest of his career, before hanging up his boots in 2017 following an 18-month gambling ban imposed by the FA.

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