He made his first senior appearance for Manchester City against Bolton on the 5th April 2003, aged just 20. Two weeks later he would score his first senior goal and become a regular starter for the rest of the season. In April, 2003 he signed a new contract. Two months later his teammate, Marc-Vivien Foe collapsed and died on the pitch while on International duty.
In the decade he spent at Manchester City, both in the youth system and the senior side, Barton would 15 goals in 130 appearances. City fans got to see the best of Barton but also got to see some of the worst. Fans will certainly remember the FA Cup comeback against Tottenham, winning 4-3 after being 3-0 down at half time. What some may not remember is that the half time situation looked much worse as Barton was sent off for arguing with the referee, whilst walking off at half time.
That game happened on February 4th and two months later Barton stormed out of the stadium after not being named on the team sheet. Despite this he still was awarded the clubs Young Player of the Year award for that season. All this could be looked upon as youthful spirit, with it passing as the player matured, but things escalated and became violent.
A friendly game against Doncaster erupted into a massive brawl when he went in heavy against an opponent. That Christmas he stubbed out a lit cigarette in a youth players eye and the club considered sacking him. Instead they fined him six weeks wages. Five months later he broke a 35 year old mans leg while out driving in the early hours of the morning was and sent home from the next pre season tour after assaulting a 15 year old Everton fan.
In a season where City finished 8th, Barton played 28 times in the league, scoring a single goal, assaulted two minors, broke a guys limb and instigated a brawl. The situation was escalating and couldn’t be ignored much longer. Barton began a seven day anger management course at the Sporting Chance clinic later that year before handing in a transfer request the following January.
The request was denied by City but in hindsight maybe they should have let him go then. He was instead given a new contract and his behavior did improve but this was just the calm before the storm. You certainly cannot put his mooning on the same scale as the other incidents and possibly the second red card of his career was just badly timed. May 1st 2007 Barton would assault City team mate Ousmane Dabo, who was left unconscious with a suspected detached retina.
City fined Barton $180,000, suspended him until the end of the season and a police investigation launched. This signaled the end of his career at City and he would move to Newcastle United but his off field form continued and six months later he was arrested on suspicion of assault.
Barton would play 81 games for Newcastle, scoring seven goals in the process which is actually quite good considering he spent his early injuries and making good on serving the match bans the FA handed out.
A move to QPR on a free transfer certainly raised a few eyebrows but there was never any doubt over the players skill. When the final day of the season saw a relegation threatened QPR have to go to his old side, and title chasing Manchester City, the chance of Joey Bartons name to once get the headline was a certainty. What was up for debate was if he would be the hero or villain on that day.
In the 55th minute, with QPR having the draw that would ensure their survival, Barton elbowed Carlos Tevez in the face. The referee had no option but to show Barton the red card but that was not the end of his contribution that day. Before leaving the field of play he kicked Sergio Aguero in the back of the knee before attempting a head butt on Vincent Kompany. City would go on to win the game and the title through a late Sergio Aguero goal and luckily, no thanks to Barton, QPR survived.
The next season he would play in France, for Marseille. Again he couldn’t keep out of trouble and returned for QPR’s relegation season after just turning out 25 times for the French side scoring no goals. His latest manager, Chris Ramsey, suggested that Barton might want to return to anger management and so, in 2015, a decade after stubbing a cigarette out in a teenagers eye it seems not much has changed in his attitude.
West Ham are now linked with a move for the player, who is available on a free transfer, but will Slaven Bilic be able to do what no other manager or therapist has been able to do. Will Barton add something to the Hammers side this season or just an unwanted thorn in their side? Certainly the West Ham chairman was critical of Barton two years ago when a twitter altercation erupted between Barton and another ex City midfielder, Dietmar Hamann stating that Barton is ‘vile’ and needs help.
Jason is a Freelance Soccer Writer. You can follow him on Twitter @PACityboy and www.facebook.com/jasonbardwell1979
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