Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Guilty

The BBC is carrying reports that Joey Barton has pleaded guilty to assault and affray (in relation to the incident outside McDonalds in December), and has been sentenced to six months in prison. The BBC states that Newcastle are apparently considering the verdict.

What this means in practical terms is that, if we keep Barton (which I'm assuming we will - how often do you throw away (sack) a 6 million pound asset?) he'll probably be out on parole in about 12 weeks.

By my reckoning that means he'll miss the whole of pre-season and be back in training around the start of September. Hardly a disaster in footballing terms.

Regardless of the rights or wrongs of whether we choose to stand by the player because he's a reformed character, or simply because we'd lose a 6 million pound player if we ditched him, the short fact is I'll be amazed if we do anything other than show our support for him (and equally uphold the British justice system).

It just goes to show how well Sam Allardyce was able to manage a player who he convinced the board to sign, arrogantly sure of his own abilities to reform Barton. There can't be too many on Tyneside (or for that matter away from the Sky Sports studio) that are surprised that the Fat oaf failed. Again.

Still, I suppose a few weeks of porridge makes a change from two weeks in Ayia Napa as a way to spend your summer holiday.
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