Some of the Most Bizarre Red Cards in Football

After Edin Dzeko received one of the most bizarre red cards in the history of football last Sunday night, during Bosnia Herzegovina's World Cup qualifier against Greece, I decided to take a look back in time at some other 'unusual' dismissals over the years!


Edin Dzeko - Bosnia Herzegovina v. Greece (November 2016)

Firstly to last Sunday!
Edin Dzeko, formerly of Manchester City and now at Roma, was unhappy after an innocuous challenge in the corner.

Bosnia were leading 1-0 at the time, but Dzeko took exception to Kyriakos Papadopoulos stepping over him as he fell to the ground. The defender tried to grab the ball and Dzeko reacted by grabbing his legs, then pulling his shorts down. As Dzeko stood up, he tripped the Greek over, sparking a melee between both sets of players.

Referee Jonas Eriksson decided to send off both players. The incident was a key turning point as it sparked Greece into life, and Bosnia conceded in the dying seconds to draw 1-1.


Adam Lindin Ljungkvist - Järna SK v. Pershagen SK (June 2016)

Swedish footballer Adam Lindin Ljungkvist, 25 was sent off for breaking wind during a match – with the referee Dany Kako, accusing him of 'deliberate provocation' and 'unsportsmanlike behaviour.'

The player told a Swedish newspaper: "I had a bad stomach, so I simply let go! Then I received two yellow cards and then red. Yes, I was shocked, it’s the strangest thing I have ever experienced in football.

I asked the referee: "What, am I not allowed to break wind a little?" "No" he replied - "I don’t get it, but maybe he thought I farted in my hand and threw the fart at him. But I did not.”

Opposition striker Kristoffer Linde told the paper: “I was standing a good distance away but I heard the fart loud and clear. It’s the strangest thing I’ve seen on a pitch, and I’ve been playing football since I was eight years old.”


Hakan Unsal - Turkey v. Brazil (June 2002)

One of the most skillful and creative players of his generation, Rivaldo was once World Player of the Year, an icon for the Brazilian national team and a deadly forward for the likes of Barcelona, AC Milan and Olympiakos. But, there is one thing he will always be remembered for.

During the World Cup group phase match with Turkey at the 2002 World Cup, Rivaldo went over to take a corner kick – right under the linesman’s nose.
Turkey’s Hakan Unsal kicked the ball at the Brazilian’s legs, but bizarrely, Unsal, who had already been booked, was sent off for kicking the ball at Rivaldo, who was down on the ground clutching his face.

Rivaldo was actually fined by FIFA afterwards for his play-acting, becoming the first player to be punished under the crackdown on players pretending to have been fouled in order to get an opponent into trouble. Rivaldo, ahead of his time.


Ashley Vickers - Dorchester Town v. Havant and Waterlooville (March 2011)

Dorchester Town striker and player-boss Ashley Vickers was sent off in 2011 for rugby-tackling a streaker on the pitch.

The turf intruder - wearing nothing but a Borat mankini and curly wig picked his moment during a Blue Square Bet South clash at Havant and Waterlooville, but Vickers took mattered into own hands, grabbing him by the shoulders and wrestling him to the floor.

The stewards intervened - to the delight of a crowd of just 458 - but cheers turned to boos as Vickers was dismissed just moments afterwards, 'violent disorder' the verdict.

Havant and Waterlooville went on to win the match 3-1.


Pepe - Real Madrid v. Getafe (April 2009)

Real Madrid centre-back Pepe is renowned for his fiery temper, but he has done well in recent seasons to slightly curb that ill-side to him.

However, back in 2009 the Portuguese defender displayed one of the most erratic and ridiculous pieces of defending ever during a game against Getafe.

Running through on goal to deny Francisco Casquero a shot on goal, not only did he concede a penalty, but he actually started to kick at Casquero, twice, as he lay on the ground. It didn’t actually end there and after grabbing the opponent’s head, he then stamped on him, twice, as Getafe players did their best to pull him away.

After a couple of punches thrown at Getafe players, Pepe eventually walked off and was given a hefty 10-match ban.

Lee Bowyer and Kieron Dyer - Newcastle United v. Aston Villa (April 2005)

You don't expect to see a fight break out between two ‘team-mates’ on the pitch.

But that's exactly what happened on 2 April, 2005 as Newcastle midfield duo Lee Bowyer and Kieron Dyer got involved in a bust-up on the pitch.

Newcastle were 3-0 down at home to Aston Villa and already down to 10 men with just eight minutes of the game remaining, when Villa player Gareth Barry had to pull Bowyer away from the scrap before the pair were both sent off.

Dyer and Bowyer were forced to shake hands and publicly apologise after the incident under the instructions of Graeme Souness, Newcastle manager at the time.

Bowyer insisted the incident was a "moment of madness" sparked by a shared desire to win.


Eden Hazard - Swansea v. Chelsea (January 2013)

The Chelsea forward he made a fool of himself in South Wales as the Blues took on Swansea at the Liberty Stadium in the Capital One Cup semi-final. Hazard took exception to the actions of local ballboy Charlie Morgan, 17, who put his whole body on the ball when Hazard tried to retrieve it, earning a kick in the ribs from the player, with Morgan still rolling around in apparent pain.

Referee Chris Foy sent off the Belgian star.

The ball boy, who was uninjured, was interviewed by officers in the presence of his father and made no complaint about what happened.
Hazard later apologised for his behaviour saying: "The boy put his whole body on to the ball and I was just trying to kick the ball. I think I kicked the ball and not the boy. I apologise."

But Morgan, it later emerged, had tweeted before the game boasting about his timewasting skills.
One pre-match tweet on his account reads: "The king of all ball boys is back making his final appearance #needed #for #timewasting."


Matt McClure - Tranmere v. Wycombe (March 2015)

Make an impact! That's what substitutes are told in those precious seconds before they enter the field of play. Wycombe's Matt McClure certainly took that to heart at Tranmere on 4 March 2015, when he was sent off just 3.7 seconds after coming on.

Following an aerial challenge with Tranmere’s Adam Dugdale he was shown an instant red for throwing an elbow into Dugdale's face.

Keith Gillespie - Reading v. Sheffield United (January 2007)

Within 10 seconds of coming on as substitute Sheffield United's Keith Gillespie was heading back down the tunnel after being shown a red card by referee Mark Halsey, for throwing an elbow in the direction of Stephen Hunt.

As Gillespie headed down the tunnel he threw another punch at Hunt, and as tempers rose, backroom staff from both sides became involved.

Reading coach Wally Downes was sent from the touchline for shoving Blades' boss Neil Warnock, who followed him to the stands.


Walter Boyd - Swansea v Darlington (August 2000)

The Jamaican star was red-carded by referee Clive Wilkes for elbowing Darlington's Martin Gray. Boyd came on as a substitute seven minutes from time after Swansea were awarded a free-kick, but referee Wilkes dismissed him for his attack on Gray before it was taken.

Wilkes had stopped the game to send off Darlington's Steve Tutill for a foul on Steve Watkin.
By the time the official turned around, Gray was lying face down on the ground clutching his head.

Wilkes, who was alerted to what happened by the assistant referee, confirmed he had not restarted his watch before sending off Boyd. FA statistician Ray Spiller confirmed: "This will go in the record books as nought seconds as the match had not been restarted."


Neymar - Santos v. Colo Colo (March 2011)

Before Neymar’s fame, glory and goals at Barcelona, he was a young teenager at Brazilian side Santos attracting plenty of attention for his fantastic ability.
However, an incident back in 2011 failed to get many people smiling and instead raising eyebrows, after he was sent off after scoring a brilliant solo effort for Santos in a Copa Libertadores match.



Celebrating his fine strike, Neymar ran over to the touchline and put a mask on his face, albeit upside down, but the referee was not impressed and gave the young starlet his second yellow. If it was any consolation to Neymar, his red card sparked fury and eventually the game ended with four more sending offs.


Kieran Gibbs - Arsenal v Chelsea (March 2014)

When Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain stuck out a hand to help Eden Hazard's apparent goal-bound shot miss the mark he could have fully expected to see a flash of red from referee Andre Marriner.

The card was produced, but was shown instead to his bemused team-mate Gibbs, who protested his innocence to the referee before accepting his fate and trudging off the pitch.

Arsenal went on to lose the match 6-0 but avoided a further setback as both Gibbs and Oxlade-Chamberlain were cleared of wrongdoing, while Marriner issued a sincere apology to Kieran Gibbs.


Joey Barton - Manchester City v. Queens Park Rangers (May 2012)

Barton has never been one to shy away from trouble and like Pepe’s one, he really should have stopped when he had the chance.

With Queens Park Rangers looking to stay up on the final day of the 2011/12 season, the QPR man clashed with Carlos Tevez off the ball. Referee Mike Dean spotted it and sent him off, but the damage was not finished.
Barton then walked over to Sergio Aguero following the red card and kneed him in the leg, before attempting to headbutt captain Vincent Kompany.



Eventually after trudging off and leaving his side with a big task, he was given a 12-game ban which went stayed with him as he joined Marseille on loan,

Twits on Twitter - The most 'hated' footballers on twitter

Yes, Twitter has taken the world of social media by storm over the last couple of years. It’s the new fashionable way to follow footballers and everyone seems to be getting into it at the moment.

The way in which so many footballers have embraced the social media revolution that is Twitter has been rather refreshing. Some of the players to do so include: Jack Wilshire, Rio Ferdinand, Cesc Fabregas, Stuart Holden, Ryan Babel and Darren Bent.

Rather than having to swallow the usual dispassionate, post-match quotes from a generation of players who have been media trained since their teens, now we get to hear exactly what they think straight from the horse's mouth.
Some clubs have already banned their players from tweeting altogether, while others have taken a more pragmatic approach by issuing guidelines about what can and cannot be said on their players' personal feeds.

However there are always people, in this case we are talking footballers who are a law unto themselves. Deliberately or otherwise they are controversial and disparaging about everyone and anything, whether it be current players, former players, clubs, managers, coaches, pundits or the public in general.

Sergio Busquets @SergiBusquets16 

The Barcelona midfielder was censured for his apparent propensity to feign injury.
Conversations about Busquets often centre on his antics rather than his skill. He is a recidivist diver, an alleged racist, an all-around loathsome pariah to some. An easy pantomime villain. Ask anyone who doesn’t like Barcelona why and somewhere in the first ten words is the name 'Busquets.'

In one of last year’s seemingly endless stream of Clásicos, Busquets was accused of calling Real Madrid left-back Marcelo a 'monkey.'

In January 2012 Sergio Ramos accused Busquets of feigning injury to get him sent against Barcelona and revealed that Real Madrid would appeal against his second yellow card. Ramos insisted that he did nothing wrong and believes that Busquets was guilty of play-acting.

In the second leg of the Champions League quarter-finals against AC Milan last month it was Busquets who tumbled in a heap in the box to win a penalty for the goal that sent Barcelona into the semifinals. However others took to Twitter to defend the 23 year-old, who has won La Liga there times, the Champions League twice and the World Cup with Spain.

Luis Suarez @Luis16Suarez

The Liverpool and Uruguay striker was an obvious target for Manchester United fans on Twitter after he was found guilty of racially abusing Patrice Evra after a 1–1 draw against Manchester United on 15 October 2011
Suárez wrote on his Twitter and Facebook pages that he was upset by the accusation and denied the claims.On 16 November, the FA announced it would charge Suárez with "abusive and/or insulting words and/or behaviour contrary to FA rules", including "a reference to the ethnic origin and/or colour and/or race of Patrice Evra."

On 20 December 2011, the FA concluded a seven-day hearing, handing Suárez an eight-match ban and a £40,000 fine for racially abusing Evra. The 25-year-old cemented his reputation as a figure of hate at Old Trafford in February 2012 when he refused to shake hands with France international Evra on his return from his eight-game ban Evra himself saw his name trend on Twitter, although it appeared to be as a result of Manchester United fans defending the defender from criticism for his role in the Suarez affair.

Marlon King @Marlon_King_1 

The Birmingham City striker was a late addition to the list of hated footballers. The controversial player has 14 criminal convictions, including drink-driving and receiving stolen goods. He was also jailed for sexually assaulting and punching a woman in a nightclub in 2009.

King, whose former clubs include Wigan, Nottingham Forest, Hull, Leeds and Coventry has been trying to repair his bad boy image, through twitter.                  

Robbie Savage @robbiesavage8 

Robbie Savage was never a popular player, and it remains that way on twitter. The guy just winds up so many people on twitter, and always gets involved with other people’s business. I was someone who followed him on twitter until he began to annoy me. However I think his outspoken antics have helped him find his vocation – that of an entertaining and vibrant radio football pundit/presenter.

Joey Barton @joeybarton7


Few players have used the power of social networking to engineer a change in their public perception, as Joey Barton has. The former Manchester City and Newcastle midfielder has spent time banned from football and behind bars for various acts of violence in the past. Using twitter Barton has attempted to show people another side to his character, as he has tried educate us into believing that he underneath it all he really is the ‘thinking man's player.’

But his attempt to repair his reputation were well and truly tarnished by his on and off field behaviour in the last game of this season, which saw him sent off and then use twitter as his outlet to rant at all in sundry. It did him no favours as he received a 12 match ban and a sizeable fine from the Football Association for his outrageous behaviour!

Joey Barton is just hated on both the football pitch and on twitter. To be brutally honest Barton is just a loud mouth and makes comments about people and things that have nothing to do with him. He has had so many arguments on twitter it is unbelievable. He is certainly another player who needs to be careful on the site.

Nathan Eccleston @NE39

Not many people will know who this young lad is, but if you watch the news, or are on twitter, you will. The Liverpool youngster caused controversy on twitter after he posted a very ‘strange’ tweet about 9/11, On the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks Eccleston posted a tweet saying: "I ain't going to say attack don't let the media make u believe that was terrorist that did it. #OTIS.” OTIS being an abbreviation for "Only The Illuminati Succeed." The tweet implied Eccleston was a member of the 9/11 Truth Movement.

Leon Knight @Leon Knight82

The London-born striker is more famous for his exploits on Twitter than anything he has ever achieved on the pitch.
The former Chelsea trainee has had a nomadic career that took him to eight different clubs including Brighton, Swansea and MK Dons before eventually ending up at Rushden and Diamonds. When the club sacked him for breaches of misconduct they held on to his registration, preventing Knight from joining another English club until the term of his contract had expired, or unless £30,000 in compensation was paid to the club.

Knight was set to return to English football with conference side Darlington after a successful trial, but his transfer was blocked by Rushden. Knight took to his Twitter account to unleash a tirade of abuse against his former club, saying that he has chosen not to buy-out his contract as a matter of principle.
"Rushden have said they don't want the money from Darlington, they want it from me – I refuse to pay them out of principle. If I wanted I could raise the money and pay them but I don't want to give them the satisfaction."

After brief stints in Greek and Scottish football Knight moved to Coleraine in N.Ireland in 2010.
In January 2012 however, Coleraine asked Knight to either live in Northern Ireland or pay his own travel costs, as he was still living in London and had to travel over to Northern Ireland for each game, which was costing Coleraine £1,000-£1,500 per month. An agreement could not be reached, and Knight joined Glentoran on 30th January 2012

Knight's use of Twitter in May 2012 caused condemnation after he posted remarks opposing US President Barack Obama's support for same sex marriage. Knight was suspended from Glentoran FC on 10th May 2012, pending investigation into the aforementioned remarks.

Knight now mainly uses his Twitter feed to rail against his 'haters' and to post pictures of bags of cash!

Lee Hughes

The Notts Country striker 35, was name-checked by tweeters for his conviction for causing the death by dangerous driving of Douglas Graham in 2004, for which he was jailed for six years. During the 2003/04 season Hughes was involved in a car crash in which his Mercedes CL500 collided with a Renault Scenic near the Warwickshire village of Meriden, West Midlands. A passenger in the Renault, Douglas Graham, was killed in the incident, whilst his wife Maureen and the driver Albert Frisby were severely injured. Hughes and his passenger left the scene, turning themselves in to the police the following day. Hughes was charged with causing death by dangerous driving and released on police bail.

On 9th August 2004, Hughes was found guilty of causing the death by dangerous driving of Douglas Graham, and of leaving the scene of an accident. The judge criticised Hughes for having a "callous disregard" for the four occupants of the Renault and he was sentenced to six years imprisonment and was banned from driving for ten years.

Following his release in August 2007 Hughes restarted his football career at Oldham Athletic spending time on loan at Blackpool before joining Notts County.

As we speak, Lee Hughes the footballer does not have a 'real' Twitter account.

Is Joey Barton quite possibly the worst role model in the history of football?

Joseph Anthony Barton has had a chequered career both on and off the pitch. Only yesterday the Merseyside born footballer was sent off for QPR, sparking outrageous scenes during his teams final and most important game of the 2011/12 season.

His behaviour yesterday as the red mist descended was by no means the first time he has been sent off in his career, but his behaviour off the pitch is equally disturbing. He has a catalogue of criminal offences to his name, and it will be interesting to see how the football hierarchy propose to deal with this latest bust-up as Barton seemingly ‘lost the plot,’ and tried to angrily confront anyone and everyone on the pitch in a display of hooliganism of unbelievable proportions!
He then went onto twitter that same evening ranting at ex-footballer and TV pundit Alan Shearer.

Here follows a list of his inexcusable misdemeanours that simply begs the question: Is this man of sound mind and judgement?

At Manchester City FC:

Feb 2004 – In an n FA Cup match against Tottenham Barton receives the first red card of his career in unusual circumstances: At half-time, with his club 3–0 down, he argued with the referee and received a second booking resulting in his dismissal, although the match was not in progress at the time

July 2004 - Barton sparked a ten-man brawl in a friendly match against Doncaster Rovers after "hacking" at an opposition player.

Dec 2004 - In an incident at the Manchester City Christmas party Barton stubbed out a lit cigar in youth player Jamie Tandy's eye, after he had caught Tandy attempting to set fire to his shirt. Barton subsequently apologised for his actions and was fined six weeks' wages (£60,000).

Summer 2005 - Violence continued with Barton after he was sent home from a pre-season tournament in Thailand after he assaulted a 15 year old Everton supporter. The boy provoked Barton by verbally abusing him and kicking his shin. Richard Dunne was forced to restrain Barton from attacking the boy anymore. He underwent anger management therapy at the order of City manager Stuart Pearce and paid £120,000 in club fines.

Sept 2006 - His behaviour appeared to improve after his participation at the Sporting Chance clinic. However, on 30 September 2006, television cameras captured Barton exposing his backside to Everton fans, following City's injury-time equaliser in a game at Goodison Park. Barton had received abuse from Everton supporters throughout the match and the gesture has since been described as "light-hearted" and "inoffensive" by people involved in football. Barton was fined £2,000 for bringing the game into disrepute and warned about his future conduct by The Football Association

Dec 2006 - In December 2006, Barton received the second red card of his career, for a late two-footed tackle on Bolton Wanderers player Abdoulaye Diagne-Faye

Feb 2007 - Barton openly criticised certain members of the England squad for releasing autobiographies after an unimpressive 2006 World Cup. He suggested players had ‘cashed in’ on the national team’s lack of success. He wrote: "England did nothing in that World Cup, so why were they bringing books out? 'We got beat in the quarter-finals. I played like shit. Here's my book.' Who wants to read that?" - Joey Barton

April 2007 - Barton displayed his outspokenness once again when he publicly criticised City's performances during the 2006–07 season, and described some of the players the club had signed as "substandard". Following his comments, City's manager Stuart Pearce banned him from speaking to the media. May 2007 - Barton was fined £100,000 and suspended by City until the end of the season following an incident during training when he assaulted his team mate Ousmane Dabo. Dabo said that he had been hit several times, was left unconscious and had to go to hospital after suffering injuries to his head, including a suspected detached retina. Dabo requested that the police press charges against Barton, and as a result, Barton was arrested and questioned by Greater Manchester Police. This altercation effectively ended Barton's time at City, Barton was bailed until August and was later charged with assault, to which he initially pleaded not guilty. He later changed this to a guilty plea and on 1 July 2008 was sentenced to a four-month suspended prison sentence plus 200 hours of community service and ordered to pay £3,000 compensation and Dabo's court costs. Barton was also charged with violent conduct by the FA. Barton pleaded guilty and on 1 September 2008 was banned for six games with a further six game ban suspended for two years and fined £25,000.


At Newcastle United FC:

Nov 2007 - In his first Tyne-Wear derby for the Toon against Sunderland, he appeared to dangerously raise his foot in a challenge with Dickson Etuhu with headlines following the game being ‘Ban Him’.
The FA were unable to charge Barton for the incident because match official Martin Atkinson did not witness the act take place; Barton later apologised for the tackle.

Dec 2007 - On 27 December 2007, Barton was arrested on suspicion of assault in the Church Street area of Liverpool city centre following an incident at around 5:30 am. He remained in custody on 28 December since the offence was committed while he was on bail for two prior offences.
CCTV showed Barton punching a man twenty times causing him to lose consciousness, and attacking a teenager; breaking some of his teeth.

May 2008 - Barton was sentenced to six months in jail after pleading guilty for his part in the assault in Liverpool city centre. Barton admitted to being an alcoholic and served 77 days of his prison term before being released on 28 July 2008.

May 2009 - Following a spell on the sidelines due to a knee injury he made his first appearance in over three months at Liverpool on the 3 May. Barton was sent off late in the 3–0 loss at Anfield for a sliding challenge on Xabi Alonso. The red card ruled Barton out of Newcastle's remaining three games of the season, with the club in danger of relegation from the Premier League.
Newcastle manager Alan Shearer raised doubts about Barton's future at the club, saying: "I think it would be wrong to discuss his future now, but I'm not very happy."
On 5 May, Newcastle United announced the suspension of Barton indefinitely, and Barton was told to stay away from the club. As a result, Barton's future at Newcastle United was put in doubt. The club suspension was widely reportedly to have resulted not directly from the red card, but from a dressing room confrontation with Shearer and assistant manager Iain Dowie following the game.
Shearer said he made a mistake putting Barton back into the team, and that his tackle was "a coward's tackle", to which Barton replied that he was "the best player at the club," and Shearer had to play him. Shearer said that Barton wasn't, that he was "sh*t." Barton replied that Shearer was "a sh*t manager with sh*t tactics". When Dowie intervened, Barton called him "a pr*ck."

Nov 2010 - In a 2–1 defeat to Blackburn, Barton again acted violently, punching Morten Gamst Pedersen in the chest. He was not punished during the game as the officials did not see the incident, but after reviewing the evidence, the FA again charged Barton with violent conduct. Barton apologised, accepted the charge, and was banned for three matches.

Dec 2010 - Barton courted controversy once again during Newcastle's 3–1 win over Liverpool on 11 December 2010, when he appeared to direct homophobic remarks and a lewd gesture at Fernando Torres.

Feb 2011 - He was involved in an altercation with Arsenal’s Abou Diaby which led to a straight red card for Diaby. Diaby took offence to Barton's strong challenge and retaliated by grabbing Barton by the neck and shoving him to the ground.

Aug 2011 – On 13 Aug Barton was involved in an altercation with Gervinho of Arsenal, which got Gervinho sent off on his debut. Then, Alex Song stamped on Barton, for which Song received a three-match ban. Barton later revealed he was on a verge of joining Arsenal but his incident with Gervinho ended his hopes of a move to the Emirates and instead, he joined Queens Park Rangers on 26 August 2011.

Arsenal's Gervinho and Barton square-up!

At Queen Park Rangers FC:

Sept 2011 - He was handed the captains armband on his debut with the club in August and scored his first goal on 17 September against Wolves. Following the goal, Barton was involved in a physical confrontation with Wolves player Karl Henry. The pair had clashed before when Barton was at Newcastle and Barton claimed Henry "tries to hurt people," while Henry said Barton was "embarrassing."

Jan 2012 - Barton scored the opening goal against Norwiich but was given a straight red card after head-butting Norwich midfielder Bradley Johnson

13 May 2012 - On the final day of the season, with QPR requiring at least a draw in their match away at Manchester City or for Bolton Wanderers to lose or draw to guarantee their Premier League safety, Barton was sent off in the fifty-fifth minute for violent misconduct after elbowing Carlos Tévez in the face. Immediately after being shown a red card, Barton kicked Sergio Agüero in the back of the knee and attempted to head-butt Vincent Kompany. Barton had to be dragged from the pitch by former team-mate Mica Richards as he rowed with Manchester City players and staff and attempted to square-off with striker Mario Balotelli.

                         

QPR's Joey Barton 'loses the plot' in Sunday's crunch match v. Man City.

After the game Barton posted the following on the social networking site twitter:

"Shearer's still on my case.....I know I f***ed up Alan, thanks for stating the obvious.”
"Whilst were both stating the obvious about each other, can I just say for the record what a great player u were. Well better me......”
"But I have a better hair (which is not hard), wear well better shirts on TV and have a personality (something u lack).”
"P.S. My final point, ur a s*** pundit/manager......”
"I really don't like that p****, in fact I honestly despise him......Goodnight."


Whilst it is impossible to condone any criminal activity or behavioural issues involving Joey Barton I feel it is only fair that I should try, however difficult I find it, to attempt to understand what makes Barton such a volatile character. In no way does it make his behaviour acceptable, but his family and so called friends may be a factor, or have had a bearing or influence on why Barton behaves in such a despicable manner.
I am not making excuses for Barton, simply putting forward my thoughts!

Barton as a professional footballer is in a very privileged position, one which he has chosen to abuse.
He had a good schooling, but Barton's brother Michael, was sentenced to life imprisonment for his involvement in the racially motivated murder of Anthony Walker in 2005.  In December 2007 when Barton was arrested on suspicion of assault, Barton's cousin, Nadine Wilson and his brother Andrew Barton were also involved and both also pleaded guilty to their part in the assault.

You have to wonder if the behaviour of his family and friends or the environment in which he was brought up in affected him more than he or anybody else ever realised! However we all have major set backs in our lives and we try and overcome whatever is thrown at us by becoming bigger and better people as a result.

Also remember that although Barton has committed some vile and unacceptable crimes he is not is not a murderer, sex offender or a child abuser, but more a bully and a thug..….and a repeat offender at that, it has to be said.

On a more positive note Barton is involved in charity work and is patron of the Tamsin Gulvin Fund, a charity set up to support people who have addiction problems and no financial support. . He is also a part of the 'Get Hooked on Fishing' campaign, designed to keep children out of trouble by encouraging them to take up fishing. And in 2011 he began writing a regular column in The Big Issue, a street newspaper sold by the homeless and vulnerably housed.

Pardew out to inflict a 'Blue Christmas' on Mancini - Betting News with Betfred

versus

Alan Pardew could take another massive step in getting the Toon faithful on his side if his Newcastle team can beat Premier League high flyers Manchester City on Boxing Day.

The former West Ham and Southampton boss was not the favoured choice to take over the reigns at St James' Park following the dismissal of Chris Hughton, but in his first game in charge he engineered a 3-1 win over Liverpool. Their game against Birmingham was postponed last weekend due to the snow, so he will have benefited more an extended period in training with his new troops and Newcastle United are 12/5 in the football betting to get the victory.

Roberto Mancini must have hoped City's game had also fallen foul of the weather as he watched his team go down 2-1 to Everton on Monday night. With none of City's rivals for the Premier League title playing, they missed an opportunity to go top of the pile and crank up the pressure on Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea.

For Pardew it was Newcastle's big players in the shape of Kevin Nolan, Joey Barton and new England striker Andy Carroll (11/2 to be first goalscorer against City) - that inspired them to the victory over Anfield, and the boss has been busy refuting suggestions the Newcastle number nine could be out of St James' Park in the New Year.

Despite all the turmoil within in the City camp, there is no doubting the quality and potential there is among the squad - and the Premier League betting makes them 5/4 to win the game.

The outcome of this match is going to hinge on how Newcastle's big players step up on Boxing Day. Nolan, Barton and Carroll, along with their central defensive pairing of Fabricio Coloccini and Mike Williamson will all need to be on tip-top form if Newcastle are to bag all three points.

But Mancini will have instilled in his team the importance of bouncing back from their loss to Everton, and games such as this are ones City should win if they truly consider themselves as contenders to win the Premier League title.

My Tip of the Weekend:

Newcastle should provide a stern test for City and the 23/10 with Betfred for the match to be drawn looks a good option.
Also Carlos Tevez is 4/1 to get the first goal, and he will be a real danger for a Toon defence that on average has conceded more than a goal a game at home this season.
Manchester City are the Premier League's top scorers away from home, so City's goal threat combined with Newcastle's leaky defence makes the 10/11 on offer that there will be a total of 2-3 goals in the game appealing.

Sunday 26th December: Newcastle v Manchester City, kick-off 3pm.

By Drew Swainston
(Guest writer from Betfred on behalf of Beer Footy and Birds!)

I Svear It's Sven!!!

A grinning 'Sven' can be seen outside Walton Prison last Thursday night, handing over a team sheet with a new formation and some final instructions to Joey 'Loony Tune' Barton, before he makes his next appearance.
Six up front and a further six across the back, in a Liverpool courtroom on the 16th January!