Barton - Made his feelings known to Morten Gamst Pedersen foolishly last night

Well some say it was a matter of time. Joey Barton has hit the headlines again, not for his great performances of late which includes 3 assists in the last 4 games, but for another reason. As the many various papers and online journals have pointed out, Joey Barton struck Morten Gamst Pedersen in the stomach with a right handed clout. They’ll also dub this little dig into the Norwegian’s chest as a full blooded punch, with full force from the controversial midfielder. However, I think there’s a lot being made out of this ‘shove’ that Joey gave him. First of all, it’s obvious that Gamst Pedersen sticks out a slight elbow and catches Barton, whether intentional or not we’re not sure, but either way, the Blackburn man was shocked when Joey lashed out at him, sending him to the floor.

The funny thing about it, (if we can see any humour in this at all) is that neither the referee nor his assitants saw it. In fact, when Joey and Morten were talking after in the incident, and Barton claiming his shoved him away rather than punched, the referee had a laugh with the two players and resumed play.

However, the FA have decided to charge Joey will violent conduct and it’s likely he’ll face a three match ban, which will keep him out of some games that we’d hope for three points in. The charge is completely necessary no doubt, and what Barton did was such a stupid thing to do, however the media are really taking this out of proportion and some are even calling for Joey to retire and leave the game before he does anything else.

A 3 match ban is a right ban, but anything more is just ridiculous. Of course the various tabloids and media outlets will scrutinise Mr.Barton more than any other footballer  in Europe, and I suppose you could were just waiting for the Toon player to make any little mistake. What’s disappointing for us, is not only that he has let NUFC down, in missing the next 3 games or so, but also the fact we thought he had changed for the better and had turned a corner in his career. In fact, I still think he has, but we’ll never rid the inner demon, we just have to acknowledge the improvement he has made since the days he spent behind bars.

All in all, my point is that the media are just taking this a bridge too far, with statements that I have already mentioned. Yes his lashed out, but it was provoked, whether intentionally by Pedersen or not who knows. He didn’t just punch the man if you want to call it a punch for no reason, if he had, then I’d be seriously worried.

There’ll be a lot more to come regards this, and we’ll keep you updated. be sure to follow us on Twitter @TyneTime We have updates ever hour or so of the latest goings on, and we’ll try break the Toon news to you as quick as we get it.

If you think Newcastle will turn things around at home to Fulham even without Joey Barton & Shola, and get their home form back on track, then why not put a few pound where your mouth is? Newcastle are nice enough odds for their home affair with Fulham and are worth a couple of quid, especially considering the wins we’ve managed against better opposition.

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