Wednesday, 9 November 2016

Barton finally bids bye bye

With yesterday’s confirmation from every major news outlet in the UK that the Joey Barton nightmare is finally over, only official verification from Rangers awaits.

The fiasco has been one of the most embarrassing episodes in Rangers’ history, handled appallingly by the Club on every level and left simmering to boil with such weak action taken over the actions he allegedly carried out at Auchenhowie in September.

That Rangers were in for the player was treated as a joke by this site earlier in the summer; we dismissed it out of hand arrogantly, but with good reason; why on earth would a Club like Rangers known for its dignity and with a manager well-renowned  for pure class take serious interest in a controversial time bomb like Joey Barton?

Barton has probably the worst reputation in modern football; while he had a good season with Burnley last campaign, nevertheless no one will remember him as a Marseille, Man City or Newcastle star – he will be remembered for his jail term, for his mocked Marseille press conference, and his utterly bizarre appearance on both Question Time and Newsnight.

This is a man with a bigger rap sheet than Eminem, and while he had undeniably matured, and Rangers fans, this site included, allowed ourselves to cut him slack and support him, it became abundantly clear after four performances that Rangers had signed a dud.

It was left to the Old Firm match at Parkhead where fans demanded he finally stand up and be counted; in the end he was nothing. All that social media nonsense with Scott Brown and Rangers’ marquee summer signing was left looking like a fool after failing to dent the match and being totally overrun by Brown.

Following that, the Auchenhowie fiasco. So it might have been some home truths he yelled at Halliday and Warburton, and he might have made some salient points, but the way the Club handled it was hopeless, and while this article may sound castigating of Barton (and it is) it was Rangers who chose to acquire the biggest powderkeg in the modern game and bring him to the most claustrophobic football city on planet earth.

After yesterday’s initial news he was off sick with stress from Rangers, it was later revealed his contract will be terminated with a fairly modest £250k payoff.

In a sense, I have to give the man some credit. If that figure is accurate, and there is no evidence yet that it is, then he has willingly written off well over £1M of the remainder of his deal. I have to applaud that, and it does the Club a favour.

Of course it might be self serving, that he was just so desperate to get out he was willing to take anything simply to be free.

Either way, whether it is the board, Frank McParland or Mark Warburton ultimately to blame for this signing, it truly goes down as one of the most abominable in Rangers’ history. Maybe the absolute worst.

A bad signing, with ‘disaster’ written all over it, with nonsense and a circus before it then completely exploded and made the Club look incredibly foolish.

It was atrociously handled, and few supporters can reasonably argue otherwise.

Let us hope nothing even close to this ever happens to Rangers again.


  1. I would have made him play for the first team and show his worth. But then Rangers management have no backbone. A Doctors line for 'stress' sufficed.
    He didn't even have the decency to leave the coffee machine...WTF!No shame whatsoever.
    Bye Bye indeed!
    Good fn riddance! Now, let's move on and forget all about this nonsense.
    Warbs repeatedly stated that he would not sign anyone without them being fully vetted as to not disrupt the unity of the changing room! Every effort was taken apparently! Hey guys, let's sign Joey Barton!
    Well Warbs, look whats happened to the club now. Same thing happened to Tiger Woods when his wife chased him out of the house with a golf club!
    It's over. Regroup. Get Stronger. Get better. WATP

  2. i disagree. looking at our performance v ross couny amongst others, we DO need someone like Barton in our ranks. Holt and Halliday are too soft. It is just that Barton can speak out for himself and highlight whats wrong in the team and Warbs cannot handle that. its ridiculous. Barton may not be doing the thing properly BUT he is a personality. Why didnt he have problems at Burnley and was chosen as best player of championship. He got pay cut from 35 grand a week to 20-25 at Ibrox. I would blame Warbs for his over-sensivity and bloated ego. Warbs should go as well, period.

    1. A gutter snipe.Smashing up coffee machines.He is a scouser though and they leave NOTHIN behind.Anyone who has tasted,sorry,endured their name sake a la carte fare will attest. Do we need any more embarrassment at this time?WTF?

  3. I'd agree. Right at this moment in time, I'd take a bit of Barton bite in midfield rather than a powder puff Magic Hat. We're going nowhere. A halfwit could see we have a defensive problem and though I have a lot of time for Andy Halliday, he is not a defensive midfielder in the mould of Barry Ferguson or Stuart McCall.
    Rossiter is clearly injury prone and after Sunday we need a bit of growl on the pitch. Oh well. Stumble along to the next crisis.

  4. The thing is ...
    Revealing a confidential medical situation to the press is perfect grounds for Barton to claim constructive dismissal, and get every single penny of his contract paid in full. Not the £250k (or 150k) supposedly agreed, but every single penny that he'd be due over the next 18-20 months.

    Think about that. Because I bet you fat Jim Traynor didn't.

  5. Slightly confused? Barton put it on twitter that he was signed off by a doctor, rangers didnt announce it...if anything barton will have taken some money and ran since onces hes found guilty by the sfa over his beting then he could have been let go for he haw

  6. Really ? Barton put it up himself ?
    Got a screenie, or can you direct me to one ?
    Because I'd only seen it in the Traynor press release ... sorry, I mean the article on the Record (and other) websites that run his puff pieces.
    And as for Barton being given a massive ban by the SFA, and Rangers then tearing up his contract ... well, I think you're being slightly optimistic (or maybe delusional) there.
    Considering Ian Black was found to have bet against Rangers on 3 occasions, betting involving Rangers in another 10 matches, (those offences got him a 7 game ban) and betting on a further 147 matches in total (those matches not involving Rangers only ended in him being censured by the SFA), and was NOT kicked out, then Barton would, if thrown out, have another perfect case for unfair / constructive dismissal. Ker-ching !

    But as I say, I'd love to see a link to the Barton sick note screenie.

  7. No loss to anyone other than in reputation in that this situation should never have been allowed to happen and doesn't say much for those who thought he was worth the gamble.

