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a shot in the arm at a great time. hope it goes according to this timescale, as whichever teams eventually go on to take the top two places will need to be going strongly in feb and march.
show us how much you want to play joey - that much isnt really in doubt - but show us how good you are as well because we havent seen enough of what we all hoped to see when you signed.
how good is joey barton?

Maybe I'm just high on holiday spirit, but the idea of Barton coming into a squad that's confident and doing well excites me.

Whilst Joey hasnt exactly shone when he's played this season I'm inclined to agree with Tunyc.

I reckon he could yet prove to be an asset

I think he may not have "shone" but his work ethic has been consistent. He has consistently worked hard but perhaps hasnt been centre of attention (for once). I think its great he is learning to get on with it, make his role court without having to have a closeup on the cameras whilst arguing off a coloured card

With an early return, maybe we can offload him by Jan. 31st.

I'm with tunyc on this one. Let's just hope he can keep his temper in check.

Quote:

Carys
I think he may not have "shone" but his work ethic has been consistent. He has consistently worked hard but perhaps hasnt been centre of attention (for once). I think its great he is learning to get on with it, make his role court without having to have a closeup on the cameras whilst arguing off a coloured card

a telling slip in bold carys! hope we dont see that side of joey again soon...

LOL LMK - i meant count

A forgotten man, will be like a new signing.

Thing is, waffles-who would we get to replace him? Some bum off the scrapheap on a free. I'm just staying positive; in an ideal world he makes a tremendous positive impact on this team.

do you remember the stories of his comments against shearer in front of the first team last season? i cant say for sure they were true, but he was excluded from training with the squad after that. what if he rocks the boat? is hughton man enough to keep him in line without also excluding him?
there was talk of a confrontation between hughton and barton early this season, which led to him being dropped.
i hope it works out well, but he does seem a bit of a bad apple, no?

Hopefully if Hughton dropped him once, he'll drop him again. That's the upside to getting on so well without him. If he is a bust-nothing lost, really. But he can't be allowed to disrupt the squad. That's a test Hughton is going to have to face and pass at some point if he wants to be a manager with the big boys.

i think the current squad has proved Barton isnt needed.

but potentially if Barton plays to his best he is more than capable of filling an absent smith/nolan. when either are missing its noticable.

Feel the team has a good bond at mo, with the likes of Smith, Nolan and Taylor well amongst this.
Cant see these players tolerating any Barton shenanigans, giving Hughton confidence to drop Barton at a whim

Quote:

tunyc
Thing is, waffles-who would we get to replace him? Some bum off the scrapheap on a free. I'm just staying positive; in an ideal world he makes a tremendous positive impact on this team.

That's a fair point. In all honesty, when he's on form he's the best short passer we have. He's got good vision, ball control, fights for the ball (and just for the hell of it), and can get forward for a couple goals.

But, he's a risk/reward player. He's been injury prone, arrested, and suspended. Between paying his wages to have him consistently unavailable and trying to offload him at the cost of having to deploy Nicky Butt in the midfield more often, I'd take Nicky Butt.

Yesterdays game showed that we miss a fit Barton. Totally take on board the worries but we lack the drive of his type of player and as far as the premiership goes he is the only midfielder who could cut it. The rest are just not good enough or in Nolans case, needs to play further up to be effective.

I would prefer the toon to buy an attacking midfielder in January then to extend Harewoods loan.

i agree that barton is better as an attacking playmaker than any of the regulars in our midfield.
can anyone remember him actually showing this in our colours though?
i can picture him doing very well in light blue, but in black and white?

a lot still to prove, and thats leaving aside the fact he's a psychopath

Oh, he's not a psychopath. Seriously. Just an angry guy with a drinking problem. Truth of the matter is, we've all known a Joey Barton.

I don't expect Joey to be the savior of this squad. But the reality is that Ashley has shown he's not willing to spend what it takes to get a player of his quality in his prime. So I think we have to give him a shot and hope for the best. Smith would be cautioned and sent off on a regular basis in the PL in his current role. Butt shouldn't (and probably won't) ever step on a top flight field again.

Quote:

tunyc
Oh, he's not a psychopath. Seriously. Just an angry guy with a drinking problem. Truth of the matter is, we've all known a Joey Barton.
I don't expect Joey to be the savior of this squad. But the reality is that Ashley has shown he's not willing to spend what it takes to get a player of his quality in his prime. So I think we have to give him a shot and hope for the best. Smith would be cautioned and sent off on a regular basis in the PL in his current role. Butt shouldn't (and probably won't) ever step on a top flight field again.

sociopath, whatever. i was pointing out that he has baggage and a long history of re-offending. prove me wrong joey

Quote:

lostmekeys
sociopath, whatever. i was pointing out that he has baggage and a long history of re-offending. prove me wrong joey

Agreed. He's such a large risk that I don't think the rewards are enough. However, I was rather impressed with the skysports article on him today.

Barton, who sought the help of the Sporting Chance Clinic in an effort to deal with his problems, believes his career could have got even worse if he had not be forced to deal with his issues.

He said: "That's the stuff people know about, there's stuff I got away with.

"I'm very fortunate because of my profile and the job I do, and the fact I'm in the public eye, it got addressed.

"I was forced to address my issues, either carry on doing what you are doing and your career is gone, or you address it." -[www.skysports.com]


He's at least acknowledged that he has had problems, but not having them again is the issue. I, for one, do not want to be have him at this club while he tries to rehabilitate.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2009:12:31:15:49:48 by waffles.

Barton staying out of trouble and being fully fit, we have heard it before and have heard it about ex players who were trouble makers, the needs to get rid of them.

A fully fit barton would improve the side but he will always get in trouble and then is it worth the grief, to me it is not. In this league we don't need him.

In the premiership he may be the best midfielder at the club, but then he will always be in the media and you have to ask does the club or the fans want that as it will make us look like c@nts again.

I think we will be stuck with as Ashley is tight, and if he does play then I suppose it will allow us to push Nolan up front or to play of the one forward.

We will be "stuck" with him, because no one else will touch him right now. Which may be a blessing for us, as he is a cut above any other midfielder we have except Nolan.

Other guys have gotten themselves turned around. It does happen. One can assume Joey will fail, or hope he's one of the good stories. It's each individual supporter's choice to make.

It just seems we always have the trouble makers and if we are to be serious as a club and eventually get back to the premiership and then move up the league and compete for Europe then we don't need players like him, the successful teams get rid of the trouble makers and we should be using this experience to try and copy some of the teams who were struggling and turned thier fortunes around.

I don't give a f@ck if we let him go for nothing as long as he is off the books, sooner or later he will get himself in trouble and it could be during bad times in the premiership and they will come, why have the hassle of the bloke

Quote:

tunyc
We will be "stuck" with him, because no one else will touch him right now. Which may be a blessing for us, as he is a cut above any other midfielder we have except Nolan.
Other guys have gotten themselves turned around. It does happen. One can assume Joey will fail, or hope he's one of the good stories. It's each individual supporter's choice to make.

you made a good point about our signings from the french league - that there are four cacapas for every robert (or whoever). now apply that to players in joeys position, are we with the odds or against, when we hope for the best?

(oh, and i cant - just cant - let the idea that he's MUCH better than any of our other mids get out of hand here. and anyway, that wouldnt make him a great player, and he isnt, not by a long way.)