Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Joey fire fuelled by his doubters
BURNLEY’S Joey Barton admits he i s fuelled by those who said he was finished following his Rangers nightmare.
Two months after the Gers cut ties with their midfielder following a dreadful stint north of the border, Barton marked his first appearance in England’s top flight in 601 days by coming off the bench t o score a late free-kick as Burnley defeated Southampton 1-0.
It has been another season of peaks and troughs for the one-time England cap, though there had been only l owlights when the 34-year-old was in Glasgow, where he played just eight times before a training ground bust-up led to a drawn-out exit.
“I feel I’m in a better place physically and mentally,” he said.
“I’m a lot more hungry because people have written me off.
“I’m a lot more humble because the club didn’t have to show this faith in me.
“It hasn’t been an easy couple of months as you can imagine.
“There are not that many players who take that route of going to Scotland, it not working out, and before you know it, it’s January and you’re back playing in the Premier League and scoring the winner.
“Even I didn’t think that was possible.
“Sometimes things just work out funny. Football is a funny old game.
“The amount of people who wrote me off after what happened in Scotland — not many people make it back after it not going to plan in the SPL. They don’t really come back and hit the ground running in the Premier League.
“Fortunately, I don’t really believe in what’s written about me: good, bad or indifferent. I just keep on doing my own thing.”