BAD BOY IS NO AVERAGE JOE
Full-blooded Barton would be the ultimate sign of Rangers intent regardless of his past
AUNIQUE individual. As different as they come. Yes, yes, we’re all special, distinctive, beautiful in our own way... But Joey Barton? He could keep the anthropology departments at Oxford, Cambridge and Harvard in case studies until the human race finally collapses under the weight of its own self-absorption.
Mark Warburton, David Weir and chief scout Frank McParland — the latter so instrumental in recruiting him for Burnley last summer — will understand that, in taking Barton to Rangers, they will be signing a really interesting group of players. And hoping that the right one turns up when needed.
Yet it is also true that, for anyone willing to put up with — or cut through — the carefully cultivated image of the footballer-philosopher raging against a mundane world and its petty conformities, Joseph Anthony Barton is more than capable of making a major contribution on the field of play.
‘How do I think he will do?’ asks former manager — and occasional verbal sparring partner — Neil Warnock, repeating Sportsmail’s question before declaring: ‘He will be the best player at the club. No doubt. Simple as that.’
Now, considering some of the things Barton said in public about his old boss at Queens Park Rangers, without daring to guess at the private words this pair are likely to have exchanged, it says something about both men that such a straighttalking veteran of the game still holds the midfielder in high regard.
Warburton, for what it’s worth, believes Barton will be a natural fit for a football environment always veering towards the rough side of the street. And perfectly suited for one fixture, in particular. In short, he believes in him. And he’s not alone. If the 33-year-old was merely a semi-skilled agitator, there are not many managers who would have put up with the off-field idiocy that saw Barton spend the prime of his playing years forever in trouble. In jail, too. The fact that he’s done time in prison for assault, even if it was ‘only’ 32 days of a six-month sentence for punching a man more than 20 times, would normally be enough for many to dismiss him as a mindless thug. Indeed, anyone looking merely at the on-field rap sheet of this repeat offender would immediately classify Barton as an unacceptable danger to others, his one redeeming feature being sufficient skill, athleticism and mental fortitude to play a game that rewards men not for the content of their character but their ability to grind out 1-0 wins. But how does that square with everything else we know about Barton? A guy who thought it was OK to call PSG’s Thiago Silva a ‘ladyboy’ on Twitter, yet publicly campaigns against homophobia in football. Go figure. However, there can’t be many SPFL football players who can claim to have appeared on the Question Time panel. Nor can many regulars on that show have found themselves in trouble for likening the UK’s main political parties to ‘four really ugly girls’. And Rangers are thinking of bringing this loose cannon in for a campaign where they are likely to face Celtic on four separate occasions? There may well be a clause in his Ibrox contract requiring him to wear mittens in Old Firm week, just to avoid inflammatory Tweeting.
Fans on the blue side of that divide don’t care what he says, of course. They will even forgive his past declarations of allegiance to Celtic, as long as he thrives in the heat of head-to-head battle with the great rivals.
Warnock almost laughs as he considers whether even Barton might find that environment a little overwhelming, dismissing the very idea, as he told Sportsmail: ‘I think that, the Old Firm game, would be just normal for him.
‘He goes to the edge, of course he does. But that’s just Joey. He is the kind of player you would want in a derby game, totally committed and willing to do what it takes.
‘Everybody knows that he’s had issues but, at the heart of it all, he’s just a good, good player, a guy who will bring more pluses than minuses to any team.
‘And, in this past year with Burnley, as well as being their best player and helping them to win promotion to the Premier League, he has shown that he can get his head right and concentrate on the football.
‘He’s playing without headlines, if you like, avoiding so many of the negatives. Considering the type of player he is, how combative and competitive he has to be in that area of the park, he really has handled himself fantastically in this past year.
‘I’ve personally seen a few incidents that, just a couple of years ago, would have caused him to just erupt. But
he’s handled it, dealt with it — and he’s one of the main reasons Burnley are going up.
‘i’m not surprised rangers want him. and i wouldn’t be surprised if Burnley, now that they know he’s maybe getting an extra year or whatever in the offer from rangers, came back and gave him everything he wanted. But, if the move to rangers does come off, he will be a great signing.’
as true as it is to say that Barton is much more than just a nutcase who goes barging around the middle of the park, taking bodies and making strong men go weak at the knees, the fact that he has that edge to him — that ability to make the defining challenge, the one that gives his team an extra quarter of a second on the ball for the rest of the game — is definitely part of the attraction for Warburton.
the rangers manager has spoken about the need for experience in the team. he has talked about recruiting wisely and, in a not unrelated matter, receiving financial backing from the board.
now, whatever parallels alex McLeish may see with the Graeme souness revolution, Barton is no terry Butcher, who was england captain when he moved north.
But, considering the money involved, this signing would certainly represent a statement of intent by the scottish championship winners.
and, although they will now immediately cast him in the role of enemy, Barton might just be the kind of acquisition — a well-known player on serious, serious wages — that many celtic fans would like to see from their own club. then again, carlton cole …
sure, it may not work out. even among those with a decidedly low opinion of scotland’s top flight, a league with more than its share of plodders, there is a wariness about guys at the tail end of their career arriving amid much hype.
Just occasionally, they find that our boys can be a bit too lively, too quick and too tough, for a retirement plan.
in Barton, however, rangers would appear to be making a straightforward footballing call. Looking at the form of someone who has just waltzed off with Player of the Year honours from the championship title winners — and deciding to go all in on him being right for them.
Given McParland’s successful personal history with Barton, he’s well positioned to make that call on an individual who will never be everyone’s favourite, never claim to be anything other then messy, mixed-up, complex and occasionally crazy, often making it up as he goes along. Maybe not so unique, after all.