In defence of Newcastle midfielder Joey Barton

All good tales have two sides. There’s Cruella De Vil and the 101 Dalmatians, Cassius and Ceaser, Mario and Wario, Jaws and James Bond and Joey Barton and the beautiful game.

The majority of these are looked upon with affection, both good and evil. They are classic portrayals of the pantomime villain, as there is a clear distinction between right and wrong.

These often camp and over the top depictions of evil inject a thrill and sense of drama into a narrative that could potentially become boring and predictable. Their involvement is often cheered, whilst being simultaneously jeered, in excited anticipation of their involvement.

Puzzlingly though Joey Barton doesn’t attract the same sort of attention, despite fulfilling all the criteria of a pantomime villain. Newcastle’s opener to the season against Arsenal seemingly proved this, as once again Barton was in fine form fighting against the prettiness and predictability of the Gunners, in what was largely a game thin on entertainment.

Now obviously his actions can’t be condoned. Leaving possession to pick someone up by the throat is wrong and I wouldn’t want to offend those who believe they’re the moral compass of the game and fear players setting a bad example to the watching youth. To clarify, he’s occasionally a naughty bad man and that’s the truth.

His over exuberance and fiery temper often get him into trouble, for which he is rightly punished, but the level of vitriolic abuse he gets from the press seems unjust, particularly considering that in the same game Arsenal’s Alex Song was guilty of a misdemeanour of equal malice and naughtiness.

He however hasn’t been condemned for his actions and banished from the clean and flat world of football to a life of immorality. Like Barton, Song was also guilty of fracturing the laws of the game, but he did it snidely and in an equally malicious manner.

Barton’s actions though ensured that the main focus of fury walked straight past Song’s malevolent stamp on the Newcastle player and instead headed straight for the villain of the piece.

Those moral high grounders though with their knickers in a twist over setting a bad example to the kiddies are oddly not up in arms over Song’s actions, despite the malice involved and providing young eyes with an example of how to bend the boundaries of the game.

Barton being the big bad wolf he is, it’s obvious his actions are wrong and should obviously not be condoned, but instead of being vilified his contribution he should be embraced, as he brings colour to the sometimes bland oil painting that is football.

Also, and quite surprisingly for someone who is portrayed as nothing more than a mindless thug, Barton is erudite and witty, recently labelling Robbie Savage’s hairstyle as different class on a Radio 5 Live phone interview and also offering his opinion (above) via his regularly updated Twitter account.

His grammar though is occasionally poor, which unfortunately is another example of him setting a bad example to the kids.

He’s a great footballer though, as well being the baddest pirate to set foot in the Premier League. He’s Dick Dastardly, Dr Evil, Captain Hook and more.

His input brings drama to the pleasant Premier League story about three little pigs in a cottage, as without the dangerous excitement of the big bad wolf, it could get bloody boring.

Tags: Joey Barton, Newcastle United, Premier League