Joey Barton, The Perfect Football Template

Joey Barton Helps Arsenal New-Boy Gervinho To His Feet

The old-fashioned footballer seems to be a dying breed. We have entered an age of Mo-Hawks, bright boots, skin-tight Jersey's and regular acrobatics. Rather unfortunately however, these acrobatics are not those of bicycle kicks of which we as fans of the game have come to love.

However, there seems to be one man who has stayed true to vintage English football. Enter Joey Barton, the tough-as-nails midfielder of Merseyside.

Mr Barton is well known in the football world for his never say die attitude, his hard work ethic and his bone crunching tackles (the majority fair). Barton has seemingly been sent by the footballing gods into an era of show pony's and money-hungry ‘stars’. In the midst of all the fashion, underwear and Hair Product advertisements stands Joey Barton, a lone soldier on the crusade to restore the heart & passion of which once oozed from footballers and their fans alike.

Joey Barton was previously a loyal servant for the two notable clubs of Manchester City and Newcastle United, playing 130 and 81 games respectively. Each of the games he played, were played with true grit, determination, wearing his pride on his sleeves and with his passion for football beating strong in his heart.
However, for some unknown reason, Newcastle United have released Barton after a 2010-11 season in which he was a key factor in Newcastle’s ability to remain in the Premier League after being promoted to the top flight the year prior.

In my opinion, If I was to manage a team Joey Barton would be the talisman of my squad.  With his experience being invaluable and his love for the game even more so, I would have Joey assisting all the younger players and setting an example on how the game should be played. Sure he may speak his mind to the public, often landing him in hot water, the game however, is played on the pitch and that's where I believe Barton does his best talking. A notable performance from last year was Newcastle’s 4 goal comeback against Arsenal to draw 4 a-piece, where Barton scored a brace of goals to play a key role in what has become one of, if not the greatest ever comeback in Newcastle United’s long History in the game.

Barton has since moved to English Premier League New boys QPR. I cannot stress enough on what a significant buy this is for QPR and how much he will assist them in their quest to remain in the top flight for years to come.

Barton’s Inclusion also gives me a new reason to quietly barrack for QPR in their quest for Premier League glory, the pure reason for this being that I never again wish to someone of Barton’s calibre wasted in the pits of the Championship leagues.