Joey Barton

Joey Barton (born 2 September 1982) is an English football player who has played as a midfielder for the English national team and for the English clubs Manchester City and Newcastle United.

Quotes

 * England did nothing in the World Cup, why are they bringing books out? 'We got beat in the quarter-finals, I played like shit, here's my book'. Who wants to read that? I don't.
 * Barton's thoughts on England players releasing autobiographies after an unsuccessful World Cup campaign.


 * It's alright, I'm not going to steal your breakfast you fat prick.
 * Barton's reported reaction following Frank Lampard's decision to move tables at England's training camp in order to avoid him.


 * You have to face facts. We have not brought quality in. One or two have done all right but not enough to take the team onto the next level. We can't gamble on players who have scored six goals in six games in the fucking Pontins League or in Belgium. I know a lot of the supporters are umming and ahhing about whether to buy their season tickets. They go out and work hard. It is a lot of money to buy a season ticket at our place and they are not getting value for money.
 * Barton giving his opinion on the situation at Manchester City during the 2006-07 season.


 * I was able to string a sentence together and debate issues that went beyond Nuts magazine — and, yes, also capable at the time of mindless acts of violence.
 * "Thanks to Twitter I'm not just a bad boy now", The Times (31 January 2012).

About Barton
And I don't say that for anyone to feel sorry for me – I say that for people to understand the reality and the impact that hate speech has, the impact that racism has, the impact that sexism has, the impact that misogyny has on all of us females in the game, in sports broadcasting.
 * I've felt under threat this week. I've felt like something is going to happen to me.
 * Eni Aluko in a 15-minute video message on Instagram, as cited in "PM says it's 'ridiculous' to exclude women from football punditry, after Joey Barton row", ITV News (19 January 2024).
 * On X (formerly known as Twitter), he responded to Aluko: "I was waiting for the victim card to be played" (she had not directly named Barton). Rishi Sunak had said the profession should be "open to everybody". Barton had compared women football commentators Aluko and Lucy Ward to named mass murderers.


 * Little has been heard, to date, from writers once happy to overlook a whole anthology of Barton attacks, including his stubbing a cigar out in another player’s eye, attacks on and off the pitch, and a six-month prison sentence (another was suspended) for common assault and affray. His supporters may even think it proves Barton’s “wokeism” point that, while sustained, occasionally criminal violence barely dented his prospects, some abusive tweets about prominent women will now have ended any he might have had in mainstream sport or cultural appreciation.
 * Catherine Bennett "A few lines of poetry can propel a career misogynist like Joey Barton into a league of his own", The Observer (21 January 2024).
 * The links are in the original text.