But Big Sam is not the sort to go out drinking and end up having a fight outside a McDonalds in Liverpool city centre at five thirty in the morning. Nor is he the type of man who would be giving Barton a lift home after a night out on the town in his taxi. Unless he was collecting Barton from a police station that is. What is so staggering about the decision to sign Barton was that the infamous incident with Ousmane Dabo happened only five weeks earlier.
Barton promised after stubbing out a cigar in a team mate’s eye at the 2004 Manchester City Christmas party that he was going to change. And he didn’t mean he was going to change into a Father Christmas outfit. Yet the assault on Dabo suggested he had only got worse. Managers have gambled on players before. No one needs to be reminded about what Jonathan Woodgate and Lee Bowyer got up to whilst at Leeds. Both also ended up playing for Newcastle.
And while Woodgate left that behind him, Bowyer was forced out of the club after attacking Kieron Dyer during a Premiership match. Newcastle are now in a difficult situation very much of their own making. In any other line of work Barton would be sacked immediately. But if Newcastle were to sack him they would lose six million pounds and an undoubtedly gifted footballer.
Another club would then swoop in and pick up Barton for nothing. But if Newcastle keep Barton there are no guarantees that he won’t get into anymore trouble. The next judge to preside over Barton would probably lock him up for a far longer stay than four months. What kind of a role model for young Newcastle fans is a player constantly in court and prison for violent behaviour? Chelsea know all too well the problem of sacking a star player.
Had they had kept on to Adrien Mutu, he would have singlehandedly scored more goals than Schevchenko, Pizzaro and Kalou last season. Yet they took the moral high ground and got rid of the player after he tested positive for cocaine.
Chelsea however are highly unlikely to recoup any of the £14 million they paid for Mutu, despite Fifa ordering the Romanian to pay Chelsea over nine million pounds. Occupying the lofty peak of morality in football gets you nowhere, which is why Chelsea opted to quickly descend into the moral wastelands.
Barton is set to discuss his future this week with Kevin Keegan. But don’t expect Barton to be anywhere else than behind bars come the start of the season. The black and white bars of Newcastle United’s shirt.