Joey Barton has given two interviews in today’s newspapers which could see his time at Rangers plunged into further chaos and controversy.
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Rangers and Barton have not made any further comment following the announcement of his three-week suspension, but there increasingly looks to be no way back for the 34-year-old. Sam Allardyce is England manager.
Barton dived in with the usual pish that players who fail badly in Scotland are wont to do, claiming: “It’s a much lower level and I’m trying to help people get to a higher level”.
“Do I believe, if Sam can get to be England manager then I can?” Well, yeah, of course. Of course I do.
“I look at Roy Hodgson in the England job and look at the way he handled it”. “As tough as it is, adversity brings out the best in you”.
Barton then turned his attention to Stoke manager Mark Hughes, who he played under at QPR: “Mark Hughes is a awful manager – Stoke are bottom of the league”. Stoke are bottom of the league.
“My trade is football”. But I know that in time it will turn out to be the right decision. I care about football as much as anybody.
“But the pressure? If anything I believe I’m better suited to it than anybody else”.
And Barton, who has already missed Rangers’ goalless draw with Ross County, has admitted he would think twice about leaving Burnley to move to Glasgow if he had the decision to make again.
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“[If you have a go at the manager in front of the players] you’re done, you’ve got to go”. Probably not. I’ve even been honest with people about that.
