Barton's Special Agent

It’s hardly surprising that in the last day or so, fans in the blue half of Manchester have talked of little else than Joey Barton.

One thing’s for sure, the City midfielder is no stranger to controversy. He could easily have been sacked after his behaviour on a club tour of Thailand last summer, when he is reported to have stabbed a young City player in the eye with a lighted cigar. Instead, he was offered support and anger management counselling and his outstanding form this season seemed to have justified City’s faith in him.

So what has gone wrong this time? Apparently, the England Under 21 international, whose contract runs out at the end of the season, is dismayed by the fact that the club are offering only to double his salary, when apparently he thinks he’s worth about six grand more a week, and his response is to slap in a transfer request on deadline day.

By sheer coincidence it so happens that Barton has recently acquired a new agent, a certain Willie McKay, who claimed that the player was upset that City were “taking him for granted” – which of course is precisely what you do when you offer to double someone’s earnings on a long-term contract. And when Mr McKay was interviewed by Rodney Marsh on TalkSport, he even suggested that if City were to offer Joey the figure he wants, he would not now sign.

Cynics will have a field day with this one!