English Premier League: Barton says he is as good as anyone in England
Football’s bad boy Joey Barton has once again entered the spotlight but this time he is the center of attention because of his statements which are a lot less controversial than before. Barton, who has been known to go off mark with some of his media comments has lately come out and said that he is going to be striving to impress Capello so that the English midfielder can secure a spot in his national team’s squad for the 2012 European Championships.
Barton has taken Capello’s comments about bringing changes to the England’s setup as positive news. Joey Barton currently plays for Newcastle United, who were relegated to the second division of English football i.e. The Championship after the 2008-2009 season. Barton spent most of the last season sidelined through injuries for Newcastle. However, Newcastle have managed to climb back into the top tier of English football after their brilliant last season in the Championship.
Barton has been quite an interesting character off the field over the past few years. In 2004, when Barton was at his former club Manchester City’s Christmas party, he stubbed out a lit cigar by repeatedly dabbing it into the eyes of reserve team player Jamie Tandy during a Manchester City Christmas party at Lucid nightclub. He claimed to have caught the player in the act of lighting his shirt on fire.
Barton was fined six weeks' wages by Manchester City as a result of this heinous incident. In 2006, Barton was sent home halfway through his club’s preseason tour which was taking place in Thailand. Man City were forced to make such a decision because Barton had attacked and hurt a 15 year old Everton supporter. Barton had verbally abused the teenager and kicked him on his shin.
In 2006, Barton flashed his bottom during a football match between Manchester City and Everton at Goodison Park in England; as a result he was fined 2000 pounds by the Football Association for bringing disrepute to the sport of football.
At the end of the 2006-2007 season, Barton assaulted his own team mate Ousmane Dabo and injured him severely, causing damage to his face and eyes. On 14th June 2007, Barton was sold by Manchester City to Newcastle for a transfer fee of 5.8 million pounds.
Barton has recently come out in the press and criticized the England team which performed in the FIFA 2010 World Cup. Barton spoke to the Evening Chronicle. He said that, after he had watched some of the performances by English players for England in the World Cup, he was off the view that he himself was as good as any other footballer in England.
He went on to say that, he will be on a mission to prove himself right as Newcastle begin their English Premier League campaign on the 14th of August 2010 against Manchester United. He added that, his first target is to do well for Newcastle and in doing so he would like to break through into the England squad as well.
He remarked that, he was not passing these comments lightly. Barton also stated that he intends to sustain his fitness levels for a longer period of time. He said that he is confident of finding the form that will get him into the England squad for the upcoming Euro 2012 qualifiers.
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