Joey Barton faces possible Football Association action
Newcastle United midfielder Joey Barton faces possible action from the Football Association after punching Blackburn Rovers player Morten Gamst Pedersen.
Barton hit out at Pedersen for no reason during Newcastle's 2-1 defeat to Blackburn in a game where Jason Roberts scored the winning goal. Had the referee seen the incident then Barton would have been
shown a straight red card.
"You've probably seen the pictures on television and everything.
It's up to The FA. I'm not going to say anything.
Yeah (I was upset). I focused my game after that. There's nothing else I could do," Pedersen said to
Sky Sports.
Barton's actions will almost certainly result in a three match ban, which will keep one of Newcastle's best players in recent times out of action. There is even the chance
the FA could hand out a four match ban because the punch was so blatant.
Bad news
This is bad news for Newcastle and the team's manager Chris Hughton. Barton has been playing very well and seems to thrive in his new position of playing wide on the right
of the team.
Barton's temper has always been one of the main issues surrounding his whole game and parts of his private life. It's incidents such as this where there has been no provocation
at all, which leaves the club with a big problem.
The club will also have to face the possibility that Barton will be banned for four matches instead of the standard three for a red card due to violent conduct. This is
because the punch was very aggressive and could have caused Pedersen a bad injury such as a cracked rib.
"He's taken a swipe. The referee hasn't seen it and it's very, very unfortunate
and shouldn't have happened," added Blackburn boss Sam Allardyce.
Betting advice
Newcastle will need to start preparing a side that doesn't include Barton unless the FA loses all sense and lets this incident pass. However, fortunately for the club there is
cover down the right and Jonas Gutierrez could play this position for the foreseeable future.
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