Today's Football (Round 2)

[Densu]

Thought newcastle had the quality to take this game. Well in.

[Westy]

See Butt's shot aff the post? Topper.

[Stew]

Scummy Barton potentially in trouble AGAIN!

Really got to ask what the hell he's doing poking someone in the face, no matter how hard it was.

[Zippy]

I agree with this.

Coach Chris Hughton said: "Any incident regarding Joey is going to be blown up twice as much as it's going to be with any other player.

[Stew]

I've got to wonder why Agbonlahor only said: "That's for other people to make the decision. The referee and linesman, whatever they saw - or didn't see, as the case may be, that's up to them."

Surely he could have said, "It was no big deal, there's nothing to investigate." Or, "FUCK HIM, HANG HIM FROM THE MOTHERFUCKING GALLOWS, BIATCHES."

Either way, his comments were a bit shit. I'm just watching it on YouTube and it doesn't seem at all a problem - nice to see the BBC taking the same moral highground as the Daily Hail these days.

[Zippy]

It was O'Neill who made that comment, not Agbonlahor.

You've done a complete 180 in two posts there.

[Timmy]

Tonights the night... (doom dum dum doom)
Tonights the Nigh-igh-igh-igh-igh-ight...
Tonights the night ... (doom dum dum doom)
Tonights the nigh-igh-igh-igh-igh-ight

Rangers vs Dundee utd... for us to go back top.

[Stew]

It was O'Neill who made that comment, not Agbonlahor.

You've done a complete 180 in two posts there.

The BBC article made it out as if it was a proper incident, whereas on finding it to watch it's more like what Nakamura did to the referee on Wednesday.

I stand by my point though: poking someone in the face when a portion of the country and media are looking for any excuse to go after you is nothing more than stupid.

[crazydiamond85]

1-0 Dundee united tonight i reckon

[CHUCK LIDELOL]

Tonights the night... (doom dum dum doom)
Tonights the Nigh-igh-igh-igh-igh-ight...
Tonights the night ... (doom dum dum doom)
Tonights the nigh-igh-igh-igh-igh-ight

Rangers vs Dundee utd... for us to go back top.

Fucking Hell, never thought I'd see My Favourite Album of All Time referenced in the football thread. Anyway, fuck Ranger against whoever. Liverpool are on.

[Zippy]

Good article on Joey Barton from F365:

One Rule For Barton, One For Everyone Else?

'Joey Barton is facing trial by TV after an ugly spat with Aston Villa striker Gabriel Agbonlahor in Newcastle's 2-0 win. Barton has a suspended six-match ban hanging over him from the Ousmane Dabo assault' - The Daily Mail.


'Joey Barton, the disgraced Newcastle United midfielder, faced trial by television on Monday night and the threat of another suspension after allegedly flicking out at Aston Villa forward Gabriel Agbonlahor and catching him in the face' - The Daily Telegraph.


Actually, both of these claims are incorrect. Barton has already faced a trial by television and been found guilty by those eminent judges of proper behaviour. The trial that awaits is of the FA and whether the governing body is ready to be bullied by the media into taking action against the midfielder.


The ugly side to Newcastle's win wasn't Barton's 'spat' with Agbonlahor but the speed and relish to condemn. First in line was Graham Poll, the self-appointed moral guardian of the game despite regularly wrecking matches for a living over a ten-year period, to be wheeled out to depict Barton's flick of Agbonlahor's nose as A Crime Against All That Is Good In The World.


"He actually does strike the opponent," Poll wailed. "You can't deny that is striking."


Err, you can. A strike is what Barton meted out, repeatedly, outside a McDonald's last year. A tweak is what the unharmed Agbonlahor endured.

But discussing semantics of Barton's latest controversy is to miss the point of the outrage.


Look hard enough at any game of football and a dozen red-card offences missed by the referee would be apparent. Barton is being targeted because Newcastle's last five matches have been played out in front of the live cameras and he is the player the media want to target. It is discriminatory and those demanding 'justice' are the ones committing the injustice.


Until every match and every incident is given equal scrutiny, until the FA confirm whether their disciplinary department actually exists and is not just a collection of hastily-assembled individuals occasionally provoked into action by media pressure, retrospective punishment will remain an impossibly flawed process. Ugly, in fact.


The picture accompanying this article shows Tony Hibbert grappling with Gael Clichy in a match at Arsenal last month. It was not highlighted by the media, or even shown by the television cameras, despite the Everton full-back committing (the picture is deceptive, because Hibbert didn't actually strike Clichy) the same crime that Barton has been found guilty of - that of raising his hands. Why not? Because Hibbert, compared to Barton, is a nobody. He does not sell. So the flashpoint was not spotlighted and the FA, with the agenda of their disciplinary department dictated by the television schedules and weight of media outrage, remained mute.


There's either a rule for this sort of thing, or there's just one for Joey Barton. However much we all dislike him, it can't be both.

Pete Gill

[Westy]

Aye I reckon it's a bit unfair for Barton. I mean at the weekend in the EPL you saw a defender giving a striker a wee "tweek" of his baws (It was on 2 good, 2 bad on MOTD) and it was the exact same kinda thing. Yet its not been blown out of proportion.

[Zippy]

Aye I reckon it's a bit unfair for Barton. I mean at the weekend in the EPL you saw a defender giving a striker a wee "tweek" of his baws (It was on 2 good, 2 bad on MOTD) and it was the exact same kinda thing. Yet its not been blown out of proportion.

If Joey Barton's going to play he deserves the same treatment as everyone else as soon as he steps on the park.

I was talking about this the other day, Newcastle have their hands tied with Barton. If they got rid of him after his last episode then all it would have meant is that they gave a £6m player a free transfer and someone else would have snapped him up for nothing, they had no option but to keep him.

Loving Stew's 'Barton potentially in trouble again' before he's even watched it. Outrage like that lost Russell Brand his job.

[Westy]

But he was poking him in the face! In the face!

I think Barton played as well. I feel as if I want to see him do well. There are far more worse cunts, on the pitch, in the EPL, Jamie Carragher for example, gets away with fucking everything. I really do hate him.

[Stew]

Loving Stew's 'Barton potentially in trouble again' before he's even watched it. Outrage like that lost Russell Brand his job.

Well.. according to the articles he poked a player in the face. Lifting your hands to another player is generally a red card offense, as Aliadiere found out last season. That's 'potential for trouble' if a TV panel watches it and issues a retrospective red card.

'Again' refers to the fact that he served 77 days in jail for attacking someone outside McDonalds, and his four month suspended sentence for attacking his team mate Ousmane Dabo.

Raising your hands is raising your hands. Poking someone in the face is poking someone in the face. Sure, it wasn't something that would cause injury, but the stupidity and intent was there.

I seem to remember Aliadière getting sent off last season for something similar. At the time they claimed it wasn't that serious and when he tried to get the card reduced they said no and added another game or two on at the appeal.

According to Sky Sports News no action will be taken though. So that's another one chalked down in the 'got away with it, thankfully' column despite saying he wanted to be a shining beacon for kids who'd been in trouble.