Joey Barton faces lengthy football ban

Aug 13 2008

Disgraced footballer Joey Barton was facing a lengthy ban from the game today after he admitted an FA charge of violent conduct against a former team-mate.

It related to a training ground fight with Ousmane Dabo when the pair played for Manchester City.

Since then Barton was transferred to Newcastle United for £5.8m and has been jailed for a drunken attack on revellers in Liverpool city centre.

He missed the club’s open day at St James’s Park where up to 12,000 fans braved the rain to watch their heroes train.

Barton admitted the charge at the FA headquarters in Soho Square and requested a personal hearing before an FA regulatory commission in due course.

Addressing the fans, Toon boss Kevin Keegan explained why striker Obafemi Martins was absent - attending his mother’s funeral in Nigeria - but pointedly failed to mention Barton, 25.

United skipper Michael Owen, 28, and midfielder Abdoulaye Faye, 30, who are both recovering from injuries, took part in a light warm-up session.

They enjoyed a gentle jog with the rest of the players before joining in with a small game of keep-ball.

Owen and Faye then parted from the rest of the squad as the intensity of the session increased.

On July 1 Barton was given a four-month suspended prison sentence after admitting assault occasioning actual bodily harm on Dabo, 31, who now plays for Lazio.

Later that month he was released from prison after serving 74 days of a six-month sentence for beating up a teenager and Newcastle United announced the club would be standing by its £40,000-a-week star.

Barton also missed Newcastle’s pre-season trip to Palma, where the team played in the Mallorca Summer Cup tournament.