Joey Barton’s future at Rangers is in doubt after he was suspended for three weeks.
Rangers manager Mark Warburton with’ Joey Barton
Pundits Danny Mills and Andy Townsend have offered their opinions on Joey Barton’s situation at Rangers to BBC Radio Five Live.
Barton, 34, helped Burnley win promotion to the Premier League last season and surprisingly chose to leave Turf Moor in order to make a shock move to Rangers.
Rangers’ Joey Barton
Seen as a huge coup for Rangers, Barton’s time in Scottish football has been something of a disaster; not only has he struggled with some poor performances on the pitch, but he’s now become embroiled in unsavoury off-field issues that have plagued his career.
The midfielder was caught in a row with Rangers team-mate Andy Halliday, and having initially being suspended over last weekend, he has now been suspended for three weeks.
It seems almost implausible that Barton will play for Rangers again, and the parties may be working on an amicable divorce during the suspension period.
Joey Barton applauds fans as he is substituted
After news broke of Barton’s suspension, pundits Danny Mills and Andy Townsend both spoke to BBC Radio Five Live about the situation, and discussed his future at Ibrox.
Barton’s former Manchester City team-mate Danny Mills stated that he has seen the midfielder ‘snap’ during his time with him, and compared him to Manchester United legend Roy Keane, in the sense that he sets such high standards for himself and his team-mates.
Meanwhile, Townsend noted that Rangers have always had big-name players, many of whom have performed better on the pitch than Barton has, and thinks that his time at Ibrox is over after undermining manager Mark Warburton.
Rangers’ Joey Barton in action with Burnley’s Dean Marney
“Joey can be very affable, an absolute gem, really engaging, intelligent,” said Mills. “But there is something that just snaps and he reverts back to type. We’ve seen that throughout all his misdeameanours. He is a good player and sets himself high standards and expects everyone around him to be the same. It’s almost like the Roy Keane syndrome. He expects everyone to be the same. He expects everyone to be as good as he thinks he is.”
“This is a club that has had Butcher, Roberts, Gascoigne, Laudrup – genuine world class players, Souness too. I can only assume the club have got their legal eyes all over every situation at the moment, just trying to terminate this in the best and the right way possible, as fast as they possibly can. Once you undermine the manager, then you’ve got nowhere to go, there’s nowhere left to go,” added Townsend.
Do you think Barton will ever play for Rangers again?
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