Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs From showing his backside to opposition fans to a late-night drunken row at McDonald’s, former Premier League star Joey Barton has hit the headlines all too often for the wrong reasons12:17, 26 Mar 2025Updated 12:20, 26 Mar 2025Barton was banned for 12 matches for fighting with players from his former club(Image: AFP/Getty Images)Disgraced Joey Barton, who was this week given a 12-week suspended prison sentence for assaulting his wife at their family home, is no stranger to vile behaviour. Westminster Magistrates’ Court heard the 42-year-old attacked Georgia Barton at their house in Kew in June 2021 after a drunken night out with two other couples, leaving the mother of his two children with a lump on her forehead and a bleeding nose.Joey played top-flight football for clubs including Manchester City, Newcastle United and Rangers and earned a cap for England in the course of his playing career, but the midfielder’s thuggery got in the way of his talent. After retiring from the game, the Liverpool-born star went on to manage clubs including League One’s Bristol Rover and today, hosts a podcast called Common Sense With Joey Barton.The former player was said to have showed no emotion when his court sentence was handed down, with Senior District Judge Paul Goldspring reminding him “the one place your wife is entitled to feel protected is at home”. And as we detail below, this isn’t Barton’s first brush with the law by any means…READ MORE: Joey Barton kicked wife in head in violent drunken row after threatening to fight her dadThe former player attacked his wife Georgia after a drunken night out(Image: Phil Harris)Eye burnIn a shocking incident at Manchester City’s Christmas party in December 2004, Barton stubbed a lit cigar into the eye of his young team-mate Jamie Tandy. He was fined six weeks’ wages by the club, approximately £90,000. His victim was left with permanent scarring and sued the player for £65,000 in damages, saying the attack had caused a “major psychiatric deterioration”.Leg breakBarton was reported to be driving his car at 2am in Liverpool city centre in May 2005 when he broke a 35-year-old pedestrian’s leg. The exact details of what happened remain something of a mystery.Schoolboy spatStill with Manchester City, the player apologised and agreed to undertake a period of rehabilitation when he was found guilty of gross misconduct on a club trip to Thailand. Barton was sent home by manager Stuart Pearce after he got involved in an “altercation” with his team-mate Richard Dunne and a 15-year-old Everton fan at the team’s Bangkok hotel. He was forced to pay out over £120,000 – eight weeks wages – as punishment for his bad behaviour.Bottom displayBarton continued his feud with Everton fans when he dropped his shorts and exposed his bare backside in their direction at Goodison Park in October 2006. Twice. He was charged by the FA for his juvenile actions, fined and warned.Taxi rowIn March 2007, the player was arrested on suspicion of assault and criminal damage when it was alleged he ripped out a taxi driver’s radio because he would not wait at a McDonald’s drive-through while Barton got food. The midfielder was later found not guilty of vandalising the cab with his cousin Joshua Wilson, 19, instead admitting to causing the damage.Teammate assaultIn one of the most notorious incidents from Barton’s playing career, he became involved in a training ground bust-up with his Manchester City teammate Ousmane Dabo in May 2007. Dabo, who was taken to hospital, pressed charges, and in July 2008, Barton admitted the assault and was given a four-month suspected jail sentence.”I just pushed him away and turned my back to walk off,” Dabo told The Sun of the incident, saying he had looked like the “Elephant Man” the next day. “That’s when he hit me. I really don’t remember exactly what happened, but I’ve been told by all my team-mates he hit me from behind, a right hook which hit me on the temple and knocked me out for a few seconds.”As I started to fall he jumped on top of me, held my head and punched me twice more in the face. Apparently when I was on the floor he again punched me before being pulled off. When I came round, and it can only have been a matter of seconds, there was blood everywhere.”McDonald’s punch-upThe star leaves jail in 2008 after being charged with assault and affray in McDonald’s(Image: Daily Mirror)Injured for his new club Newcastle’s Boxing Day game in December 2007, Barton went out drinking in Liverpool city centre afterwards. By the early hours, he had gotten into a row in McDonald’s and ended up straddling his victim and punching him repeatedly in the face.Refusing bail, Barton spent the New Year behind bars and in May 2008, he was jailed for six months for common assault and affray, serving 74 days in Manchester’s Strangeways prison.Pitch punch-upThe bad boy player was charged with violent conduct by the FA in November 2010 when he was seen to punch an opponent, Blackburn’s Morten Gamst Pedersen. Pedersen later accepted an apology for the incident.Red card banBarton is held back by his QPR teammates when he sees red in 2012(Image: PA)Now playing for QPR, Barton was given a 12 match ban by the FA in May 2012 for his antics during a Premier League match against his former club on the last day of the season. The violent player elbowed Manchester City’s Carlos Tevez, kneed Sergio Aguero from behind then attempted to headbutt Vincent Kompany.Twitter rowsThe player can be violent with his words too, with a penchant for Twitter, now known as X. In January 2013, he called former Germany midfielder Dietmar Hamann a “maggot”. Sports presenter and former professional player Alex Scott has famously been a target of Barton’s on social media too, with him tweeting that she “SHOULDN’T commentate on the men’s game”. Another vile rant saw him brand Scott “the Ted Bundy of presenting”.In December 2023, Barton issued criticism after Mary Earps was crowned BBC Sports Personality of the Year. The gong represented the second consecutive year that a member of the women’s football team took home the trophy, with Beth Mead scooping it one year prior.After Earps was named winner, Barton initially wrote on X: “Well done Mary”. However, he then appeared to perform a u-turn as he slammed the decision. The former Bristol Rovers manager said: “Sports Personality of the Year! More f****** nonsense. Well done to all involved.”He added: “So the best sports person this year is… A Women Goalie. Lost in a couple of finals this year. Not won a sausage. So popular that Nike didn’t even sell a replica jersey before tournament. You telling me all those who jumped on that bandwagon, haven’t voted in the BBC nonsense? Good luck to Mary. Hope she makes a few quid.”He then claimed that he would be able to beat Earps in a penalty shootout. Speaking about the goalkeeper’s heroics in the Euro final, he said: “That’s a bad penalty and she’s clearly off her line very early. No retake? SPOTY for that! Drop me out.” Barton then added: “I’d score 100 out of 100 penalties against Mary Earps. Any day of the week. Twice on a f****** Sunday.”Question Time sexismBarton appeared on the BBC heavyweight show in 2014, where he compared the options available to the electorate in the previous week’s polls to a choice “between four really ugly girls”.
