Joey Barton and Twitter controversy is becoming less and less like news with each passing hissy fit he falls into, but sometimes he exceeds all expectations.This feels like one of those times.
The traditional formula has been followed here, with Barton getting involved in a drawn out, vicious row with a celebrity (sporting or otherwise) before doing a sudden retreat and announcing how much better he is than all that sleazy, 140 character brawling on the dusty floor of the internet. He reminds us what an honourable man he is - the tender hooligan. How he is painfully misunderstood in his time (and country). Then he quotes Wilde or Nietzsche and gives interviews talking about a newfound serenity in his life in France. Where he speaks English with a fake French accent and broken English.
So, you know, Joey's OK again.
And then he goes back, again and again. So, his latest "incident"? Last night Barton engaged in a Twitter row with ex-Liverpool player Didi Hamann, which included Barton insulting Hamann’s family issues and crossing all sorts of legal lines with public allegations of drug abuse against Hamann. And so, just like that, any ounce of respect he may have garnered with many of the watching public fades away faster than he can delete the comments that, once out from under the red mist, will have looked exceedingly libellous.
The row began following Barton’s criticism of Newcastle’s board for not completing the signing of Loic Remy from Marseille, where Barton is currently on loan. Hamann admonished Barton over his behaviour towards his former employers but, with grim inevitability, Barton retaliated and the whole thing descended into an undignified mess.
Hamann, to his credit, offered the more intelligent, piercing replies. Sarcastically calling Barton an England international and telling him that “The problem is you think that because you play in France you are an international player #farfromit”.
Barton, who repeatedly cited his belief in his standing as a better man than Hamann (almost as often as he reminds us he reads big books), called the Champions League winner a “maggot”, “cokehead” and “tourette’s face”.
See the highlights of last night’s Twitter bout below
(h/t 101 Great Goals)
