Joey Barton transferred out of Newcastle. Barton let go on a free transfer. Those were some of the headlines that made last week an interesting one if you support Newcastle United or if you are a Barton fan in general. Now did we think Joey would be leaving the Toon after all the “support” he gave the club and fans? I for one didn’t, but as soon as he began to tweet I knew his time was limited. Why? You don’t speak out against the club you work for on Twitter and expect to make it out alive. Leaving was something I didn’t see coming though. Being fined, yes, but leaving no. Joey told the public in so many words that he would be seeing out the rest of his contract and go from there. As soon as someone says that you know its over.
Now, when it comes to footballers we know that they don’t always mean what they say. Now Joey, could have chosen not to speak out about the club on Twitter, but he didn’t. He isn’t the first person to fall victim to Twitter and won’t be the last. I believe that if Joey wouldn’t have spoken out against the club he probably wouldn’t have been put on the transfer list. Joey had a chance to re-work his contract months ago and for whatever reason it didn’t work out. Now was it his fault, his agents, or the clubs fault it didn’t work? Who really knows. Though it was probably all of them. Unfortunately money talks and Joey isn’t as stupid as some people believe him to be. Ronaldo signed a major deal with Man Utd only to leave a year later and after saying he would never leave (even though he had already agreed to move to Real Madrid when he signed the contract at Man Utd, showing little respect for fans and a club that stood by him after WC06. He’s won little since his move as well. Haha, Ronnie!). Footballers are fickle.
Now I don’t think Joey should have left, but I am sure he came to the realization that combined with his past (he won’t escape it and I believe he knows that) and his recent outburst on Twitter he was left with no choice but to leave a club that chose to stick by him when they could have showed him the door a lot sooner. He might have thought they would keep him no matter what because he had played such an important role in their campaigns over the past few years. Deep down he knows that a “top 4” club will probably never come calling simply because he is Joey Barton and they don’t want the extra baggage that he “could” possibly bring. He had to take what he could get and that was a Championship rated team that might spend a year or two in the EPL.
Footballers go where the money is. They are not like the rest of us who work minimum wage and barely get by, drive cars that are years old, and if they are lucky have enough money to go to games. They drive nice cars, wear great clothes, and go on holidays to exotic places. For some of us a holiday is a trip to a game. You can say you love “your club” all you want, but in reality when the cash comes calling and you are given that opportunity to go you will more than likely take it. Is it disappointing and heartbreaking? Why, yes it is. Did Joey look happy about it? Um, no he didn’t. But, what he has to realize now is that he made his bed and he will have to lay in it in London and not Newcastle. His life is full of coulda, shoulda, and woulda moments, but they are just that moments in a career that is filled with great ones and some that are not so great.
As a Barton fan I will continue to follow him while he places for QPR, but always wonder what could have been if he would have stayed with Newcastle. I am sure I am not the only one who will wonder in the months to come either, but I can’t do anything about it now and neither can Joey.
