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It’s
fair to say that the comments of one Joseph Barton have created quite a stir in
the last few weeks, prompting many to question whether footballers should be
allowed to have personal Twitter accounts.
There
are a few clubs who have already banned
their players from using the social networking site and it is thought that
club managers, PR managers and maybe even agents will become so fed up with
‘tweeting’ that, before too long, footballers will be banished from Twitter
forever.
The
thinking is simple: a footballer might not think before he posts something on
the site and this could lead to big problems for the club, for fear of
‘bringing the game into disrepute’ or , at the very least, tongues wagging for
the wrong reasons. So, ban them from it completely.
Joey
Barton has been portrayed as one of the success stories of footballers joining
Twitter – many admit that their opinions of the midfielder have changed since
he started talking about classic rock music, quoting George Orwell and asking
followers to name his sickeningly-adorable
new puppy.
There
are still a few who cannot forgive Barton for some of the things he has done in
the past (and possibly rightly so), and there are some who are beginning to
find themselves ‘bored with Barton’ – he’s playing up to the image a little
now, exploiting the fact that he’s got people on his side.
They
always say that honesty is the best policy but, in this context, that’s debateable.
It’s great to see a player speak out about something that he doesn’t like,
especially when fans of Newcastle are very unhappy – to say the least – with
how the club is being run, so to have an ‘inside voice’ for once is rather
interesting.
And
let’s be fair – Barton’s tweets (particularly in the last couple of weeks) have
been much more interesting than the frankly mundane Michael Owen, the
brand-expanding Rio Ferdinand and the painfully-ignorant-to-his-own-shortcomings
Robbie Savage. I’d rather have a player speak his own mind, providing
interesting information about himself and his club rather than some PR-pedalled,
image-enhancing bullshit.
But
then, I’m not a Newcastle fan, nor am I a shareholder in the club and I’m
certainly not Mike Ashley. Barton has put himself in an incredibly difficult
position: yes, he’s honest and he clearly
cares about the club, and that should be applauded; but it’s hardly
surprising that a) some fans take exception to their club being dragged through
the mud time and time again, and b) those at the top of the Toon hierarchy are
unhappy with the comments and are focusing on the criticism rather than the reasons for the criticism.
The
fact is, if there weren’t problems at Newcastle, Barton wouldn’t have anything
to complain about. It’s all well and good saying that Barton is disrespecting
the club, disrespecting the owners etc., but they really are focusing on the
wrong issue. As far as I’m concerned, Barton is bringing the fans’ concerns to
the fore; why should he just sit there and watch as his club gets pissed about
with by people the fans clearly aren’t happy with?
In
the long run, fans will probably be grateful to Barton for at least standing up
to Ashley and co., and speaking out – something that happens far too little in
this sport resulting little change occurring (when a lot of changes clearly
need to be made).
Barton’s
future in Geordieland now looks incredibly uncertain with some reports
suggesting that he has a whole host of top clubs after his signature, while
others say that he might just stay at Newcastle.
The
midfielder has been in brilliant form for the last two seasons – he was undoubtedly
one of the best players in the Premier League last season – so it will be
interesting to see where Barton plys his trade this term. While fans and journalists
all across the country might commend Barton’s honesty, clubs might not see it that
way.
Despite
being available on a free transfer many top sides will wonder whether it is really
worth bringing a ‘disrupting’ influence (according to some) into the team, mainly
because of relations within the team and throughout the club but also from the PR
perspective mentioned earlier.
No
one knows for sure what is going through Barton’s head; is he really looking out
for the club and the fans, or is he personally fed up with the ownership of the
club. Both of those would be acceptable stances to take. Or, maybe he’s just trying
to engineer a move in a weird and wonderful way.
Either
way, let’s be honest – it’s much more interesting than hearing about the never-ending
narrative of Cesc
Fabregas’ pilgrimage to Camp Nou.
