Friday, March 29, 2024

Barton stripped of QPR captaincy

Queens Park Rangers have stripped Joey Barton of the captaincy and fined him heavily for his antics against Manchester City.

However, the controversial midfielder will stay at the club following an internal investigation into his Etihad Stadium rage which saw him sent off on the final day of the season when he elbowed Carlos Tevez, before kicking out at Sergio Aguero and aiming a headbutt at Vincent Kompany as he left the field.

Barton has already been hit with a 12-game Football Association ban for the tantrum and QPR have spent the last six weeks conducting an in-house probe before deciding what further punishment to hand the player.

QPR confirmed shortly after midday on Monday that Barton had been fined six weeks’ wages (worth around 430,000 pounds), stripped of the club captaincy and would be absent from the club’s pre-season tour of Asia in July.

“The club has also reached agreement with Barton that if he seriously breaches the club’s disciplinary procedures again, the club reserves the right to terminate his contract,” QPR explained in a statement.

Barton, meanwhile, has said that he fully accepts the punishment and apologised for his actions.

“My behaviour was wrong and I accept the punishment that has been imposed upon me as a result,” he said.

“I apologise to the manager, my team-mates and of course the QPR fans for my actions. I also apologise to the Manchester City players, staff and supporters.”

Barton soon took to Twitter to elaborate on his statement.

“I was reckless and deserved every punishment I received. Money comes and goes, it’s not important to me. Losing the captaincy and missing 12 games, is what really hurts. I was stupid and that what happens when u (sic) do dumb things. I am confident ill bounce back. Cannot wait,” he wrote.

“That’s all I have to say on the matter. I wish to put it behind me now and help QPR, once available of course, push on towards the top half.”

QPR chief executive Philip Beard said: “It was important that we took our time to make sure we came to the correct decision, which I believe we have achieved.

“Joey’s behaviour, which led to his red card at Manchester City, and his subsequent actions were completely unacceptable and we have made our feelings on this matter known to him.

“I am really pleased with the way in which the Club and Joey have worked towards reaching a sensible conclusion and we fully believe he will respond to these sanctions in the correct manner.”

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