Natives are restless

Yesterday saw the start of the new Premier League season. On the pitch incidents involving every lazy journalist's favourite villain, Joey Barton, made the headlines. You do have to ask which other player would get stamped on and slapped and yet still come out as the wrongdoer, but then again, when it's Joey Barton on the receiving end you know that the handwringing press and other club's whiter-than-white fans will demand Barton to be strung up from the nearest lamp-post, despite him being the victim in this. Ok he shouldn't have pulled up Gervinho, but then again it was a yellow card offence and he got a yellow card. End of the story regarding Joey Barton for me!

What was more striking for me than any of the on-field antics was the goings on in the South-East "Strawberry" corner. I used to be in the Leazes corner, a part of the ground specifically given up to people who wanted to sing and make some noise in an ever quieter St James Park. At the end of last season Mike Ashley decided to disband the Leazes corner. Many speculated that this came about because of anti-Ashley chanting. The club put forward the point that they wanted to extend the away fans section, the family section and have a "Youth" area where young uns could congregate together.

Despite assurances from Simon Esland, the Head of Customer operations, that fans would be listened to, and groups such as United for Newcastle and another group fronted by Jordan Robinson, a lad who was behind the "Bring back the noise" campaign were given time to talk with Esland about the moves. We asked the club to consider moving everyone in a block to other areas of the stadium and the Level 4 corner was identified as the area which had the least season ticket holders, and therefore the ideal place to put those being moved.

However rumours came through at the Manchester United game that the previous thoughts of moving us to Level 4 were not going to happen, but that it wouldn't be announced until after the end of the season, leaving the fans affected no chance to voice their discontent at the end of the season. Sure enough, just after the West Brom game it was announced that fans from the Leazes corner would not be moved en masse to Level 4. I know that a lot of fans felt that Esland had strung us along, some going as far to say that they though that he had lied about the situation. What was clear was that the suspicion that Ashley was trying to split up the most vocal fans in the ground up, presumably to try and dissipate the anti-Ashley chanting.

I arrived at the ground at around about 5.10pm last night. After feeling like a total newbie trying to find my seat I finally made my way up into the Strawberry corner. It was obvious that the Leazes Level 4 corner had plenty of spare seats, which was bloody annoying! While Arsenal brought up extra fans, I can't wait to see empty blocks of seats up in Level 7 when the likes of Wigan and Fulham come to town.

There were already grumbles about people standing, before the match started. Once the game kicked off several scuffles broke out between the people who had been previous "corner" season ticket holders and the newcomers. Despite the majority of the newcomers being located in the back rows of the corner, there were some who are located further down.

People who wanted to sit were complaining about those standing impeding their views. People who were standing were complaining as, up in the Leazes corner we were allowed to stand. I saw an older couple who were in the block closest to the East stand get involved in a dispute and end up leaving their seats after about 10 minutes. In front of me, though, was the most shocking incident that I have seen in a long while in the stands of St James Park. A well built, middle aged man and his friends were sitting, two young lads, one aged only 16 stood up briefly as a free kick was taken. A comment was made by one of the men who was sitting and the young lad turned around to look at them. The well built bloke grabbed the young lad by the face and shook him, while his friends shouted horrendous abuse. These men had obviously been drinking, and their reaction to these young lads standing up was completely un-necessary.

Obviously I can understand that there are people who don't want to, or can't stand all match and that was why the Leazes corner was brought into existence. The stewarding up there was relaxed, the atmosphere was one where singing, chanting and (if you wanted to standing in front of your seat was, well not permitted, but tolerated).

There has got to be some give and take in the Strawberry corner, and I'm not talking about the standing really. We all know we are not supposed to stand, and it's against the club's licence, blah, blah, blah! People don't get hurt by standing in front of seats at a football match. They get hurt when fans are moved from areas of the stadium where standing was tolerated and put in to new areas where standing isn't. That isn't the fault of people who have been made to move, it's the fault of the man who orchestrated the move - Mike Ashley!

If the person behind me asked me to sit, I would sit down. Luckily the people behind me are people who have been relocated from the Leazes Corner who were standing too. But if someone behind you wants to sit, and asks you to sit down as they can't see I would say you have to sit too. What isn't acceptable is violence between fans of the same team. Whether it's middle ages fans, or young uns starting on the other it's just not on and it needs to stop.

Come on folks, it's going to take time for us all to get used to each other, but lets not see the kind of violence I saw yesterday. We are supposed to be supporting the same team, getting behind the lads, we are supposed to be Newcastle United!

How much more are we prepared to take?

Lazy journalists like to portray Newcastle United fans as deluded. It's easy to paint that picture, in reality though I have not met a single Newcastle United fan who expects us to be playing Champions League football in two years time, I've not met a single Newcastle United fan who expects us to be signing Messi, Wesley Sneijder or Cesc Fabregas, I've not met one single Newcastle United fan who thinks we will win every game we play.

Real Newcastle United fans are like Labradors, friendly, a bit crazy but loyal to a fault! Over the last four years we have taken more proverbial kicks in the balls than most. We had Keegan appointed, we dealt with the whole "messiah" bollocks that the press spouted, because other clubs don't have a figure or two from their past that their fans think are a cross between Jesus, Superman and Santa Claus, do they, it's just us? Aye right!

We saw Mike Ashley try to castrate Keegan in public, metaphorically of course, by bringing in Dennis Wise as some kind of Director of Football. We saw promising youngster James Milner sold from under him just days after saying he would like to stay at the club, and Xisco and Nacho Gonzalez brought in, which spelled the end of Keegan's second period at the club.  A subsequent tribunal spelled out the shambolic way in which the club was being ran, and that the club was prepared to lie to cover up its dealings. 

We then saw a playing squad ripped apart before our eyes. Shay Given, Andy Carroll, Kevin Nolan and now it looks like Jose Enrique were broken down mentally by Llambias and Ashley before being sold on. Each player sale has seen the fans divided, but a recurrent theme is that the players have left saying that they don't like what has happened at the club and that there are serious problems with the upper echelons of management in the club.

After the blackest day in our recent history down at Villa park when we were relegated happened, we rightly got rid of dead wood and players who were there to simply pick up a huge wage packet each month. What we were left with was Chris Hughton, a bunch of senior players who were prepared to regroup and build something new, and a group of young players who looked as if they could be promising in the future.

Throughout the season in the Championship not only did we get the results we wanted, but we also gained something that had been lacking at Newcastle United for a while, a proper team. Led by Kevin Nolan, Joey Barton, Alan Smith and Steve Harper it was clear to see that what we had was a group of lads all pulling in the same direction, there was not a big ego show, there was not a mercenary feeling, it felt as if the lads who were left were the ones who really wanted to be at this club.

Throughout last season we again had a massive kick in the nads when Ashley decided that Chris Hughton was not the right man to manage the team. This despite a good start to the season, a thumping 6-0 victory over Villa and of course the immense hammering of the mackems at Halloween. Ashley declared that he wanted a manager with more top flight experience, and who did he bring in? Alan Pardew, a man who had been out of the game a while, and who has a CV which is not exactly groaning with success.

However, to his credit he managed to get this team to a mid-table finish, when 17th would have done 80% of the Geordie fans, you know the ones who the press are happy to label deluded?

Andy Carroll was sold, on the last day of the transfer window, for what was frankly a ridiculous amount of money. However details behind the sale are sketchy and there are rumours that leave a very bitter taste in the mouth.

The happenings with Kevin Nolan seem just as shady. I was at a talk in with Nolan and he was open and honest in saying that he wanted to stay at the club. He was a pivotal figure, not just on the pitch where his goals had a major say in our finishing positions in the last two seasons, but off the pitch, where his stabilising demeanour had been a massive factor in unifying the lads. He was a figure who truly deserved the captains role at the club. But dealings behind the scenes left Nolan feeling that his position within the club was untenable and he was sold to West Ham.

Ashley has done his level best to completely destroy this club. Whenever we seem to be doing ok, Ashley presses his destruct button. Boom! Keegan gone! Boom! Hughton gone! Boom! Andy Carroll gone! Boom! Kevin Nolan gone!

And now Joey Barton is being treated like the proverbial leper. Jose Enrique, who has made no bones about his desire to leave the club, used Twitter to announce that he was far from happy with what is going on with the club and the level of ambition shown. The result is a club fine and a possible move to Liverpool.

Pardew was saying what an important figure Joey was and had him in the captains role for a friendly?

I can't help but think that this punishment has been handed out from above Pardew's head, and that the manager has little influence on much at the club.

And it leaves me wondering where do we, as fans stand. We have been lied to by Ashley and his puppets from day 1. Only weeks ago, Simon Esland, the Head of Customer Operations, was talking with supporters groups about the enforced move from the Leazes Corner, and implied that the club would listen to the request of fans to be moved en masse. It was little surprise to me that this did not materialise and Mr Esland is a lot less forthcoming with his availability as he was before. He left the box office staff to break it to fans that they would not be moved as a group, but would be scattered over the ground, and it was only due to the quick thinking of a really decent lad I know that the fans may have recreated a kind of Leazes Corner in the Strawberry Corner.

Protests fall on deaf ears, all Ashley cares about is the bottom line. The fans will not turn their backs on the team, but are still not prepared to cut off the supply of money to Ashley through merchandising or match day bars and kiosks if the queues in the ground are anything to go by. Personally I will pay my money for my season ticket as its the cheapest way I can support the team, I will go to some away games as personal finances dictate, but only because the money goes to the away club. I won't be buying any more merchandise. I won't be buying from the kiosks. I won't be buying cup tickets for home games.

And if someone can come up with an idea that might actually see the departure of Mr Ashley without us doing the "Poznan" in the ground, singing "Get out of our club" or making bedsheet banners I would be happy to help in whichever way I can. Because Mr Ashley, I am sick of this!

Smells like team spirit

On May 24th 2009 I travelled to Villa Park, with the hope that Newcastle would claw enough of a result to see us avoid the drop into the championship. The day did not start well, with me locking myself out of the house, with my match ticket inside, and cutting my hand breaking in through the back door to retrieve said ticket. Almost missing the bus, in the resultant panic, was something I almost wish I had done. Had I known the lack of passion, fight and heart that the lads in black and white would show down in Birmingham on that day then I would have settled for a lie in instead.


We all know how that match panned out. A pathetic showing from the professional footballers representing our club, a deflected own goal off Damien Duff to shatter the hearts of the Geordie faithful who not only travelled to Villa Park that day, but sang their hearts out for over half an hour after the final whistle to show that we still love our club. I saw one lad crying that day, just one, and he was told in no uncertain terms to man the fuck up!


The journey back up from the midlands seemed never-ending. A bus full of lads and lasses who were sombre, unsure of what the future held, lads and lasses who had been dreadfully hurt by the club they adored.


What happened on that day though, and the subsequent weeks and months later, was that a new team was reborn. Like a phoenix out of the ashes. The mercenaries, Owen, Viduka, Beye, Martins, Duff, and others left the club. A core emerged of players, who on paper appeared less talented, but more gritty, more determined. These lads literally stood up in the dressing room and declared that they wanted to stay at the club and bring it back to the premiership.


Steve Harper. Alan Smith. Kevin Nolan. Joey Barton. Jose Enrique. Fabricio Colocinni. Jonas Gutierrez. This group of lads literally stood up and said that anyone who didn't want to be at the club could fuck off, but that they were staying. This group of lads formed the bedrock of a team that decimated the championship, unbeaten at home and impressive away. When the championship trophy was presented at St James Park 12 months after the agony of relegation these lads knew that something had fundamentally changed at the football club.


This group of lads had become a team in the real sense of the word. I, for one, sensed a change up at Gallowgate. During 2010-2011 many expected Newcastle to struggle, when Hughton was unfairly sacked, when Carroll was sold. But they hadn't bargained on the strength of the core of lads who made up the team.

In Kevin Nolan we have a proper captain. Michael Owen couldn't have motivated cement to set when he was given the armband. His lacklustre, gutless, selfish attitude meant that he was unable to think beyond himself both on and off the field. Owen was invisible for most of his time at Newcastle, both on and off the field and in a team which is so deeply involved with the people of the North-East, which belongs to the area, that was unforgivable.


Kevin Nolan is polar opposite to Michael Owen, leading by example. He is a captain in the true sense of the word. He famously had a special relationship with Andy Carroll, taking him into his home when the young lad ended up in trouble. He and Joey Barton are close friends, who have holidayed together. He has offered to work with Nile Ranger after training to improve the youngster's game. On the field his goals have proved vital.

Joey Barton is infamous, for his previous off-field antics. However, the work he has put in, not only to improve himself, but also for Newcastle United in the last two years off the field, should be recognised. This lad asks for nothing but 100%, not only from himself but from his team mates too. He is a catalyst in the team on the field, his football being at times sublime this season. He also acknowledges that he has a lot to give back to Newcastle for standing by him when he was imprisoned. Joey truly has made fundamental changes to himself. But his heart belongs to the team. Joey has offered to take a substantial pay cut to stay at Newcastle United, in the days of greedy footballers, how many others could you name who would do that?


So it has been hard to hear that Nolan and Barton are being told they have no future at the club. Joey Barton's agent, Willie McKay, said recently about Barton's contract negotiations:

"I had a meeting this morning with [managing director] Derek [Llambias] and [football secretary] Lee [Charnley] and there was no offer on the table."

and over recent days rumours of Nolan's contract negotiations stalling have been muted. 

I don't think anyone wants to see Newcastle United to stagnate. But for too long we have had a team that has lacked strength in depth. We also have a team spirit that no amount of money can buy. So why would the club wish to take two extremely important cogs from the machine? Many of us hope for a repeat of the Steven Taylor situation, which saw the defender sign a contract after he was reportedly told he was no longer needed at the club. I've also heard others say, well these lads will be 31 and 32 if we give them 3-4 year deals, but I feel that this is short-sighted on their part. Nolan and Barton offer far more than an on-field presence. 

Llambias refuses to speak about important issues regarding the club, making pointless comments instead about Michael Owen's previous wages. It's about time that Llambias recognised that if we dismantle the foundations then the structure will come tumbling down and we will end up back where we were in May  2009, and may not have the passion and guile to rebuild. 

It's that time of the year again

Here we are again. Another season has passed, and it's been a canny one. After the championship winning season, it was always going to be a nervous first season back in the Premiership and I know I wasn't the only person who said from the start of pre-season training that finishing in 17th place would do. So to end up comfortable in mid-table, not embroiled in a relegation dogfight come May, exceeded my expectations.

There were, of course, some low points in the 2010/2011 season. Losing 5-1 to Bolton, seeing Blackpool beat us at home, the car-crash that was the fixture at Stevenage, Chrissy Hughton's disgraceful sacking, and the circus that was the sale of Andy Carroll all sat uncomfortably with me. Mike Ashley and Derek Llambias have done nothing yet to show me that they have any kind of understanding of how to run this football club, and the closing of the Leazes Corner only highlight's their lack of empathy with the fans of this club.

However, away from Laurel and Hardy, there have been some real positives. Aston Villa 6-0, Chelsea 3-4, Arsenal 0-1, Liverpool 3-1, West Ham 5-0, the amazing comeback against Arsenal at home, and of course the 5-1 humiliation of the unwashed down the road, followed by Steve Bruce making a complete ballsack of himself and the 1-1 draw down at Albania-on-wear, which was celebrated by them like they had won the champions league.

We've seen Joey Barton play like a dream, Nolan end up with more premier league goals than Drogba, Colocinni being on a promise with 99% of the women of the north-east, Leon Best being mint, Shane Ferguson looking like a right bobby dazzler and the promise of Hatem Ben Arfa to come. On the pitch we look like we have a firm foundation to build on, if we can stop selling our best players to our rivals.

In an ideal summer we would tie up Enrique and Barton to new deals, sign up a proven goalscorer, and add some depth to a squad which has shown signs of being quite thin at times. However rumblings are already coming out of the area of Barrack Road which sound like some of the better players could be shipped out.

The lowest point for me this season was seeing the end of the "singing section". The Level 7 Leazes corner has been a breath of fresh air. A place where football fans could stand and sing and really create an atmosphere. However Ashley in his wisdom has decided to relocate the fans, who have been quite vocal in their criticism of him, and thinks this will dilute the negative feelings that have been vocalised about him. What he fails to realise is that no matter where we are in the ground we will not be silenced.

The club seem to feel by not relocating us together in the Level 4 corner of the Leazes stand we will stop making a noise, how wrong can they be! Most of us will now go to the Gallowgate and we will continue to be loud and proud and sing our hearts out for the lads!

My hopes for next season are that we continue to build on a solid foundation, establish ourselves in the mid-section of the premier league and aim higher in the coming years. I have enjoyed this season, something that a couple of years ago I couldn't imagine myself saying.

Let the crazy season of transfer speculation begin. See you all next season.

Talking out of his Llambias

On Saturday at the match I read the latest match programme. Derek Llambias, our Chairman, has a regular page in it, and decided to use his latest spot to rant at the Newcastle fans because they dared to voice their feelings towards Liverpool's Andy Carroll at the game at Anfield. These are the same fans who have steadfastly supported this club since before Dekka even knew exactly where Newcastle was, the fans who have watched Mike Ashley make a mockery of NUFC legends Kevin Keegan and Alan Shearer, the same fans who watched Ashley and Llambias lead our club to relegation.

How many clubs would love to have fans who, despite not having seen a major trophy since 1969, still turn up week in, week out to support their team? Who, in a season in the second tier of football averaged a home gate of 43, 388 and managed a staggering 52, 181 against Ipswich Town? Who have regularly sold out away allocations for years and who have taken over 8, 000 fans to the likes of Blackburn?

These fans commit a significant proportion of their wages to following Newcastle. The majority have just renewed their season tickets for the next season, and some have signed up for 10 more years. Yet Llambias feels that he has a right to have a go at these fans for daring to vent their frustrations at Andy Carroll, a local lad, who only back in November signed a new long term deal to stay at his home-town club, but by the end of January had handed in a transfer request to join Liverpool.

Llambias has no right to criticise anyone, least of all the fans who have backed this club through thin and thinner. He really has no clue what this club means to us, he doesn't realise that supporting Newcastle is a birthright, he has no idea how betrayed we felt by the sale of Andy Carroll. He has no clue what the relegation meant to us, hasn't a clue about the roller coaster of emotions ridden between 2008 and 2011 while supporting Newcastle United.

He stated that "...the abuse he [Andy Carroll] received was difficult to stomach..." Really Dekka, was it? Well try being a Newcastle fan who has had to live with you and Mike Ashley for the last few years. Try living watching you guys humiliate Keegan, watching you admit in court that you've lied to the fans, watching you employ the frankly embarrassing Joe Kinnear, the relegation, the fucking around with Shearer and then, when we were back on the up and up, the sacking of Chris Hughton and the sale of Carroll. All while you pick up a wage that a lot of us could only dream of. That is sickening Dekka, that is difficult to stomach.

Since Llambias' appointment as Chairman many fans have asked what qualifications the former casino manager had to run a football club. Fans have been staggered by Llambias' scorn towards the fans, the distaste he has shown when dealing with us, the lack of respect, the stories of him drunkenly running naked over the hallowed St James' Park turf for a laugh, the barely disguised marionette controlled from above by Mike Ashley. The man really has no class.

Many of us asked whether a man like Llambias even knew anything about football at all. One quote from our most recent programme sums up to me that he hasn't got a clue. Llambias says "To go from hero to villain simply for moving clubs...is beyond me." Unbelievable, the man has no clue! How he cannot see that not only the move, but the manner in which it unfolded, hurt the Newcastle fans and detailed to us our lack of future ambition is baffling. Why he cannot see understand that we are still sore about seeing a young lad who could have been the future of our club pulling on the jersey of Liverpool shows that the guy should stick to managing roulette tables.

Andy Carroll, like Michael Owen when he returned to St James Park with Manchester United, got exactly what he deserved. He put money before the club. Carroll, as a young Geordie lad, had his dreams come true when he was awarded the coveted number 9 shirt. He was in a position that every Newcastle fan would give anything for. But he decided that the Anfield grass was greener, and by doing that he burned his bridges with a lot of the paying fans.

Llambias needs to remember that he and Ashley have it lucky. He has 52, 000 people who still flock to St James Park to worship the black and white. Criticising them for expressing their feelings towards someone who has turned their back on our cause just shows that he hasn't got a clue. The sooner Llambias moves on to manage Aspers and leaves running a football club to a football man the better.

EMO meltdown

In my time watching Newcastle United I can't remember a former player getting such a hostile welcome back to St James' Park as England's Michael Owen (EMO) got last night. From his tweets later that night Owen seemed rather surprised that he was not welcomed back with open arms. What did the lad, whose main concern during his time at Newcastle was collecting England caps, expect?

On the 24th of August 2005 Owen was greeted at St James' Park by thousands of fans. Most of those, I guess, are the idiots who stand around Strawberry Place whenever David Craig and his Sky Cameras appear, with badly spelled bedsheets, bottles of alcopop and dodgy haircuts, rather than the match goers. Myself, I was at a charity fundraiser, and was appalled by the signing, seeing it immediately as a trophy signing with very little real value.

Owen did little to endear himself to the Newcastle fans. Whilst picking up over £100,000 a week, he helicoptered himself to and from training in the North-East, refusing to set up home here. His interaction with the fans was not just minimal, but completely non-existent. His involvement with local community schemes, such an important part of his job, was completely ignored. Owen ensured he spent as little time in the North-East as possible.

As a captain of the club he couldn't motivate cement to set. As he wandered, uninterestedly around the pitch, young lads around him were unable to look to him for guidance and motivation during a game, he couldn't look less interested if he tried.

Plagued by injuries, he only ever seemed to care when he was attempting to make it back into the England squad, only to break down again. In his final season here, having earned over £20 million since 2005, he guided us to relegation at Aston Villa, a game he missed due to injury, surprise surprise.

Never has a player looked more mercenary, and never has a player had such a negative response from Newcastle fans to his appearance on the St James' pitch. On Twitter Owen moaned:

"Knew I would get booed as that's what a lot of fans do but if they knew the facts then they may have a different opinion."


Then later on:


"From what most of you Newcastle fans are saying you should be pleased I left the club! If i had known that earlier I could have left sooner!"


Poor little rich boy couldn't understand why the Newcastle United fans took umbrage with his greedy, lazy attitude. I'm more than sure that that the majority of Newcastle United fans would have been delighted if he'd have left earlier too. It would have saved us over £5 million a season, £1.3 million pound per goal scored. Even Freddy Shepherd, a man who has vigorously defended his signing of Owen, to end his nightmare at Madrid, spoke this week about how little value Owen represented. Owen's hilariously petulant reaction on twitter just shows how removed from reality he is. Hopefully he'll retire from football at the end of this season and disappear up his own arse. 

Everybody needs a nutter in the middle

Due to the suspension of Kevin Nolan, one Joseph Anthony Barton led out Newcastle United at Villa Park on Sunday. Joey has, in the past been a very naughty boy. His offences are both violent and shocking and something that I do not condone in any way shape or form. The midfielder has brought shame on himself from his actions since getting himself sent off at half-time in an FA Cup match playing for Manchester City against Tottenham in February 20. Since that incident Barton's list of offences include sparking a mass brawl, stubbing a cigar out in a youth player's eye, assaulting a 15 year old, exposing his backside after a match, assaulting a team-mate and a drunken assault on a member of the public and a youth at 5.30am in Liverpool city centre.

The actions are inexcusable and rightly Barton was sentenced to six months in prison for the assault in Liverpool, which had left one victim unconscious and the younger victim needing dental work. Barton also admitted to being an alcoholic and made the decision to chose total abstinence from alcohol to attempt to curb his unacceptable behaviour with the help of Tony Adams' "Sporting Chance" clinic.

Since Barton's decision to abstain from alcohol, his behaviour has certainly improved. He is an avid supporter of the "Get Hooked on Fishing" campaign which encourages children who would have otherwise find themselves getting into trouble to take up Fishing. He has also been made patron of the Tamsin Gulvin fund, which aims to help young people with addictions but no funding to help address the problem. He has also successful maintained his sobriety, admitting that he has to stay away from alcohol and "live like a monk" to keep his life on a level plane.

As someone who has also successfully admitted that they cannot handle their alcohol and has had to make the decision to permanently abstain to avoid the destructive path that alcohol was taking me down I admire Barton for his hard work. An alcoholic lives an unstable and chaotic life. A successful reformed alcoholic finds a peace and serenity that can help them overcome their previous problems. Unless you have been down the path of admitting your alcoholism, dealing with the problem and realising that you can never drink alcohol again, you will not understand the decisions and epiphanies that are made and experienced in this process.

Barton's decision to become sober, to improve his life both on and off the field was a massive one. He is a clearly intelligent bloke. Just read some of his interviews, watch some of the candid television spots he has done. Of course he is arrogant, a lot of the best footballers are, and it is a trait that allows the success to grow, but there is also a humbleness about Barton. He doesn't forget where he came from. He knows all to well where his path has led him in the past, and how quickly he could be back on that path if he allows alcohol to become a major player in his life.

Since the game on Sunday I have seen some ridiculous comments regarding Barton, slating the lad for a poor game, saying that the old Barton was creeping back to the fore, that the interview that had been published earlier on, where Barton claimed that he was the best midfielder in England, that he deserved his chance in the England team, was better than Ashley Young and that Gareth Barry was a teacher's pet had come back to bite him on the backside. They gleefully rubbed their hands as they derided the midfielder, saying it was only a matter of time before he let everyone down again. These are the people who would delight in seeing Barton crash and burn.

However I see it as another step on Barton's learning curve. Personally I think the lad was trying to hard. With a squad depleted by injuries and suspensions we were unlucky to lose to a goal that came from a soft decision to give Young a free-kick. Barton goes into every game knowing that opposition managers have targeted him, and knowing that opposition players will try to wind him up to provoke a reaction. The Barton we have seen this season is far removed from the Barton who has lashed out in the past.

It's time that people allowed Barton to get on with the game he loves. Barton acknowledges that his father and grandmother gave him the grounding in life that allowed him to become the successful footballer that his is. His interviews are always interesting, intelligent, thought provoking and far removed from the usual dirge of stereotypes that are usually spewed out by footballers who don't have a brain cell in their heads. His football is always passionate, he always gives a committed performance. His life now is in a calmer, more peaceful place. People who are waiting for his next fall from grace should really find something better to do, because nothing would please me more than to see Barton to keep them waiting.