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Friday, May 25, 2012

Why Barton's punishment doesn't fit the crime...but I still expect him to get Sparked out at QPR

Joey Barton has nobody but himself to blame after being sent to the sin bin for 12 games at the start of next season.
And although I have a twinge of sympathy for him over the length of his ban, I would be surprised if he played for Queens Park Rangers again.
Barton’s suspension, for his various crimes and misdemeanours, is longer than the 11 matches Paolo Di Canio served for pushing referee Paul Alcock, longer than the eight matches Luis Suarez missed for racially abusing Patrice Evra and longer than Ben Thatcher’s eight-match ban for wiping out Pedro Mendes with a forearm smash.
Does the punishment fit the crime? I’m not sure that it does - when people talk about the magnitude of the occasion, and millions of people watching on TV because it was a title decider, that’s got nothing to do with it.
Barton should have been suspended for the same length of time as if he had lost the plot in a Carling Cup first round tie or on Hackney Marshes on a Sunday morning - nothing more, nothing less.
The laws of the game have to be applied evenly, from grass roots to World Cup, and in that regard Joey may have been paying a price for his reputation.
But there is no getting away from what he did - which was a disgrace.
And now QPR manager Mark Hughes has got to make a difficult decision about his 25-man Premier League squad for next season - because there may be no room in it for Barton if he is not going to be available until November.
I played under ‘Sparky’ at Blackburn, and I know he will forgive people who get sent off for mistimed tackles in the heat of battle... but I’m not sure he will be so ready to forgive his captain for setting such a poor example at the Etihad.
I’ve seen players larking about on pre-season tours and ill-disciplined on foreign trips - and they never kicked a ball for Hughes again.
Although Sparky was as tough as nails on the pitch as a player, there is a softer side to his nature as a manager. But I wouldn’t cross him, and I fear Joey may have crossed the line too far.
I do feel a little bit sorry for Joey: when he was involved in that incident on the opening day of the season at Newcastle, when Arsenal winger Gervinho was sent off, he promised to come on Six-O-Six and talk about it, and he was as good as his word.
And after struggling to win over the QPR fans, who booed him against Liverpool, he won them over with some important displays on the run-in.
But this is a setback he could ill-afford, and now his future at Loftus Road must be in jeopardy.
One thing I cannot condone, even as a prolific tweeter myself, is the way he made a bad situation even worse for himself by lashing out at the likes of Gary Lineker and Alan Shearer on Twitter. That was a bizarre way to protest your innocence.
Much as I’ve enjoyed some of his ramblings, my advice to Joey when he gets back on the pitch - however long that takes - is to lay off Twitter and do all your talking on the pitch.
Sadly, he will not get an opportunity to do that for some time.
Norway is not the easiest place for Roy Hodgson to start life as England coach tomorrow. Almost 20 years on, I bet Graham Taylor still has nightmares about the place.
What on earth Micah Richards has done wrong to deserve being left out of the squad, I’ll never know. He was always outstanding when I saw Manchester City last season.
Presumably, Hodgson will play the team he expects to start Euro 2012 against France - with no Wayne Rooney.
Having made Steven Gerrard his captain, which was a sound choice, I hope he is allowed to play in the middle of the park instead of being shunted out on to the left flank - England have been there before and it hasn’t got them anywhere.
There is no point in appointing Gerrard as your skipper and then making him a peripheral figure. Let him be the heartbeat of the team.
Frank Lampard also deserves to play after the outstanding way he finished the season for Chelsea. Lampard wasn’t given enough credit for the assists which created two goals in the semi-final against Barcelona, nor the pass which set up Didier Drogba in the FA Cup final.
Too often he is damned with faint praise for being a box-to-box player, but his passing is up there with the very best.
Successive England managers have struggled to find the right balance in midfield when Gerrard and Lampard play together. After years of chalk and cheese, I have a sneaking feeling that Hodgson could be the man to solve the riddle.
Sometimes one-word sentences are enough to describe a team’s performance, and Chelsea’s Champions League triumph falls into that category.
Incredible. Brilliant. Dramatic. Sensational. That just about covers it.
Oh, and they were a bit lucky at times, with missed penalties and the woodwork serving them well - but who cares?
Gary Neville got it right when he said Chelsea’s win was written in the stars.
But without wishing to rain on their parade, now that the euphoria has died down a notch, I would make two observations.
Firstly, it’s embarrassing that Roberto Di Matteo was not given the manager’s job on a permanent basis straight away. Roman Abramovich has spent £1 billion trying to land the holy grail, and now Chelsea have found the man to deliver it, he still won’t do the decent thing.
And secondly, John Terry. As club captain, and a great servant to the club, I have no problem with him being part of the post-match presentation - but he didn’t need to turn it into a costume drama by changing into his playing kit, along with the three other suspended players.
Redemption: Terry finds peace after ending eight-year wait for Champions League glory
By falling over himself to get in the frame at the team portrait with the trophy, he looked like a kid trying to blow out the candles on his brother’s birthday cake.
Welcome back to the big time, West Ham - now, perhaps, a few supporters will get off Sam Allardyce’s back.
On the day, the Hammers were lucky to beat Blackpool in the Championship play-off final at Wembley. But over the season, even Big Sam’s harshest critics can’t deny they deserved promotion.
In my opinion, they will need three or four new players to stay out of trouble in the Premier League, but that does not diminish the achievement in bouncing back at the first time of asking.
Back in the big time: 'We deserved it,' says West Ham goal hero Vaz Te after play-off victory
West Ham showed character to stay in the game at Wembley, took their chances - which Blackpool didn’t - and got their rewards.
I did feel sorry for Ian Holloway, who has done an amazing job at Bloomfield Road, and I wouldn’t be surprised if a Premier League club came calling for him this summer.
Ollie for Aston Villa? Now there’s a thought...
Another busy weekend coming up - at the Grass Roots exhibition in Birmingham and then at Soccer Aid.
I’m not sure how pleased Birmingham fans will be to see me after my comments that Chris Hughton deserves a crack at the West Brom job left vacant by Roy Hodgson.
And I would have loved to play for the Rest of the World against Sam Allardyce’s England in the Soccer Aid international at Old Trafford... but I can’t see me breaking into a midfield including Roy Keane and Hernan Crespo.
In fact, in that company I would be lucky to make the bench. They say you are a long time retired - but 12 months after I called it a day, I’m already struggling to make the team for charity exhibition matches!
My chip off the old block, Charlie, played for Manchester United in a boys’ game against Blackburn last weekend, and like any proud dad I was there on the touchline.
During the game, my missus Sarah rings to find out how he was getting on, and it was good news. We were 3-0 up and Savage was on the scoresheet, lovely jubbly.
But regular readers of this page will know my lovely wife is never short of a priceless comment, and as ever she obliged.
Even as Charlie was chasing after the ball down the wing, she said: “Oh, and can you ask him what he wants for his dinner?”
I can’t say I’ve ever heard that one thrown into a team talk: “OK lads, we’ll play five at the back, high defensive line, keep it tight, and what shall we have for tea tonight - pork or chicken?”
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