10 Man City Players Who Weren't Worth The Hassle

3. Joey Barton

When Joey Barton launched a one-man kamikaze mission on the Manchester City superstars on the final day of the 11/12 season, lashing out at the likes of Carlos Tevez, Sergio Aguero and Mario Balotelli, he couldn't have picked a stadium where the on-looking supporters would have been less surprised. For City fans, this melee was par for the course, and just another day in the volatile and controversial career of their former Young Player of the Year. Slapped with a 12 game ban whilst at QPR, and spending part of his Newcastle career behind bars, it was at City where the turmoil began for the troubled Scouser. Having progressed through the youth ranks, Barton proved a shining light for City during the dark years prior to Sheikh Mansour's intervention. At the same time, Barton's notorious reputation as something of a bad boy was gathering pace, with off-pitch issues threatening to undermine his valiant efforts for the Citizens. In 2004, he stormed out of the stadium following his omission from the team-sheet. At the Christmas party, the club almost sacked the Huyton-born midfielder for stubbing a cigar out in youth team player Jamie Tandy's eye. Following a summer trip to Thailand, in which he assaulted a 15 year old Everton supporter, he was forced to undergo anger management therapy at the behest of boss Stuart Pearce, and was slapped with a £120,000 fine. However, the most notorious incident that cast a huge shadow across his time at Eastlands was the vicious assault on team-mate Ousmane Dabo in training, which rendered the former French international unconscious and required hospital treatment. Barton was subsequently arrested by the Greater Manchester Police, which effectively ended his controversial stay in Manchester. With every ferocious punch smashed into his colleague's face, he was essentially writing his own resignation letter.