10 Newcastle Players Who Really Weren't Worth The Hassle

2. Joey Barton

Football's most notorious bad boy turned Twitter intellect, there was a time when Joey Barton was resented and vilified on Tyneside, thought of as nothing other than a thug behind bars. Of course, following the Toon's relegation, the Huyton-born midfielder established himself as something of a cult hero amongst the Geordie faithful, but for the previous two years, he had been nothing of the sort. Having signed for the club in the summer of 2007 for £5.5 million, injuries dictated that he wouldn't be making his debut until October for the club. Within two months of his first game, he was arrested in Liverpool on suspicion of assault. He was shown to have knocked out the teenager in question, leading to a six-month sentence in May 2008. He served just 77 days of the sentence, before being released on 28 July 2008, but the feeling on Tyneside was that they were employing a brutish thug who clearly had not learned from his past misdemeanours. Following his return, Barton was ordered to serve a six-match ban for an earlier assault on former Man City team-mate Ousmane Dabo, which only added to his stop-start efforts at establishing himself in the Newcastle side. During a dismal season, in which Newcastle which end up relegated, Barton found himself plagued by injuries. On his first appearance in three months, he incurred the wrath of his manager Alan Shearer for receiving a needless red card for a wreckless challenge on Xabi Alonso at Anfield in May 2009. Told to stay away from the club for his stupid behaviour, it wasn't the first time his future at St. James' Park would be shrouded in doubt. With Shearer gone, Barton finally got the Geordies on side in the Championship, winning them over with whole-hearted displays. However, the inner demons still fought through during the rest of his time on Tyneside, directing a punch into Blackburn winger Morten Gamst Pedersen's sternum, directed homophobic gestures at Liverpool striker Fernando Torres, and was shoved out the door on a free transfer in August 2011 despite repeated efforts to stay put. Phew.