football Joey Barton: QPR captain banned for 12 matches by FA

[Rappy Veteran]

Queens Park Rangers captain Joey Barton has been banned for 12 matches after being found guilty of two counts of violent conduct.

Barton, 29, was sent off in QPR's defeat at Manchester City on the final day of the season and had accepted a charge over his clash with Sergio Aguero in the wake of his red card.

He was also found guilty over a separate clash with Vincent Kompany.

The midfielder has been fined ?75,000 by the Football Association.

Barton was initially sent off for an off-the-ball clash with City striker Carlos Tevez and will serve a four-match ban for that offence, as it was his second sending-off of the season.

The incidents involving Aguero and Kompany came after Barton had been dismissed, meaning they fell outside the jurisdiction of the referee, and have resulted in a further eight-match suspension.

The chairman of the regulatory commission stated after the hearing: "There are rules of conduct that should be adhered to, and such behaviour tarnishes the image of football in this country, particularly as this match was the pinnacle of the domestic season and watched by millions around the globe."

A Rangers spokesman said: "QPR will be making no comment in regard to the Joey Barton case. Internal investigation will begin in due course."

Speculation has been mounting over Barton's future at the west London club and Rangers chairman Tony Fernandes had admitted there was uncertainty over the player.

"There are experienced people who will come back to me and we'll review the whole situation," he told BBC Sport.

"There's a process that the club goes through in terms of sendings off and disciplinary action. That's something [manager] Mark Hughes will report through to the board."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/18183661

[Jimmy0]

Good, can't stand the bloke.

[Noir Angel]

Joey Barton is an idiot. It's about time some real action was taken against him.

[JoeC]

Not long enough.

The guy has a history of doing really, really stupid things and he's way out of control. I was hoping for a full season's holiday for him, to be honest :/

[mulligan2k]

should be banned for more about his comments on twitter, saying he was 'trying to take one of them off with me'. nice example to set to kids who might look up to him and follow him on twitter