Pearce will not interfere
07 May 2007 - 10:51:36
Manchester City manager Stuart Pearce will not stand in Ousmane Dabo's way should he decide to take legal action against Joey Barton following the pair's training ground clash earlier in the week.
Dabo claims he was attacked by the England international after a training session and required hospital treatment.
Barton was subsequently suspended until the end of the season and Pearce has vowed not to stand in the France midfielder's way of pressing for criminal charges.
"I'm not going to try and talk him out of it. Any individual person, whether they work for this football club or not, has a right to do whatever they want and I wouldn't dream of trying to talk anybody out of anything," Pearce told The Guardian.
"The bottom line is that, if Ousmane and his solicitors think it is a police matter, it is not for me to say to the player 'don't do that.'
"He has every right to address things as he sees fit."
After the incident, Dabo revealed: "I've never known anything like this before in my career. I just pushed him away and turned my back to walk off. That's when he hit me.
"I really don't remember exactly what happened, but I've been told by all my team-mates he hit me from behind, a right hook which hit me on the temple and knocked me out for a few seconds.
"As I started to fall he jumped on top of me, held my head and punched me twice more in the face.
"Apparently when I was on the floor he again punched me before being pulled off."
