Source: Daily_Mail
Newcastle bad boy Barton plays down bust-ups with Shearer and Hughton
Joey Barton has claimed he has no problems with Newcastle's most recent caretaker bosses Chris Hughton and Alan Shearer.
The controversial midfielder has fallen out with both men in the last six months after criticising their tactics and standing up to them in furious dressing room rows.
But Barton, who is out for two months after ankle surgery, insists there is no hangover from the bust-ups, even though Shearer vowed the former Manchester City player would never play for Newcastle if he was in charge.
Speaking at an event for the Sporting Chance clinic, Barton defended his most recent argument with current boss Hughton after he was left out of the Newcastle side at the start of the season.
He said: 'I will be the first to admit I was in the wrong. I shouldn't have said what I said and when I said it. I am not saying what I said was not right but for me and Chris it was over within minutes, for me and the team it was over in minutes and it was rectified.
'Chrissie made the decision, he put me on the bench and it was the right thing to do. I didn't question it, or make a fuss whereas when I was younger and a bit more hot-headed and not as mature as I am now, I might have handled it differently.'
Barton also defended himself in his row with Shearer, who kicked the player out of Newcastle indefinitely after a stand-up row between the pair in the Anfield dressing room.
The 27-year-old, now in his third season at St James' Park, was sent off at Liverpool in Newcastle's doomed spell under Shearer's command after a ridiculous last-minute challenge on Xabi Alonso.
Shearer confronted Barton after the game and told him his challenge was 'a coward's tackle'.
Barton responded with a tirade of abuse, insulting Shearer and his assistant Iain Dowie in the process, to the astonishment of his team-mates.
But Barton now says: 'Alan is a guy I have an awful lot of respect for as a player and as a man and that's the reason we had a much-publicised disagreement in the dressing room.
'It got out into the public domain, which is not ideal, but the reason I have never commented on it or tried to put my side across is because my thing is, what goes on in dressing rooms some times should stay in dressing rooms.
'It never happened in this instance but I was never going to get drawn into it because as I say, I have a lot of respect for Alan as a footballer and as a man, and I still do.'
