Source: Telegraph
Newcastle supporters back Alan Shearer as club suspend Joey Barton
Barton, 26, was suspended by the club until further notice today after the pair were involved in furious row after the midfielder was sent off in the 3-0 defeat at Liverpool last weekend and handed a three-match ban that rules him out of their fight against relegation from the Premier League.[LNB]"The person who comes as well out of this as Barton does badly is Alan Shearer," fanzine editor Mark Jensen said.[LNB] Related ArticlesThe Daily Bung: Tooners were right about Big AlBarton suspended by NewcastleShearer: Career in picsBarton pledge to NewcastleIt's all about not losingShearer says Boro clash will decide fate"Unlike other managers who might have claimed not to have seen the incident and just backed their players blindly he comes out and gives an honest point of view instead of talking about trying to appeal or saying he went for the ball and some other nonsense he told it was it was.[LNB]"It was just an absolutely ridiculous tackle. You hoped he didn't get a red card but the referee didn't have any choice. It's fair play to Alan Shearer. He has reinforced what most of the fans think about him - that he's not just a great person and a great player but he can be a great manager in the long term.[LNB]"There have been glimpses in all of his games that Alan Shearer has improved things at Newcastle but we still have the same group of very, very average to poor players with the odd exception.[LNB]"It's like shuffling the deckchairs on the Titanic because you can't make a decent midfield out of what we've got. There are very few bright spots but Shearer has arguable got the best out of what he has got but there isn't a lot to be got out of those players at the minute because of the failings of a lot of other people.[LNB]Jensen added: "We've had a nightmare season and it's only by luck that we still have a chance of staying up because of other teams' failings. Joey Barton had shown enough to suggest he could give us something in our remaining games because we must have the least creative midfield.[LNB]"He showed he could have been the difference between staying up and going down. That is how big it could be. Joey Barton could have got Newcastle relegated because of what he did on Sunday."[LNB][LNB]
