Barton pleads guilty to one charge, denies another

16 May 2012 20:17

Controversial QPR midfielder Joey Barton accepted a charge of violent conduct on Wednesday but denied another one arising out of last Sunday's Premier League clash with Manchester City.

The 29-year-old -- who is also the subject of an internal investigation by his club over his behaviour in the match -- accepted the charge over his kicking of Sergio Aguero after he had been already red carded for elbowing Carlos Tevez.

However, the hot-tempered Englishman, who has been involved in several unsavoury incidents throughout his career, denies trying to headbutt City captain Vincent Kompany.

"Joey Barton has accepted an FA charge against him for violent conduct against Manchester City's Sergio Aguero," the FA statement read.

"The Queens Park Rangers player has denied a second charge of alleged violent conduct against Manchester City's Vincent Kompany.

"The player has requested a personal hearing, the date of which has yet to be set.

"Both charges against Barton are in relation to Sunday's match against Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium.

"Following the player's dismissal in the 54th minute of the fixture, there followed two incidents involving Aguero and Kompany.

"As Barton had already been dismissed, both of these incidents fell outside of the jurisdiction of the referee."

Barton's dismissal could have been extremely costly to QPR as they went into the game battling to avoid relegation and ended up losing the game 3-2 only to be saved from the drop when Stoke held Bolton to send the latter side down instead.

He will receive an automatic four-match ban for what was his second dismissal of the season, and could receive three-match suspensions for each of the violent conduct charges.

Furthermore, the FA's regulatory panel can employ discretionary powers to increase the length of the suspension if charges are found to be proven.

Barton may also have created more trouble for himself because, as an inveterate user of Twitter, he went on to claim his violent actions were a cynical ploy to provoke a City player to be sent off.

Barton -- who has three years remaining on his contract -- later apologised for his behaviour, but QPR announced earlier Wednesday they had launched their own inquiry.

"Queens Park Rangers Football Club can confirm that a full investigation in relation to Joey Barton's dismissal and subsequent events against Manchester City on Sunday will be carried out following the conclusion of his FA hearing.

"The club will be making no further comment at this stage."

Source: AFP