Joey Barton has blasted moneybags Manchester City – insisting the Carlos Tevez incident was an accident waiting to happen.
QPR’s former City bad boy, who knows what it’s like to be Public Enemy No.1, is not surprised by Tevez’s show of petulance during the 2-0 Champions League defeat at Bayern Munich.
City boss Roberto Mancini suspended the striker for a maximum of two weeks after he allegedly refused to take the field as a sub.
Barton said: “It was only a matter of time before this was going to happen at Manchester City.
“You’ve 10 outfield places with 23 world-class players competing for them. It was only a matter of time before one of them threw the toys out of the pram.
“Unfortunately, this is where the game has gone. You have players demanding moves and saying, ‘If you don’t let me go, I’ll not play’. It’s like a soap opera.
“Thankfully it’s nothing to do with my club.”
Since Barton left City five years ago, the club have assembled an expensive squad of superstars and Mancini’s ability to control some of his prima donnas has been questioned.
Serbian striker Edin Dzeko apologised to the manager for his petulant response to being substituted in the midweek defeat at the Allianz Arena – but it is Tevez who has sparked the most controversy.
Speaking at a launch event for FIFA 12, Barton added: “I just can’t figure out why - at the Allianz Arena, one of the state-of-the-art theatres to play football in the world, and with your team losing 2-0. I can remember being in a Newcastle side that was 4-0 down and came back to draw 4-4, so it’s not like it’s 5-0 down with 10 minutes to go and the game’s over.
“I don’t know what’s gone on but no doubt it will play out in the media. The media will love this.
“As a football fan first and foremost, well most fans would give everything they have.
“They have dreams about scoring the winning goal in a Champions League game.
“We don’t know the full facts. Tevez seems a genuine footballer who loves playing and gives his all when he’s on the pitch. But the news coming out hasn’t been great.”
Barton was involved in several incidents which tarnished his reputation when he was at City. “Everyone wanted to lynch me at one stage,” he said.
“When I first came to QPR a lot of the lads were asking me.They had read about what had happened totally differently. Hopefully one day I’ll sit down and write about it and give my side of events.”
Slagging off players demanding moves. Short fucking memory. The guy really is a complete bell end.
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