The Redemption Of The Loudmouth

The stereotypical view of a footballer is that they are thick and that their brains are in their feet.
That was a quote used by Louise Bours, one of UKIP's newly elected MEPs on a recent episode of Question Time.
She was referring to Joey Barton, who was also branded 'the footballers philosopher' on the same programme.
He has claimed that title in the last few years, as he has come away from being the football yobbo poster boy, and moved to a more sophisticated type of player.
And in a sense I feel he has changed, and has in way redeemed himself.
Barton was also surrounded by controversy right from being a young player. From his youth career at Everton, Liverpool and Manchester City he was embroiled in incidents and that have run through his playing days.
From a pre-season brawl at Doncaster Rovers, to stubbing a lit cigar in the eye of young team mate Jamie Tandy.
His list of handy work also included things such as beating team mate Ousmane Dabo to a pulp, and being jailed for a scrap outside a Liverpool McDonalds.
His latest football incident would be seen as a red card for a string of offences in his last Premier League match for QPR at Manchester City.
Since then he crossed the channel, cleaned his act up at Marseille, gave a Steve McLaren like change of accent interview, and returned to England.
Since his return he seems calmer, and has stayed out of trouble.
I read an article years ago that Barton was a clever boy back in school, and I believe that has showed in recent months.
He took on an interview with Sir Clive Woodward on BBC Radio Five Live which was an interesting read, and showed his views on the game and coaching, and generally life.
He acknowledged his past failings and took full responsibilty for his very serious string of crimes. He has showed as captain of QPR in the Championship that he can be a leader.
And even though it isn't football related, he showed his intelligence on Question Time, despite his distasteful reference to four ugly girls when referring to UKIP.
However apart from his antics, I feel Barton has come back from a dark place and redeemed himself.
He was never a bad footballer, just a complete idiot. And the majority of things Barton says are the truth and that is why he gets respect from certain people.
Apart from the time he said he could have been England captain. That was a bit of a white lie Mr Barton so I'm afraid I can't agree with you on that.