• QPR midfielder also fined £75,000 for actions against Man City
• 'Such behaviour tarnishes the image of football in this country'
Joey Barton has been banned for 12 games and fined £75,000 by the Football Association, an unprecedented tariff that places his future at Queens Park Rangers in serious doubt. Before the ruling the club had already met to discuss options regarding their captain.
After finding the midfielder guilty of two charges of violent conduct in QPR's 3-2 defeat at Manchester City on the season's final day the chairman of the FA regulatory commission stated that Barton's behaviour "tarnishes the image of football."
For the two violent conduct counts Barton was handed an eight game suspension to follow on consecutively from the four matches he will already miss for initially being sent off in the game.
After receiving the red card for appearing to strike Carlos Tevez, Barton then kicked Sergio Agüero and attempted to butt Vincent Kompany. After the hearing, the Regulatory Commission chairman condemned the midfielder's actions, saying: "There are rules of conduct that should be adhered to, and such behaviour tarnishes the image of football in this country, particularly as this match was the pinnacle of the domestic season and watched by millions around the globe."
Barton admitted kicking Agüero but denied the charge involving Kompany and requested a personal hearing. However, the Commission found against him. Barton now has leave to appeal, but his future at Rangers is also far from certain.
The FA's statement said: "An independent Regulatory Commission has today [Wednesday 23 May 2012] dealt with two charges of violent conduct against Joey Barton, arising from the game against Manchester City, resulting in an eight-match suspension and £75,000 fine for the Queens Park Rangers midfielder. This eight-match suspension is to run consecutively to the four-game suspension Barton was already given for his dismissal in the fixture, making a total of 12 matches.
"Following Barton's dismissal in the 54th minute of the match, there followed two incidents involving Manchester City's Sergio Agüero and Vincent Kompany. As Barton had already been dismissed, both of these incidents fell outside the jurisdiction of the referee.
"Barton accepted the charge of violent conduct against Agüero but denied the second breach of violent conduct against Kompany. The independent Regulatory Commission, however, found this second charge proved. Barton is already serving a four-match suspension for his dismissal in the match, which consists of three matches for violent conduct plus one match as this was the player's second dismissal of the season. The two further breaches for violent conduct ordered he be suspended for eight matches to run consecutively to the four matches, taking the total suspension to 12 matches."
Barton's troubled season began when he was dismissed on 2 January in a 2-1 defeat to Norwich City at Loftus Road, before he compounded the incidents at the Etihad Stadium by later admitting on Twitter that he attempted get one of the City players sent off too, claiming that a team-mate "suggested I should try to take 1 of theirs with me".
Paolo Di Canio's 11-match ban for pushing over referee Paul Alcock in 1998 and Eric Cantona's nine-month suspension for attacking a spectator in 1995 are the longest tariffs in recent memory. Read More
انسخ الكود التالى و ضعه فى موقعك او مدونتك.
