EPL Update: Barton Charged, Tuohy Wants Me To Guest Post

Got an e-mail from Brian Tuohy yesterday.  He said, given time constraints, that he wants me to reprise my post here about the EPL situation from last Sunday on his The Fix is In site.

First draft was sent off Tuesday night, and he'll get around to it when he has time.  It is a bit heftier than the one here.

Also, the Football Association has charged Joey Barton with only two counts of Violent Conduct.  The original action had him required to respond to the charges by Tuesday at 6 PM.  He has had that extended to today at midday (4 AM PDT).

The charges are apparently only the two acts which occurred after the sending off.  He is already banned for four matches following his second sending-off of the season.

Many believe that the total ban he will receive will be in the area of ten matches.  Four matches for the card, three each for the other two offenses (the Standard Penalty from the 2011-2012 FA Discipline Handbook (of which a PDF is here).

I have a large problem with that, on three different levels:

First:  To simply charge him with the two post-card acts ignores:

• That he's already on four matches as it is for the red card
• That he admits to attempting to create an incident in which at least one Manchester City player gets sent off
• That another Queens Park Ranger player appears to be involved in this incident, according to Barton on his Twitter
• His exchange with Balotelli at the sideline
• That he has to be forcibly wrestled off the pitch under a police escort by either two members of the team staff or by two members of stadium security -- "Failure to leave the ground in a timely manner" indeed!

Second:  My main gripe.  How can a professional footballer, of any stripe, commit those acts in that setting as a captain of a team endangered with immediate relegation and not be accused of openly trying to throw the match?

Third:  Barton's record, on and off the pitch, from Wikipedia:

• 2003-2004 FA Cup Tournament, Fourth Round Proper, Replay.  Tottenham Hotspur home to Manchester City.  Barton is sent off for an argument with the official during half-time.  Tottenham were 3-0 up at the time.  Shockingly, Manchester City, down to ten men, scored four unanswered goals to win the game 3-4.
• In a preseason friendly the following summer, a ten-man brawl broke out when Barton hacked down an opposition player.
• That Christmas (2004), his tenure with Manchester City was nearly ended when he almost put a youth player's eye out with a lit cigar after the youth player was seen trying to set his shirt on fire.  He was docked six weeks' wages by the team.
• The next pre-season (2005), he was sent home from Thailand and fined 120,000 pounds for assaulting an Everton supporter, 15.  He was finally ordered into behavioral rehab and anger management therapy.
• After being heckled by opposition supporters (Everton, again!) on September 30, 2006, he was caught by the cameras mooning the crowd.  After the police cleared him, the FA fined him 2,000 pounds for "bringing the game into disrepute".
• May 1, 2007 was the last straw at Manchester City.  Barton assaulted a teammate (Ousmane Dabo), leaving him unconscious and probably with a detached retina.  He was arrested, pled guilty, and sentenced to four months suspended sentence in prison, 200 hours of community service, 3,000 pounds in restitution to Dabo, and his court costs.  He was suspended for twelve matches (six deferred for two years) and fined 25,000 pounds by the FA.
• He tranferred to Newcastle United, and, in a derby match against Sunderland later in 2007, Barton appeared to commit another red card offense against a Sunderland player.  However, because the referee saw the conduct and chose not to sanction Barton, the FA rules prohibited them from stepping in.
• December 27, 2007:  Barton beats a man, being caught on camera punching a man in Liverpool to unconsciousness (20 blows, at least), plus attacking a teenager.  This, only eight months after the Manchester City incident.  Barton was jailed for six months after the 2007-08 season, but released after 7 days.  (The Dabo FA hearing and suspension took place after this!)
• Two further incidents in late 2008 almost reinstated the second half of the suspension -- a possible red-card offense versus Aston Villa, and a racism row which caused the FA to reconsider not punishing Barton.  Nothing proven, nothing done.
• Barton would be off the pitch due to injury most of the remainder of that season, but received a red card in his return match in May, 2009.
• Two days later, Newcastle United, in danger of relegation and without Barton for the remaining three matches of the season, opt to expel Barton after it is revealed that manager Alan Shearer had a confrontation with Barton after the match.  Shearer admitted later that it was a mistake to allow Barton to return.  Newcastle United would, in fact, be relegated.
• November 10, 2010:  Barton is charged with Violent Conduct by the FA for punching a Blackburn player in the chest (Morten Gamst Pedersen), which the officials did not see.  He was given a three-match ban, just barely missing the two-year cutoff from his suspension for punching Dabo.
• December 11, 2010:  Barton appears to give homophobic slurs and an obscene gesture to Fernando Torres.
• August 2011:  In what would be his last match with Newcastle (vs. Arsenal), incidents would be retaliated against Barton which would send one player off (Gervinho) and got a second player a three-match ban (Alex Song)
• January 2, 2012:  Barton (now with QPR) is sent off for a headbutt on Norwich's Bradley Johnson.
• And then the current incident.

It is hard for me to defend any penalty short of a life ban (with perhaps a one- or two-year last-chance sunset window).  But if there is any player in England who would throw a relegation game for his own benefit to the complete disdain of the good of his club (of which he is captain!), I assert it is Barton.

LATE UPDATE:  With the noon deadline passing this day, there is no word as to the extension for response by Barton.  The head of the players' union wants a stiff suspension, but doesn't give a length.