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Barton in hot water anew after head-butt

Comment: 0 January 3rd, 2012 by: admin

FOR saying officials have been ‘conned’ for sending him off, Queens Park Rangers captain Joey Barton is likely to face a charge from the Football Association.

Barton accused Norwich midfielder Bradley Johnson of conniving with officials and for this, he invited trouble again after using his Twitter account to ‘air’ his side.

He was shown a straight red card by referee Neil Swarbrick for an apparent head-butt on Johnson in their home loss against Norwich on Monday.

The midfielder then spoke on Twitter and posted:

‘Well feel for the officials, they’ve been conned. Admitted to me at HT they never saw it. I was pulled back 1^st, then kicked 2^nd.

‘Linesman definitely never saw it, all he seen was Johnson’s reaction. My head doesn’t move forward at all.’

Barton said the decision to eject him was ‘ridiculous.’

He said he would be the first to apologise if he reacted but he won’t as ‘I’ve not head-butted anyone.’

The FA are set to look into the referee’s report before making their decision.

In the aftermath of the incident, QPR manager Neil Warnock could also be questioned after saying: ‘Who says cheats don’t prosper? Bradley has conned him. The assistant ref has guessed.’

The battle of promoted sides saw Norwich rallying to subdue 10-man QPR 2-1 at Loftus Road.

Barton opened the scoring for the home squad in the 11^th minute but his apparent head-butt on Johnson sent his team crumbling.

Pouncing on QPR’s numerical disadvantage, Norwich drew level in the 42^nd through a long-range shot from Anthony Pilkington.

Wales international Steve Morison hit the winner in the 83^rd, sending QPR reeling to their eighth consecutive league defeat.

Thirty-five minutes after he made the first goal, Barton confronted Zak Whitbread and then tangled with Johnson in the centre circle and appeared to head-butt the Norwich player.

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