Sent off Joey Barton breaks his silence in a bizarre way after having a ‘heated’ touchline exchange with referee Bobby Madden.
The former Rangers player received a red card as his former club Fleetwood own snatched a stoppage-time equaliser through Shaun Rooney to earn a 2-2 draw in League One.
Barton was given marching orders from Bobby Madden in the final minute of normal time and there was more anger as Rooney found the net with his second goal of a fiery contest in the ninth minute of stoppage time.
Barton didn’t face the media but Rovers assistant Andy Mangan could not offer a reason behind the sending-off.
“I don’t think there was anything untoward,” he said.
“I was close to him. And I think the referee probably got a bit heated.
“I saw a yellow card in his hand and then out of nowhere he brings out the red. I am not sure why that happened.
“I will have to speak to Joe, but the level of the performance in the second half we should be very proud.
“The draw feels like a defeat but there were so many positives. We are always looking to improve. We need to shut teams down and we need to be better in the final moments.
“And when the balls are getting slung into the box we have got to be more disciplined in those situations.
“The whole stadium will go home disappointed. But we created an awful lot of chances, and we should have been well out of sight.”
Rovers currently sit 17th but have lost only once in 11 games in all competitions.
Fleetwood – who are now unbeaten in five – are one place and a point above their opponents.
Their boss Scott Brown said: “I thought it was a game of two halves.
“We controlled the game in the first half, created a lot of chances and put them under a lot of pressure.
“But in the second half I think the crowd frightened our lads a little bit.
“Unfortunately, we didn’t manage to deal with the crowd very well.
“We caused our own problems and it was slopping defending from us, switching off and more about ball-watching than anything else.”
On Town’s equaliser Brown added: “It’s a late goal, but it’s about time we scored a late goal.
“It’s just the willingness to want to go on and score a goal. (Rooney) thrives off the atmosphere.
“That’s what the lads have got to learn, when you come away from home you’ve got to try and thrive on the atmosphere.
“You’ve got to go and show the opposition you are quality players.
“In the first half we did that and played some quality football, but we’ve got to be more relentless in front of goal.”
My gaffer @Joey7Barton pic.twitter.com/Z3JBbvdbvg
— Will (@WILLBRFC) November 13, 2022
Brown and his staff celebrated wildly when Rooney got his second of the game and Fleetwood’s equaliser in the NINTH minute of stoppage time.
A day later, Barton admitted he swore at the whistler and said sorry for doing so, but alongside his apology, he tweeted a picture of Madden’s Wikipedia page.
He said: “Regardless of how much you disagree with an official’s decision making, you shouldn’t swear at them. For that I apologise to yesterday’s match official, Robert Madden.”
Regardless of how much you disagree with an official’s decision making, you shouldn’t swear at them. For that I apologise to yesterday’s match official, Robert Madden. pic.twitter.com/3Ad7oY9tFd
— Joey Barton (@Joey7Barton) November 13, 2022
Twitter users reacted as a sent off Joey Barton breaks his silence after the ‘heated’ touchline exchange with Bobby Madden…
@windygas: Joey Barton getting sent off and then jumping over two barriers and standing two yards from where he was is first rate and I obsoletely loved it.
@fletcher_ac: I would of got sent off too if I was Joey 🤣🤣 awful ref
@TravMarchant: Takes a big man to apologise 👍🏻
@elliskearton4: Takes an even bigger man to give a giraffe a haircut
@Mitch_T_95: He was useless to be fair, Joey.
@johnwakefield8: We can see your reference to him being Scottish and therefore favouring Scoot Brown, just an apology was fine but you always have to have the last word, grow up
@AnnieEaves: What a horrible person Joey Barton is. His passive aggressiveness almost rivals his actual aggressiveness. A lifelong commitment to never changing.
@stevieblock102: Could have probably just texted or phoned him instead of screenshotting this to an audience which Madden may not even be a part of. Normal behaviour! That said, well done for abusing the worst ref I have ever seen 👍
@Ryann_BRFC_95: Wasn’t wrong though, ref was a useless twat
@NoMoreMikeDean: @EFL @EFL_Comms the ref needs investigating or at least a performance analysis
@ReeceHay18: The most baffling apology tweet ever😭😂
@dderby2: He was atrocious – his performance would make a saint swear – granted you are no saint 🤣 He was so inconsistent with the time wasting- didn’t give us anything!
@wilso105: Trying to act the big man again Joey 😂 Mind you tried that up here in Scotland, shat it within a few weeks and were sent back home with your bags packed cos you couldn’t handle it haha
1st game if Bradford’s season, he didn’t send Doncaster’s Ravenhill off for breaking his leg, whilst being in a prime position to see it (and his linesman). If that doesn’t stink I don’t know what does. He is a terrible referee. Beyond me how he gets paid for this!! pic.twitter.com/zTK8o9xghx
— Matthew Knott (@Matty_knott) November 13, 2022
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