I remember there being some rumours that Arsenal were in the market for Joey Barton when he was playing for Newcastle but I was thinking it was the crazy warped imagination of someone on the Daily Crap, but it seems that it was absolutely true, according to Barton himself.
Barton wrote: “I signed for QPR on the rebound from Arsenal. Pat Rice, Arsene Wenger’s assistant, had told Peter Kay they fancied me.
“A meeting with me was in the manager’s diary for the first Tuesday of the new season.
“He had the perfect opportunity to monitor my form three days before that, in what was to be my penultimate appearance for Newcastle, a goal-less draw against his team at St James’ Park.
“Maybe word of my potential move had filtered through to the away dressing room. They queued up to have a dig, and referee Peter Walton missed Alex Song’s stamp on me.
“If there was to be no red carpet, I made sure there was going to be a red card by going down like a sack of spuds when Gervinho slapped me.
“His outrage, on being sent off, was worth my booking.
“Rice sent Pete a text soon after: ‘Arsene says Joey will never play for this club.’”
What aplonker! I still find it hard to believe that Wenger even considered him, he has made a career out of being a dirty player. I certainly wouldn’t have been happy to see him in an Arsenal shirt!
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