Jonás Gutiérrez backs Michael Owen for derby clash

May 5 2009 by Stuart Rayner, The Journal

Shearer was seething after the red card ruled Barton out for the rest of the campaign through suspension.

And a night’s sleep did little to calm the manager’s anger.

Those in the boardroom are no more sympathetic towards a player who has constantly tested their patience, never more so than when he was jailed for assault last summer. As well as his custodial punishment, Barton received a six-match suspended sentence from the Football Association for attacking then-Manchester City team-mate Ousmane Dabo.

But the suspension will only be invoked for an offence of violent conduct.

Newcastle hope that will be someone else’s concern – though how many clubs will be willing to gamble on a player who has not so much courted controversy as leapt into bed with it, remains to be seen.