My official statement on the Tevez incident

14 Jun 2012

In case anyone wanted to see it, this is the official statement that I made to the UK press after my huge cock-up in the Man City game at the end of last season:

I recognise that I have tarnished the image of our national game and that I’ve been rightly been punished by the FA for both my initial reaction to Tevez and the subsequent stupidity during the sending off in the final game of the season.

I would like to apologise sincerely to everybody that I’ve let down, both my friends and colleagues at QPR, as well as the players, management, staff at Manchester City and the authorities whom I put in a very difficult position. Nothing is more punishing for me than missing football matches. Football is my life and this sanction will be a very difficult time for me personally.

I would also like to apologise for my childish comments on Twitter after the game, including the comments about Mr Shearer and Mr Lineker. This too was reactive and unprofessional of me and I am sorry for any offence caused.

I am keen to put this regrettable incident behind me, and to work hard on becoming a better person and player ready for my return.

Comments

41 comments 34 people listening

Comment help
Get Livefyre

Sort: Newest | Oldest

eric11 5 pts

No one mentions Tevez pulling your shirt and winding people up,he does it all the time,good player but very sly.

share flag

spam
offensive
disagree
off topic

RobHamilton 6 pts

Stay the way you are Joey, HONEST!!!

robertreed 5 pts

I thought it was a big of a stunt by joe..

I know Joey is a big fan of history and philosophy, so there was a touch of the situationists about this moment.

I also know had balotelli done this it would be what a crazy guy, yet when its Joe its always what a thug.. which is totally wrong.

I hope Joey stays in the Premiership and would be happy for him to come to my team in N17..

Mrs_Barton 5 pts

Honestly if somebody is going to do something then they are and they shouldn't be judged for that!

GregoirePadilla 6 pts

You remind me of some French Football player from Marseille that, I believe, made a tremendous career in your Country. His name was Cantona, Eric Cantona.

You've got temper, you've got style, and you tremendously resemble Cantona in your behaviour.

He crossed the Channel to take over England, and thus became "The King".

I urge you to make things right for History, and cross the Channel yourself in order to become "Le Roi", in Marseilles. ;)

The OM fans will wait for you.

providenceranger 5 pts

Everyone makes mistakes. Come back and fulfill your potential at rangers. Good Luck

QueenOlet 5 pts

I hope you have a great season wherever you are, and I totally want you to come back to QPR as soon as possible. No matter what, I support you and trust you !

ErskineSam 5 pts

You really need to be either boxing or wrestling. I honestly believe that's where your tendency to lose your sanity will be allowed and your animalistic behaviour glorified

Marseille64 5 pts

Joey go to Marseille please, the marseille's fan will love you, you're will our god .WE WANT YOU !!!

kempes 5 pts

joey. viens a l'om . tu vas relancer ta carriere la bas .

womble 5 pts

As a City fan I have to say when you played for us I always had a soft spot for you even though you were a mentallist. I realise when you have a short fuse its difficult to keep a grip. Hope you manage to keep control of the fire but its the fire that makes you the man you are. Be good to see you playing in the Prem and a visit back to the Etihad will be fun. Don't expect a heroes welcome but I think deep down most City fans feel the same as I do.

Maxyd 5 pts

Tevez " I'm too big for city "needed cutting down to size, hopefully this was a step in bringing down that mersenary! Shame it couldn't be done with more dignity and less force but it was a passionate and full blooded affair ,so it's understandable.

DrNakano 7 pts

Morally 'wrong' as it may be, sure was nice to see Tevez cut down to size :-P

blf31995 5 pts

DrNakano

People keep forgetig.... It was Tevez that hit Joey first nd he should be punished!

DiogoSoaresLoureiro 6 pts

You will come back stronger than ever.Things like this make you grow up and carry on!One day you will play for my teamFC Porto :p

Haggito 6 pts

Joey...as a united fan, when the incident happend i did think oh dear this could make the game drag on which could be costly as it did. But since the disappointment has passed each time i see it now i do laugh at the way mr hard nut baloteli s*** his pants once u made eye contacy ha ha. It reminded me of the dicanio winterburn incident!!...as costly as it was to united.....it was on the other hand funny as f***!

daveswfc 5 pts

Given the fact that your actions were in the final game of the season where your club needed to get something out of the game in order to stay up then I absolutely back the sanctions imposed on you by QPR. Put some thought into what other players around you achieved by getting your side into the top division in the first place and a moment of losing it could have cost each and every one of your team mates and fans that pleasure going into the new season.

Hopefully this is not a false dawn in the life and times of Joey Barton and you have 'genuinely' seen the errors of your ways putting this behind you. Let's hope so because on your day Joey you are good to watch even as a neutral watching your club.

There was a rumor milling around that you may be sent out on loan to keep sharp and work the ban down quicker with my club SWFC being touted as a destination. I would love to see you grace the turf at Hillsborough but note the emphasis on the word 'grace', whatever happens I hope people accept the fact you can hold your hands up to making a mistake and you come back a more headstrong player. Good luck.

Blinis 5 pts

Still thinking that you deserve the ban. What you don't deserve is to be put out of the team because of that. One fault, one sentence, one punishment, and when it's done, it's done.

qpr_rich 5 pts

All the press want to talk about is your disciplinary problems. What the fans want though, the ones who pay money and get behind the team home and away, is for you to discuss your performances from the 2011-12 season. Man City etc has been talked about non stop and some are starting to think it is a clever disguise to hide your below par performances this season. You have said that Hughes loves to use stats, well I may be watching the wrong game but your percentage of misplaced passes must be shocking in comparison to Faurlin; and the amount of players you've let pass you in simple one - two passing from the opposition must be shocking in comparison to Diakite... so why should you be in the blue and white hoops next year? If you really want to appease the QPR fans and not the media then lets discuss performances and an acknowledgement that your performances didn't warrant the 31 appearances you ended up with last year.

marko2807 5 pts

You could have played for England, instead you could be lining up for Fleetwood Town....... Its hard to take the many of todays pro footballers care passionately about the game as much as the fans who pay an awful lot of money to watch it.

The Money is taking the game further and further away from the fans and whilst I applaud your reasons for the Fleetwood thing, it should never be happening but maybe in hindsight, it might do what you hope it will and make you realise what a fortunate position you are in.

A team with a focused Joey Barton is a better team, there's no doubt about that but up until now, there have been way too many occurrences when you have become a liability to the club you are playing for.

Hope it the league 2 experience does what its intended.

LoneRanger 5 pts

Joey mate you need to just GROW UP !!! Ive seen the good side of you down at Loftus Road however you seem to be an accident just waiting to happen...again..again and again., sorry to be neg mate but until you mature you're just going to keep apologising for your behaviour and it gets a bit repetitive.

jasondh1972 5 pts

I sympathise with you Joey but you could have coined Balotelli's 'Why Always Me' catch phrase ages ago. It does always seem to be you. Real shame of it is I think you could have still been at the heart of that City midfield if you'd have stayed and not made that statement about going to a 'big' club when you joined Newcastle.

TomBates 5 pts

Harsh would have expected 5 or 6 matches, unfortunatley it was in a high profile games hence why they wamted to make an example of you

con_92 5 pts

I do not think 12 match ban was very fair, However I understand why the FA may have issued such as lengthy spell out of the game due to your past incidents to try and make you stop acting out. Not to get personal in an offensive way as this is not my objective, but maybe when you have that sense of rage come over you in the future maybe think about your kid and think of the example it could set.

markraper38 6 pts

In an age where watching public doubt the passion of the players and a desire to win , in a strange way although being careful not to condone your actions it was refreshing to see a reaction , wrong as it was and a 12 match ban is harsh considering what you get or don't get for racially abusing a fellow professional........ I would rather have Joey Barton in the same team than Carlos Tevez.

enickson_EFC 5 pts

12 games is very harsh... Good to see you admitting your wrongdoing and posting online. Don't see why Carlos Tevez has received no punishment? If it was the other way round you would still be punished......

Sloughbhoy 5 pts

I don't think it merited a 12 game ban, I guess every player in the league will now try and wind you up in order to get you sent off, particually the Arsenal lot, they are the worst as we saw last year when you were playing for the Toon. If you are playing against them this season and they have a guy called Kyle Bartley playing for them, then I guarantee he will try and get under your skin as he tried doing against my team to Scott Brown. Those are the players I really hate. Don't you fancy a move to Scotland to play for Celtic who I have heard you support. Every fan for Celtic would love you. Some English fans that we see on your twitter sadly have no life as they continously try to insult you, without realising that you actually give a f*@!

SeanDoherty64 5 pts

For you on that fateful day, of course it was regretable, you probably will concur that it was an over-reaction. I saw what happened, I personally think you did well not to react harsher or stronger. I take part in a couple QPR forums on fb...I have always fought in your corner, will continue too. Hope the ban passes quickly for you Joey and when you return hopefully we will already be starting to bear the fruits of the new seasons signings and successes. I for one will welcome you back with open arms , and a firm handshake should I ever get to meet you personally!!

Regards

Sean Doherty

Stridey7 5 pts

@SeanDoherty64 @Sloughbhoy Shut up. If you are paid 30k a week as is Scott Brown, and you can't keep your discipline whilst another player try's to get under your skin, you aren't worth 30k a week. Players go out to compete, and do anything to gain an advantage over an opponent, within the rules of the game. If you think Joey Barton would go to Celtic, who won't be in the champions league group, who won't play old firm league clashes this year ten your having a laugh! Why would he go from the prem to SPL? And stop brown nosing! Typical Tim!

Enjoy Division 3.

@Sloughbhoy Terrible pal. We probably will. And will still have more titles than yourselves. Did you watch Celtic v Ajax? You look a good side, ready for a champions league campaign.... NATTTTT!

Firstly, dont call me your pal. Secondly Rangers look a really good team, ready for a Ramsden Challenge Cup campaign......NATTTTTT. Do one ya mug!!

@Sloughbhoy Listen to yourself you can't even spell boy without putting an H in it. True sign of a retard. But hey, this is what we are dealing with. Get your own patter PAL. So what your saying is Rangers won't win the Ramsden challenge cup? Cool. We'll be back to haunt you in 3 years and still have more titles than the manly mob! The most successful club team goes on.

Manky** btw this is me fixing a typo. You should try it with bhoy and boy****

My word, you're obsessed with me. Anyway im off, got a friendly against Premier League opposition to watch, who have your team got this pre season??

Auld Yin 5 pts

Stridey7 Sloughbhoy

a Retard? whoa you are one of our enlightened lil friends from Div 3 arent you. I think you will find that your club will not complete this season before going out of business. No amount of negotiating can defer what is still to come for Sevco and I dont mean the big tax case.

ljread 5 pts

modern life bad boy, i have heard and seen loads of stories about football players in the past doing a lot worst, okay it was a little bit stupid but o well we all do stupid things and make mistakes just because you a celeb just means you suffer more from it, still a great footballing role model about giving it your all and working hard to achieve your dream!!

AkibJaved 6 pts

in my opinion whatever u did... was right... u are my idol...

ak265 5 pts

Tempers are always going to flair in professional sport, all that can be done is apologise and take your punishment like a man and joey you have done, enough respect stay strong.

Jordanox4 5 pts

It's refreshing to see & hear a footballer in this day and age to be so open & honest. I love watching you play with the passion you have for the game, sometimes though the red mist just seems to descend. I personally think thats not a bad thing it just shows you care! We could do with a few more players in the England squad with that kind of passion.

mjschumacher100 5 pts

Always nice to see someone apologise especially if sincere like this seems to be so at the very least you deserve a thumbs up. This isn't a 'but' really...but...I'm interested in you offering an explanation of what happened and why you did what you did, is it simply a mental issue, eg a case of anger management? And if so, do you have any plans to find someone to offer help? The last question would then be do you feel that by tempering reactions such as this you'd become less of a player? I remember John McEnroe once saying that without the temper he wouldn't have been the player he was. As an aside, love the site, very nice.

Joey Barton

Joey On Sport

My official statement on the Tevez incident

Comments

Posted in: