Gordon Taylor: "It is a difficult one when you are trying to get justice right in any sphere of life.
"He has previous incidents and you are not usually expected to take those into account but you can't ignore those instances.
"It (Barton's attack) is not professional and there is a disciplinary system in place.
"Manchester City took action but sometimes in football it can be triple jeopardy you can be fined by the club, be suspended and then punished by the FA.
"There is no Kevin Keegan to speak for him so I think we can expect a number of games suspension but hopefully some will be suspended to try to encourage some better behaviour from him," he told Radio 5 Live.
"They will want to make an example to look to make sure it does not happen again.
"I think most players accept they are seen as role models and not only are they expected to behave in the best manner on and off the pitch but also to contribute to the community.
"That is being taken on board by the vast majority of professionals but such incidents (like Barton's) do get blown up and tarnish the rest of professionals."