Warnock Pleased He Didn't Sign Barton!
Last updated : 25 October 2008 By Footy Mad - Editor
Neil Warnock (talking to the Independent): "I've always been a big fan of Joey Barton as a player. If we had stayed up at Sheffield United I was going to pay £4m for him so that shows how highly I rate him.
"But I suppose, like many others, when I listen to his apologies I do say to myself: 'I wonder how long it will be before he is in trouble again?' I hope he means what he says because there are no more chances for Joey and I fear the worst if he does not take heed now. When I look at his life, if you take football away from it, I don't see what other way there is for him to go.
"Obviously he had already been in a few scrapes when I was thinking of signing him but you always think you can be the one to change a player, to settle him down, especially when you've been a manager for a few years.
"There have been a lot of players I've signed who other managers said, 'Don't touch him with a barge pole'. I bet I have got 90 per cent of them playing well, but some you can't win with.
One ex-player had loads of ability but my staff told me not to waste my time with him. I spent the best part of two years trying to turn him around, getting him out of scrapes with the police when he went back home. In the end I had to let him go.
"I remember saying to him that there are two ways you can go, you can be a footballer and earn good money for 12-15 years, or end up in prison."
