Barton loses boot deal

Barton: Out... and £40K worse off.

Joey Barton. Confirmed thug or rehabilitated offender?

For some, it's a topic for lengthy debate. For his club, Newcastle, it's the latter.

And for Nike... well, they just don't have time to sit on the fence and dither. So they've pulled Barton's boot contract.

The deal, worth an estimated £40K a year according to SunSport, went as the cell door slammed shut in May.

A Nike spokesman explained: 'We have provision in all our sponsorship contracts that take into account any actions by an athlete that bring the brand into disrepute.

'While Joey is a talented footballer, we cannot condone or accept what he did.

'Back in May when he was found guilty, we immediately terminated his contract.

'We certainly have no plans to re-sign him now that he has been released.'

Happily for Barton he should be able to make up the lost earnings thanks to Newcastle sticking by him and not cutting his £57,000 a WEEK salary.

'Newcastle officials can confirm they have met with Joey Barton,' said a club statement, 'following which it has been agreed by everyone involved that Joey will remain with the club.'

We'd like to take the charitable route here and assume he's a changed man. Somehow though, we reckon 10 minutes of opposition fans winding him up and the old Barton will resurface.

share this story: