BARTON BLAST FOR PEARCE

Newcastle midfielder Joey Barton has hit out at former Manchester City boss Stuart Pearce.

The 24 year-old joined the Magpies from City last month in a £5.8million deal and claimed he had been let down by his former boss.

Pearce, now England Under-21 coach, said recently Barton would never play for another one of his sides again and that he had no choice but to sell him after his alleged training ground bust-up with Ousmane Dabo.

However, Barton hit back at Pearce, blaming him for the breakdown in communication which led to his move to Newcastle.

He said: "We had a relationship breakdown and Stuart Pearce came out and said certain things which he shouldn't have said whether he felt them or not.

"There's a lot of things I feel about him but I've not come out and said them and I don't plan on doing so.

"When you have a working relationship with someone there's a lot of things that should be kept in-house.

"Stuart thinks different and he's entitled to his opinion but if everyone spoke their opinions we'd have anarchy and chaos in the world."

Barton, who was re-bailed until August 2 by police investigating the Dabo incident, insists he is up for the challenge at St James' Park and wants to put the past behind him.

"People might say I come with a bit of baggage but it's a fresh start and it's down to me to make the most of it," he said.

"I have made wrong decisions and done things I probably regret but I will always stand up and be counted and I have come here to win trophies. I didn't come here to pick up wage packets.

"I think there have been certain players [Newcastle] have bought in previous years who have been mercenaries or they have not shown the commitment that maybe they should.

"Hopefully they have all gone now and this side is hungry and wants success.

"Players come and go and can be ships in the night but if you can leave some kind of legacy then you've done a good job."

The midfielder, capped once by England, may not be Pearce's biggest fan, but he was full of compliments for new boss Sam Allardyce.

He continued: "Sam was the main reason I came.

"He constantly expressed his interest in me. I probably had better financial offers to go elsewhere but I wanted to work for him. We can achieve success here.

"There are four big clubs in this country but Newcastle's as close to that big four as you can be and there's every chance we can make it into a big five."

Taken from =football365=