Man City trounce New Castle 3-0, China's Sun shines Updated: 2006-02-02 10:35
Joey Barton turned the jeers to cheers and left Newcastle boss Graeme Souness
to feel the wrath of his own fans instead.
Barton's shock transfer request and subsequent attack on City staff with
agendas against him brought predictable 'greedy' taunts from his own fans and
there were still plenty of boos when he left the field 13 minutes from time.
But after an eventful evening which saw him arrive by a service entrance, set
up Albert Riera's opener, earn a yellow card and also accidentally barge into
referee Chris Foy, there were even louder cheers as he departed, which is more
than can be said for Souness.
Pitiful from start to finish, the visitors were comprehensively beaten as
Andy Cole and Darius Vassell followed up Riera's opener to extend a miserable
run which has seen the Magpies pick up just a single point from their last six
Premiership game.
Newcastle have now slipped to sixth from bottom, raising more question marks
over the future of a man who was supposed to deliver Champions League combat to
St James' Park.
If there was one man who could offer Barton some advice about handling abuse
from his own fans it is Souness.
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