Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Ball is in Joey Barton’s court over Rangers suspension

Rangers' Joey Barton (SNS Group / Craig Williamson)
Rangers' Joey Barton (SNS Group / Craig Williamson)

JOEY BARTON will remain under suspension by Rangers until his representatives agree a new date for his disciplinary hearing.

The midfielder has been away from the club since first being banned in the wake of a training-ground incident in September.

He has since been charged by the SFA for breaching rules regarding gambling.

Barton was due to have his club issue heard on October 13, but it was postponed at his request.

A new date for the meeting has yet to be fixed. When that will be will require Barton’s representatives to contact Rangers to reach an agreement.

As Barton is unable under HR protocol to return to training until the business is concluded, that effectively means he will stay suspended until he decides otherwise.

The 34-year-old, who remains on full pay of some £20,000 a week, joined the Light Blues from Burnley on a two-year deal in May.

A statement from Rangers on the issue read: “The disciplinary hearing scheduled for October 13, at which Joey Barton was to appear, was postponed at the player’s request.

“A new date will now be agreed between both parties, which means Joey’s Barton’s suspension will continue until a reconvened meeting has taken place. Neither party will make any further comment.”

While the longer his exile continues, the less likely it is that Barton will play for Rangers again, it is clear there is little enthusiasm within the club for the situation to be resolved through a big pay-off to the player.

That being the case, a protracted negotiation over a parting of the ways seems likely to be on the cards in the weeks, if not months, ahead.

The Englishman has made eight appearances for Rangers, the last of which was the defeat in the Old Firm derby.

Meanwhile Mark Warburton has promised that his team will attack Celtic in next Sunday’s Leage Cup semi-final.

He said: “If there was one thing I would change from the last Celtic game, it is that we should have been playing more on the front foot.

“We went into that game lacking a little bit of self-belief.

“We went into the Scottish Cup semi-final last season with no lack of belief at all, and absolute confidence in what we were going to do. It has to be that way.

“New players arriving and trying to bed them in weakens that self-belief because you haven’t built it yet.

“I’ve put my hand up about this season’s first game against Celtic, and said the midfield was Joey Barton, Niko Kranjcar, Josh Windass – three new players .

“Philippe Senderos was playing his first game other than 90 minutes against Linfield, and Joe Garner hadn’t long arrived.

“So we had half of a new team, and maybe in hindsight there were too many changes.


READ MORE

Rangers boss Mark Warburton backs under-fire Gordon Strachan

Gordon Smith reckons Joey Barton has no future at Rangers