Barton branded a "bully" by ex-team-mate who lifts lid on "dark times at City"
Nedum Onuoha has branded former team-mate Joey Barton a "bully" after recalling several shocking incidents from their time together at Manchester City.
One incident occurred in May 2007 when Barton and team-mate Ousmane Dabo came to blows and were involved in a training ground fight. Dabo suffered a detached retina and Barton was given a four-month suspended jail sentence for his involvement, as well as a six-match ban from football by the FA.
Speaking on the Filthy Fellas podcast, Onuoha said: "Ousmane Dabo, one of the nicest guys I've ever played with, he was getting kicked by Joey every day in training.
"When Joey decides that someone is fighting for his position, he'll do all sorts. Kicking, talking, everything. So one day, Ousmane says 'Nah that's enough for me now'. So Ousmane kicked him back. That was the same day that Joey knocked him out, held his head and continued to hit him'."
Discussing another training ground incident, Onuoha claimed: "There was a guy called Leyton Slack and he went up to head the ball. Joey's studded him in the head, six feet in the air. He's a bully. At the time he had leverage, because he was one of the better players for City but it was dark times for City."
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Back in 2022, Barton, who was sacked as Bristol Rovers manager in October, opened up on his incident with Dabo as he told his side of the story. In an open discussion on Robbie Fowler's podcast, Barton said: "Dabo slapped me at the training ground so he got put a kip.
"That was his own fault and if I see him any time and he wants to – you see all these Jake Pauls and that on Youtube, if Ousmane wants to give me a shout and he wants to do it for charity and get his own back…
"At the end of the day, where I’m from, if someone open palms or slaps you or comes towards you to hit you, you don’t stand around and go ‘I’ll see what he’s doing, I’ll see if this dig hurts me. On a football pitch I’ve been hit by people and just got on with it as that’s the way it is or I’ve had to be separated, I reckon 25 or 30 times.
Joey Barton has been courting controversy with his views on social media (No credit)"I’ve seen multiple fights on training grounds that have been kept within the confines of the training ground. But Ousmane went out the next day because he knew he couldn’t have done anything about it.
"All his mates were there, Distin’s and all that. After I’d knocked him out, and bear in mind he’d threw the first dig and got knocked out, [Stuart] Pearce separated us. So I said ‘Look, no problem.
"If he wants round two we’ll sort it out here, we’re all men. He tried to throw the first punch, came unstuck, and he didn’t because he’s a s***bag and went to the papers."
Barton has courted controversy of late for airing misogynistic views on social media regarding female football pundits. Criticising Barton, Onuoha said: "For me, one of the problems with him is that he lacks perspective. He can drop a joke and he can't really take one."
Onuoha recalled the infamous incident at a Man City Christmas party when Barton stubbed a lit cigar out in the eye of youth team player Jamie Tandy after a joke which escalated beyond control. "To start with, it was the Christmas party and Joey and, I think, his brothers are trying to set this guys costume on fire with a lighter.
"So [Jamie] Tandy, starts doing it back, like a joke or whatever. But Joey didn't like the joke so then the cigar goes out in the kid's eye'."
Barton has claimed he was trying to put the cigar out on the back of Tandy's head when he turned around and "it's managed to graze his eyelid".
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