Joey Barton offered former Man City teammate a ‘chance of revenge’ after bust-up

Former Manchester City midfielder Joey Barton was infamously known for his ‘hot-head’ on the football pitch and off it.

He recently managed League 1 side Bristol Rovers, who currently sit 10th in the table, Joey Barton revealed his version of events on the training ground bust-up with former teammate and Frenchman Ousmane Dabo.

The former midfielder who is now 41, ended up with a six-match ban by the FA in 2008 for assaulting his then-former City teammate on 1st May 2007.

Barton was also given a four-month suspended sentence after being found guilty of assault causing actual bodily harm after Dabo was left with a detached retina, and cuts and bruises.

After claiming he knocked the Frenchman out in ‘self-defence’ which Dabo denied. Barton said he would be open to settling the score once-and-for-all.

Joey Barton’s take on the incident

“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 opens 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.

“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.”

“He came and threw a punch, I thought, but it turns out he opened his palm at the end and slapped me and as it hit me I’d already let my jab off – unfortunately for him I am a better scrapper than him and he becomes a kip.

Ousmane Dabo’s take on the incident

“I just pushed him away and turned my back to walk off. That’s when he hit me.

“I really don’t remember exactly what happened but I’ve been told by all my teammates he hit me from behind, a right hook which hit me on the temple and knocked me out for a few seconds.

“As I started to fall he jumped on top of me, held my head and punched me twice more in the face.”

Would you pay to see a charity boxing match between the pair? Let us know!