What you won't find in the Cockney press is anything praising the efforts of the troubled midfielder.

Good football - in Barton's case - is NOT good news for the tabloids. It doesn't seem to sell newspapers.

And that West Ham fan?

Posted by HammerPassionForLife: "You lost must be embarassed ... A lower league club has the balls to sack a player but you lot continue to employ that thug Barton. Shame on you and your awful club.

Yawn, yawn!

Barton a thug? Never heard that one before.

And that came from a Hammers fan. The club that took on Lee Bowyer, Kieron Dyer and Craig Bellamy! And I recall a snotty-nosed Italian who assaulted a poor referee ... pushing him 30yds across the pitch ... with a push that would have knocked over an elephant! 

Nicky Butt has few worries about the form of his fellow midfielder.

Butt: "Joey's a top-class player. He needs to put all his troubles behind him and concentrate on football, which he seems to be doing just lately.

"If he's given a chance he can prove that he's a good player. It's good to have good players like him in the squad - we're getting a few of them back now and it's good. That is what makes the inconsistency all the more frustrating - we just need to move on from the game and get on with the Wigan game now."