Joey Barton Uses Twitter to Ask the FA to Lift His Ban - and it Hasn't Gone Down Well With Fans
![Joey Barton Uses Twitter to Ask the FA to Lift His Ban - and it Hasn't Gone Down Well With Fans Joey Barton Uses Twitter to Ask the FA to Lift His Ban - and it Hasn't Gone Down Well With Fans](https://www.si.com/.image/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/MTY4MDI3Njg3MjA2MzMxNjY1/5a69a94f74758fef87000003jpg.jpg)
Joey Barton's latest tweet has not gone down too well with fans on Twitter.
The controversial ex-Burnley midfielder is currently serving an 13 month ban from football for breaking betting rules, after it was alleged that he placed 1,260 bets on football matches between March 2006 and May 2013.
The much-maligned character recently claimed that '50%' of players would be banned if the FA was more stringent with its betting rules.
"I think if they found out everyone who has been betting and cracked down on it, you'd have half the league out." He said. "I think 50% of the playing staff would be taken out because it's culturally engrained."
Times investigation: FA failing to enforce rules on gambling
— Times Sport (@TimesSport) January 24, 2018
• Loophole lets some owners bet on own team
• At least one quarter of players ‘violating ban’
• 'One player who had lost £600,000 in three months'
More details: https://t.co/LscPy79Bi9 pic.twitter.com/VA1JwwVGZk
Following Barton's claim, The Times carried out an investigation and found at least a quarter of players are violating the FA ban on betting.
Barton has now used this information, and his Twitter account, to plead with the FA to lift his ban.
@FA can you lift my ban now please, so I can get back to doing what I love. https://t.co/kKiSYHFkdz
— We’re Here To Save Football (@Joey7Barton) January 24, 2018
However, other Twitter users are not so keen on the midfielder returning to action soon.
You knew you were breaking the rules and still did it. Blaming everybody except yourself for your situation is your entire career summed up.https://t.co/UIG0Y8qjI4
— Crippy Cooke (@CrippyCooke) January 24, 2018
You don’t get it. It’s saying that others like you should also be banned - it’s not saying poor old Joey let him off.
— John McGlashan (@john959379) January 24, 2018
The midfielder has 16 goals in 212 career appearances, most recently with Premier League side Burnley, his last game being a 2-0 home defeat to Manchester United in April 2017.
He is no stranger to controversy, in 2004, he was fined six weeks wages by Manchester City after stubbing a lit cigarette in the eye of a team-mate. He also served a 12 match ban in 2012 after being sent off on the final day while playing for QPR against his old club, after he kneed Sergio Aguero and attempted to headbutt Vincent Kompany.
The 35-year-old is currently without a club, and will hope to find a new one when his ban is lifted by the FA this summer.