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10th Sep 2016

It might be a good idea for Joey Barton to avoid his Twitter mentions for a few days

Bad day at the office

SportsJOE

It felt like a prizefight.

Trash talk is actually quite rare in football but the remarks uttered by Joey Barton in the build-up to his first Old Firm derby certainly fell into that category.

The Rangers midfielder suggested Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers was going through a mid-life crisis and, when it came to Hoops captain Scott Brown, this is what Barton had to say.

“He ain’t in my league,” Barton told Alan Brazil Sports Breakfast in the summer. “He is nowhere the level I am as a player. He can’t get to me.

Celtic v Rangers - Ladbrokes Scottish Premiership

“If I play well, Scott Brown doesn’t stand a chance. That is not me being blasé. That is me just stating what I believe.”

Unfortunately for Barton, his first experience of one of the most ill-tempered derbies in world football did not go according to plan.

He found himself on the wrong end of a 5-1 drubbing at the hands of Rodgers’ side and while he didn’t have the worst game, Celtic fans rushed to flood the Twitter notifications of the pantomime villain with reminders of what he’d said in recent months.

https://twitter.com/jay_mckeever/status/774590144808685568

https://twitter.com/barryhillis/status/774590514737872897

https://twitter.com/Deasybhoy/status/774591058038624256

https://twitter.com/shaneod10/status/774591911520768000

https://twitter.com/Caboblaney/status/774592982242750464

https://twitter.com/celticblue13/status/774593158424518656

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