We’re calling it, both Joey Barton and Scott Brown are going to get sent off every time they meet each other on the pitch next season.
It’s understandable that the midfielders are going to be spoken of in the same breath after Barton signed a deal with Rangers ahead of their return to the Scottish Premiership.
Fiery characters with no knowledge of a backwards step between them, a rivalry of Keane-Vieira proportions is expected by many once next season gets underway.
Barton doesn’t understand why people are discussing a feud between the Celtic captain and himself but he made sure that it develops into a narrative with the comments he made on Alan Brazil Sports Breakfast on Saturday.
“People keep talking about Joey Barton and Scott Brown,” Barton said. “He ain’t in my league. He is nowhere the level I am as a player. He can’t get to me.
“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.”
While those comments can certainly be perceived as shots fired, the former QPR and Manchester City midfielder was much more complimentary of the level of competition that he is expecting in Scotland.
Barton said: “There are some good sides, some really good players there who are going to be ultra-competitive. I am expecting I have got to be at the best of my ability for Rangers to do what they need to do. I’m, trained, I am ready to go.
“I have played against Scottish players south of the border. Every one of them gives you a game, every one of them is at it. I am expecting nothing less.
“I have been a marked man for ten years – a lot of it by my own doing – and I am comfortable with it. I am comfortable with expectation, I’m comfortable with pressure, I’m comfortable with my mindset and focus I have in terms of turning in my own performances. If I get to that level, unfortunately for anybody up there they ain’t going to live with me.”
