The Football Association have charged Newcastle midfielder Joey Barton with violent conduct.
Magpies midfielder reprimanded for violent conduct
The Football Association have charged Newcastle midfielder Joey Barton with violent conduct.
The charge relates to an assault the England international carried out on then Manchester City team-mate Ousmane Dabo.
The incident occurred during a training session at City's Carrington base on 1st May, 2007.
The FA have acted following the result of legal proceedings which were concluded at Manchester Crown Court on 1st July this year, when Barton pleaded guilty to assualt and was handed a four-month suspended sentence.
All the relevant documentation from the case has been handed to the FA and the charge is based on the certificate of conviction.
Barton has until 13th August to respond.
There is no maximum sentence which could be issued to Barton by the FA and, given the severity of the attack on Dabo. a lengthy ban and possible fine would be the likely outcome.
The case will be heard by an independent regulatory commission on an as yet unspecified date.
Magpies
Newcastle responded to the charge by questioning why they should be penalised for an incident which took place so long ago, and while the player was at a different club.
The club said in a statement: "Newcastle United can confirm that it has received documentation from the Football Association stating that it is charging Joey Barton with misconduct in relation to the incident that occurred with Ousmane Dabo in May 2007, at a time when he was a registered player of Manchester City.
"The club has sought clarification from the Football Association as to why this decision has been reached now, given the incident occurred nearly 15 months ago.
"Joey will be requesting a personal hearing in relation to the charge and the club will be making no further comment on the matter at this time."
The FA insist their hands were tied while the criminal investigation was ongoing, and that with no video footage of the incident, they were unable to interview players who were central to the police's case.
