As Joey Barton may be about to discover, following his latest indiscretion on a football field, there are only so many times you can say sorry.
Although Barton, the QPR captain, addressed his fondling of Tom Huddlestone, which resulted in a ninth career sending off, with public apologies to team-mates and the club’s supporters, the patience of others appears to be wearing thin with Charlie Austin. It was the striker’s excellent first-half goal that took the visitors to within seconds of claiming an unlikely fourth point on the road this season.
Clint Hill’s reaction to Barton’s 32nd-minute dismissal, captured by the Match of the Day cameras, spoke a thousand words and Austin added to them when he said: “He’s the villain and rightly so for getting sent off. He’s got to deal with it. He’s going to miss the next three games and he’s an important player for us, he’s our captain. He’s just held his hands up and said sorry. There’s only so many times you can say sorry. We move on now, we’ve got a squad and that’s the main thing.”
Barton, left to reflect upon his actions in the solitude of the away dressing room, followed his initial Saturday evening response via Twitter by adding: “As a 32-year-old with a few hundred Premier League appearances, someone who’s been captain of the club for a while, with a very public profile, I should know a lot better.
“As one of the tallest trees, you catch the most wind. I won’t shy away from it. It would have been easy for me to put my head down and say I’m not speaking but I’m a man of substance and a man of principle. When things go good you front up, equally when things go bad.”
Chris Ramsey, the recently-appointed QPR manager, refused to rule out Barton undergoing a further anger management course. Three years ago, the Professional Footballers’ Association organised time at the Sporting Chance clinic in the aftermath of his final-day tirade at Manchester City that resulted in a 12-match ban.
This time his suspension will account for derbies with Arsenal, Tottenham and Crystal Palace. They go into those fixtures above the relegation zone on goal difference. Hull, meanwhile, opened up a four-point buffer after Nikica Jelavic volleyed in his 12th goal for the club, surpassing Geovanni as their top scorer in the top flight, and Dame N’Doye headed a dramatic winner on his 30th birthday.
Man of the match Matt Phillips (QPR)
