Joey Barton makes shocking claim over Rangers squad
By Russell Edge
Former Rangers and Newcastle United midfielder Joey Barton has claimed that he would be the best player at Ibrox if he were to return to the Scottish club.
The 35-year-old spent just over four months with the Gers before being seeing his contract terminated in the wake of a conflict with then-manager Mark Warburton, which had seen him suspended from the club.
It was another incident in a long list of controversies which have surrounded the one-time-capped England international during his career.
He is currently serving a ban from football for betting offences, which was handed out in April and was initially set to last until October 2018, although that was shortened to June after an appeal, though he still received a £30,000 fine.
However, despite admitting on his personal Twitter account that he has not been in training over the last couple of months, he made the shock claim that he would still be better than all of Rangers’ players.
His last appearance in professional football came in a 2-0 defeat to Manchester United while playing for Burnley, where he made 58 appearances before being released at the end of last season.
During his time at Rangers Barton made just eight appearances, with his final outing coming in a 5-1 defeat to Celtic, which prompted the confrontation between him and Warburton.
The Gers have made a disappointing start to the season, having been knocked out of the Europa League in the qualifying stages and are currently sitting fourth in the Scottish Premiership, which saw the club sack manager Pedro Caixinha on Thursday after seven months in charge.
In other Rangers news, Bruno Alves will be missing from the club’s clash with Motherwell after seeing an appeal over his suspension fail.
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