IAN DURRANT, the former Rangers midfielder, believes Mark Warburton’s side are stronger without controversial midfielder Joey Barton as his Ibrox future hangs in the balance.
Barton was suspended by the Gers following a dressing room bust-up with his team-mates and confrontation with Warburton in the aftermath of the Old Firm defeat at Parkhead last month.
The 34-year-old is also facing a charge by the Scottish FA after allegedly breaching betting rules and Light Blue legend Durrant reckons Barton isn’t being missed in the middle of the park at present.
“It seems to be better without him,” he said. “I’m not here to decry Joey Barton - he is a very good football player. But since Andy Halliday went into the same position, Rangers have looked a more solid unit.
“Jason Holt was sadly missed earlier in the season and his return has been important. I’ve loved watching the stuff Josh Windass has done when he’s played. He’s a chip off the old block in terms of being unselfish and making great runs forward. I think that trio is a solid three. Niko Kranjcar is getting fitter, so he’s got good options in there.
“But Halliday seems to bring more solidity to the midfield. The manager and the club will do their bit on it in the fullness of time but it’s a distraction they don’t need with the games coming up. I’m sure everybody just wants it over and done with and what will happen will happen.”
Barton has made headlines throughout his career after becoming involved in a series of incidents on and off the park in recent years. It was seen as a risk by many when Warburton sanctioned a two-year deal for the midfielder in the summer and he could now head for the exit door having only played eight games for the club.
“He’d have been a bit of a character in our dressing room but it’s totally changed now,” Durrant said. “We didn’t have Twitter and Facebook.
“When we were in the dressing room and things were said, it stayed in the dressing room. If there were fisticuffs, it happened and the two of them shook hands and got on with it.
“Now people leave games and have everything at their disposal to talk about what’s gone on. They can say things [on social media] and it’s a shame. If you are going to play a man’s game, be a man. Stand up to it.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel