JOEY BARTON has left Rangers after his contract was terminated on Thursday afternoon.
The midfielder penned a two-year deal at Ibrox in the summer as he became the highest profile signing in Scottish football ahead of the Gers' return to the Premiership.
But he made just eight appearances for Mark Warburton's side before a dressing room bust-up that was the beginning of the end for his Ibrox career.
The 34-year-old was involved in a row with team-mate Andy Halliday and boss Warburton in the aftermath of the 5-1 Old Firm defeat at Parkhead.
He was suspended for several weeks before returning to Auchenhowie last Thursday to train with the Gers' Under-20 squad.
Barton completed just one session with Graeme Murty's side before leaving the training ground for the final time.
Despite still having around 18 months left on his £20,000-per-week contract, the Englishman has now accepted a settlement in the region of £250,000 to terminate his deal.
A club statement read: "Rangers and Joey Barton have agreed to terminate his contract with immediate effect. Neither Rangers nor Joey Barton will comment further."
With his Rangers saga now over, Barton is free to clinch a move to a club south of the border to resume his career.
Burnley boss Sean Dyche has previously refused to rule out a return to Turf Moor for the midfielder after he lead the Clarets to the Championship title last term.
Writing on Twitter, Barton said: "I'd like to thank the supporters of Rangers for their incredible support during my time at the club. Wish you all the best for the future."
I'd like to thank the supporters of Rangers for their incredible support during my time at the club. Wish you all the best for the future.
— Joseph Barton (@Joey7Barton) November 10, 2016
The former Newcastle, Man City and QPR star is also facing an SFA charge over allegations that he breached betting rules earlier this season.
Barton is accused of 44 wagers on matches between July and September and requested an extension from the Hampden hierarchy to prepare for his hearing.
He is due to report to the National Stadium next Wednesday but he will not do so as a Rangers player.
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