By Andrew Warshaw
April 4 – Controversial England midfielder Joey Barton, currently playing for Marseille, is in trouble again after arch-rivals Paris St Germain threatened action against him for likening PSG’s Brazilian defender Thiago Silva to a transsexual on his Twitter account.
Barton, who has more than two million followers on Twitter, used the social networking site to insult the Brazilian by calling him an “overweight ladyboy”, drawing condemnation from gay activists.
“These attacks are serious and go beyond simple verbal jousting,” Ligue 1 leaders PSG said in a statement. “Thiago Silva and PSG reserve their right to take any necessary action. The directors of the club, the players and the coaching staff are supportive of Thiago Silva and cannot accept such statements. They reaffirm their unwavering commitment to the values of respect that should govern our sport.”
Marseille coach Elie Baup told a news conference Wednesday that Barton should take responsibility for his own comments after the French football federation apparently ruled that its Ethics Committee would not take action because the incident did not happen on the pitch.
Barton, who has one full England cap to his name, was responding to comments from Silva before PSG’s Champions League draw against Barcelona. Silva told the French sports daily L’Equipe: “There is a Marseille player, I cannot remember his name, an Englishman, who has said bad things about Neymar and Brazilian football, and also about [David] Beckham and [Zlatan] Ibrahimovic. Because no-one is talking about him, it seems it is fun for him to criticise great players for people to know he exists.”
Marseille confirmed they have now called on Barton to “put an end to the controversy” and have issued an apology on his behalf. “L’Olympique de Marseille and Joey Barton wish to apologise to Thiago Silva and his club for the inappropriate statements held by the English player on social networks during the past 36 hours,” the statement read.
Barton, they added, “pledged to immediately cease the posting of any derogatory statements against Thiago Silva.”
The much-travelled Barton’s notorious career has been blighted by a string of unsavoury incidents on and off the pitch. In 2008 he was jailed for six months for assault but he is regarded in some quarters as an intelligent and considered voice about football and last year appeared on one of England’s leading news programmes.
L’Equipe, however, was clearly not amused by his latest misdemeanour, publishing a picture of Barton on its front page with the caption “Is that British humour?”.
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