Newcastle Transfer Rumours: 6 Reasons They'll Be Better Off Without Joey Barton

The Joey Barton saga looks like it may last a while with suggestions he may still stay at St James' Park.

If he does leave, the vast majority of Newcastle fans will be devastated to lose such a talented and committed midfielder.

Is there a bight-side for Newcastle fans if Joey does leave before the transfer window closes?

It's hard to find positives given how superb Joey was last season, but here are six reasons why Newcastle may be better off without Joey Barton.

Value for Money

Let's start with simple mathematics. Between Joey's on-and-off pitch indiscretions, his injuries, his fall-outs with management and his jail time, he hasn't really been able to rack up that many appearances for Newcastle United. 

He joined in June 2007, and in four seasons, has only played 82 times for the club and 32 of those were last season. Given his reported £50,000 per week wages and his transfer fee of £5.8 million, he has cost the club around 16 million pounds and in the region of £195,000 per appearance.

While his outstanding form last season justified the expense, had he really shown in previous seasons that he was worth the money?

If he had left two seasons ago, would Newcastle fans have been up-in-arms?

Dressing Room

In his recent press conference Alan Pardew stated that: 

"It's very important as a football club that you are all pulling in the same direction—at this moment of time Joey is not pulling in the same direction."—as quoted on the BBC Website

Allegations emerged after the Leeds friendly that Joey Barton had been deeply unhappy about not being made captain for the day ahead of Shola Ameobi and also having been removed from corner taking duty.

The disruption this caused to the team and the damage done by his later comments on Twitter risk damaging a dressing room that is fragile after the loss of Kevin Nolan.

Many had hoped that Barton would be the man to keep the dressing room together in Nolan's absence, if he is only going to be a disruptive influence then he needs to be removed. 

Press Attention

One thing all Newcastle fans tire of is the amount of press attention, mainly negative, that the club receive.

While the media constantly criticize Newcastle and claim they aren't a "big club," they fill a disproportionate amount of column inches for their relative size and success levels. Since the mid-90s, Newcastle United have all too often been more like a soap opera than a football club.

In his four seasons at the club, Joey has brought more than his fair share of negative attention to the club. His court cases and behavior rightly saw him vilified, but even after he sorted his life out, many in the press seemed less than keen to forgive and forget.

Newcastle fans felt that Joey had turned the corner and was drawing attention with his excellent performances rather than his antics. Unfortunately, he then decided to open his Twitter account and has courted controversy ever since.

Time Bomb

If Alan Pardew can patch up the relationship between Joey Barton and the Newcastle board, surely the situation will still be a ticking time bomb. As Joey's contract runs down, the need for him to fall into line will diminish.

An unhappy Joey Barton has been proven in the past to be trouble. One would hope that Joey could play out his final season and repay the patience and loyalty shown to him by Newcastle fans, but you can guarantee that the eyes of the media will be on him, waiting for him to explode. 

Formation

It is slightly unclear as to where Joey Barton fits into Alan Pardew's new tactical system. With Pardew keen on playing pacy wingers in wide positions, it is unlikely that he would feature regularly or the right-hand side where he excelled last season.

With Tiote guaranteed a starting place and Yohan Cabaye seemingly having been chosen for set-piece duty, getting into central midfield may also be a challenge for Barton. Midfield is one area where Newcastle are well stocked, and with Gabriel Obertan set to join next week, the competition for places will be fierce.

If he isn't playing week-in, week-out, then 50,000 a week is a lot of money to be paying out.

The Future

Even if Joey Barton stays for this season, it seems unlikely that he will sign a new contract. While most fans would like to see a final season from the talented midfielder, it may actually hold up the development of key young players.

There are some very talented young midfielders and wingers emerging at Newcastle. Haris Vuckic (pictured), Dan Gosling, Mehdi Abeid and Sammy Ameobi might all see more game time with Barton gone.

While none of these youngsters are at his level at the moment, they are all likely to spend longer at the club than Joey is. Surely allowing them a better chance to develop will be better for the club in the long term?