The promise Barton showed in his early Manchester City career saw a host of managers, pundits and journalists alike earmark him as a future England captain. His domineering box-to-box style was something the national team was missing since the days of Bryan Robson. Unfortunately they couldn’t see inside Barton’s head and in a few short years he’d gone from skipper material to thug. To compile his list of misdemeanours would require a page to itself and everyone pretty much knows about his chequered history. It’s such a shame that his career went down the path it did because he is actually an superbly intelligent footballer when he puts his mind to it.
