Joey Barton update emerges after alleged attack at golf club | OneFootball

The former Queens Park Rangers and Burnley player could be facing another six months in prison after an alleged attack on a former non-league manager.

The former Championship and Premier League player Joey Barton is back in front of a judge over an alleged violent attack, and it's far from the first time that he's been in trouble with the law.

Joey Barton, who was promoted three times from the Championship during a tumultuous playing career, is back in legal trouble. The former midfielder and manager, who was capped once by England for twelve minutes in 2007, has been charged over allegedly attacking a former non-league football manager at a golf club in March.

This latest legal entanglement is far from the first time that Barton has found himself on the wrong side of the law. Barton has repeatedly found himself in court on a wide array of different charges, many of them related to violent behaviour. The trial was due to be heard this week, but it's now been put back until March 2027.

Having been remanded in custody until this time, this may turn out to be the second time that Barton has spent a period of time behind bars. He served a six-month sentence for common assault and affray in 2008, and also received suspended sentences in 2021 and 2025.

Joey Barton has been remanded into custody over the latest allegations made against him

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Joey Barton - along with another man - was back in court in Liverpool this week over an alleged attack at a golf club on the outskirts of the city in March 2026. He denies the charges.

The Sun report that he is alleged to have reported to have attacked Kevin Lynch, who previously spent time as the manager of the non-league club Prescot Cables, at Huyton and Prescot Golf Club in March.

But there is now a six-month delay in this case being heard, and Barton has now been remanded into custody. Unless the court agrees to him being released on bail, he will remain there until the case is heard.

Barton has pleaded not guilty to assault occasioning grievous bodily harm. It's been reported that Mr Lynch was rushed to hospital with injuries to his face and ribs, and that Lynch has already been warned that he could yet lose sight in one eye.

Joey Barton's legal issues are the latest instalment in a story that goes back almost twenty years

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Joey Barton's latest legal issues are far from the first time that the former midfielder and manager has found himself in front of a judge. Barton has repeatedly found himself in trouble with the law, both while he was playing and since he retired from the game.

In March 2007, he was arrested on suspicion of assault and criminal damage in connection to an incident which had occurred in Liverpool, only for the charges to be dropped. But just weeks after this, he assaulted Ousmane Dembele, leaving his team-mate unconscious and hospitalised with head injuries, which included a suspected detached retina.

In July 2008, he received a four-month suspended prison sentence for this, but by this time he was already back in trouble with the law. At the end of 2007, he was charged with assault, and was sentenced to six months in prison in May 2008 after being convicted. He was also banned by the FA for twelve games over this.

At the end of 2021, he was found not guilty of assaulting the Barnsley manager Daniel Stendel following an incident in the tunnel at Oakwell after a match between the Reds and the team that Barton was managing at the time, Fleetwood Town, in 2019.

Earlier in 2021, he'd been charged with the assault by beating of a woman in London, and after the original case collapsed, a prosecution appeal led to him being found guilty and sentenced to a 12-week suspended prison sentence.

He was also found guilty of libel over comments made on social media regarding the broadcaster Jeremy Vine, and when he repeated this after the conviction, was ordered to pay an extra £35,000 on top of the £75,000 that he'd already been ordered to pay by a judge.

His social media use also cost him severely elsewhere. After being sued for libel by the former England international Eni Aluko, Aluko won her case at the High Court in March 2026, winning £339,000 in damages, with Barton also having to pay her legal costs. He was unable to appear in court for this because he was already in court over the incident which resulted in him being kept in custody this week.

With his post-playing-career in football management having stalled after he spent two years at Bristol Rovers from 2021 to 2023, Barton has focused on building a media career since then.