Neil Warnock irate over Barton’s ban

QPR manager Neil Warnock has admitted his frustration over Joey Barton’s red card being upheld by an Independent Regulatory Commission.

The Loftus Road skipper was sent off against Norwich for supposedly head-butting Damien Johnson, but both Barton and Warnock have maintained the player’s innocence.

The newly promoted club saw their appeal of the midfielder’s dismissal rejected, and Warnock has vented his frustration at the decision.

“For me, I think this is the worst case I’ve ever seen,” he told Sky Sports.

“Whenever you see something happen on the field of play that warrants a red card, if the linesman sees that offence every time that linesman stands still and flags and flags and flags until the referee goes towards him, tells him what he’s seen and the lad’s sent off.

“This linesman carried on and on and on and would not have stopped if Joey Barton had got the ball, gone past a few people and whacked it in the far post. We would have been 2-0 up.

“I find it absolutely impossible. I know they’ve got to look after themselves. I feel really let down as a manager, as a club that three invisible people can look at that incident and not look at the linesman and take into consideration. If he did see what he saw why did he not flag immediately and keep his flag up?

“When you get people like Graham Poll, not my biggest fan, supporting what I’m saying and people like Dermot Gallagher and the three people on the commission go against that, I just think it’s scandalous,” he concluded.

Barton is now set to miss this weekend’s FA Cup tie against MK Dons and Premier League fixtures with Wigan and Newcastle.

By Gareth McKnight