Barton's 'flag finally at half mast at the palace' Diana moment

[Westbyfleetr]

Interesting dialogue going on twitter just now. Never usually seen Joey interject on frustrated conversations between fans where they are moaining about lack of effort, individual players, wages etc etc where his name has been tagged.

However, in all this 'show us you care' talk he's just come in and put his and the team's view across, spoken about support and invited fans to the training ground this week. Promised to be there to talk for hours about the situation in order to deal with the upset and get fans behind the team.

Think he should've done this a long time ago instead of letting it get to boiling point.

Still not convinced at the total commitment to the club/fans and that he will be with us in August even if we do stay up.

[W12_Ranger]

https://twitter.com/#!/Joey7Barton

about bloody time he engaged the fans.

[QPRDave]

Fair play to him, and he's not been my favourite person since the NW thing,but he'll keep his word and meet fans i'm sure.

[Kirill]

Talking helps, scoring and winning helps even more.

[Ginger Ninja]

Fair play to him, but that won't be good enough for most fans.

[brightonr]

Fair play to him, but that won't be good enough for most fans.

Hopefully then, those that slate him at every opportunity will take advantage of the opportunity he appears to be giving them. And those that don't will have the decency to ease up a bit.

There was an awful lot of anti-barton feeling during his transfer negotiations and once he'd signed for us. Largely brought about by his less than ideal reputation.

I was of the opinion then that everybody deserves a chance, regardless of previous misdemeanors. He doesn't have a reputation for disrespecting fans. He did sign for us and move a fair distance to do so. Unfortunately, his performances on the pitch have not been as good as we had hoped. Nowhere near good enough in fact. But that in itself doesn't warrant all the hate and bile directed towards him. There are far worse culprits than him in terms of poor performance.

I don't think his tweeting has helped him either to be fair. Not because he does it, as he is perfectly entitled to a life and interests outside of football, but due to the conflicts he gets drawn into. He should realise that as the captain of our club, he should behave in a certain way. This latest step though, is a positive step forward in my opinion, if people are prepared to be reasonable and give him and the players the opportunity to explain things from their perspectives.

[qprjack]

I've slated Barton, on these message boards, on twitter, and in public, however, tonight, he is looking like a captain. He is confronting the critics, and giving us what we want to see. If he is agreeing to meet everyone, then fair play to him. I still think hill should be captain, but at least he is looking like a leader.

[mork]

Fair play to him, I have seen some flashes of the player we wanted. He played top notch first 20 mins against Notwich. Unfortunately we then witnessed the other side to his game, even if unfair.

[80sCasual]

About time he did something proactive, just on the pitch he now has to prove himself, as surely in all the answers he is going to give there will be no excuse for that.

[swanleyhoop]

If he, as captain, keeps us up despite the **** position we are now in, he could well turn around the huge negativity which our fan base seems to have about him.
Zero to hero stuff.

[80sCasual]

Zero to hero?

Yeah, like an iceberg surviving in the Sahara.

Mmmmm?

[qblockoompah]

Many fans will not give Barton a chance regardless of what he says or does, and that's an ugly fact about some of the divs who follow QPR.

[qprbrisbanedivision]

personally i cant stand the tos**r, but if he mans up and answers all the critics, gets involved and gives his all for the team, Then i will support him...(not that that means much)
I cant fault anyone who tries thier hardest and puts it in for the team.
If they aint good enough then thats difrent, butif they put in a shift, I for one am right behind them....
still dont like him though !!

[Del]

He has been accused of playing a lot worse than he actually has been because most want to target him. Why is that....? Because they have higher expectations on a good, but not great player, and he's on a good wage. They forget he didn't cost us a fee, unlike most of the failing "stars".

If we'd paid what wouldve been seen as very good value £3m for him and paid him £20k less a week over 3 years would people slate him less... I expect so, yet our net outlay would be no different.

Get off his back and let him do what he does best on the pitch, as he has played very well in patches of late and we need more from him and others if we're to stay up.

[TBLOCKRANGER]

People slate him not simply because he's playing at best below average and at worse completely s*** but because he reckons he's billy big BO@@@@

He was disrespectful to NW a manager that does more for us than any manager in recent memory. When he left JB was saying things such as plans and training has improved, has it we are still s"""".

He reckons he should play for England, an 80 year old fat Frank would be technically a better player.

I have no sympathy for him, when he left the Toon he was still undermining the board and manager bybtrying to divide them from the fans but what's happened they have boosted without him and like a fool he is, he's completely stopped mentioning it. Imagine if the Toon were in the Relegation Zone, JB would be exploding in his pants about their plight and tweeting 24/7, the Toon club and fans don't give a s*** about him.

Why should we go to the training complex or try to reunite with the players, they f***** it right up SORT IT. It's not mothers day where we go and show our love for the players, I don't give a t*** how hard they are working, they just need to play like professional footballers and WIN.