Joey Barton pays the price for football’s wages of sin

The Secret Footballer has been immersed in gambling culture all his career and knows Joey Barton is an easy fall guy.

A dash of bitter irony this week. I’ve been doubling down on Joey Barton for a long time. I won a tasty wedge with a long shot online punt on Joey stubbing a cigar out on a trainee’s eye. Why not?

I snapped up some action when I saw the crazy odds on Joey biting Richard Dunne’s fingers in a classic ‘punching above your weight, mate’ fight in Thailand. And that six-month jail sentence? I bought my first yacht with that one.