Taylor not party to Christmas high-jinks

PLAYERS’ UNION boss Gordon Taylor has admitted traditional Christmas parties are an accident waiting to happen.

Manchester City midfielder Joey Barton is facing a massive fine following a fracas at the Blues’ annual players’ bash on Sunday which left young team-mate Jamie Tandy requiring hospital treatment after having a cigar stubbed in his eye.

Though it is accepted the severity of the attack was an accident as Barton swung round in retaliation after Tandy had attempted to set fire to his shirt, it has caused massive embarrassment to City officials and led to calls from irate fans for the England U-21 midfielder to be sacked.

While he is seething at the fracas, the latest ugly incident involving Barton, City manager Kevin Keegan is unlikely to take the ultimate disciplinary action and is instead set to limit the extent of it to a major dressing down and a huge financial penalty, expected to be around £100,000 (€143,000).

Eighteen-year-old Tandy, who has yet to play for the first-team, is sidelined after a knee operation, but will be fined a sum relative to his salary.

But it is the behaviour of 22-year-old Barton - a crowd favourite and scorer of City’s winner at Bolton on Saturday, which is attracting most attention - forcing Taylor to again question the conduct of a minority of his members.

The PFA chief executive said: “Nobody wants to dampen down high spirits at this time of year but Christmas parties like these are an accident waiting to happen.

“We constantly warn young players of the need to be careful with regard to alcohol and their own aggressive behaviour.

“Work colleagues from every conceivable area of society engage in Christmas parties and many will end up in situations that get out of hand.

“This is even more true of groups of young men.

“What players have to recognise is they are the ones who will end up making front-page headlines if they cross the line.”

City deputy chairman Bryan Bodek has conducted an investigation into the fracas at Manchester’s Lucid nightclub on Sunday.

It is thought the problems began when Barton, who turned up as Jimmy Saville for the fancy dress outing, burnt the arms of team-mates with his lighted cigar as a joke, which Tandy eventually took exception to.

Arguably one of the most important players in a City squad which has exceeded expectations this season, Barton has found himself in trouble far too often for a player who has still only made 60 first-team appearances.

The Liverpudlian was sent off after the half-time whistle in an FA Cup tie at Tottenham in February for arguing with referee Rob Styles as City fell 3-0 behind, although his team-mates made light of his absence by recovering to record a stunning 4-3 win.

Two months later, Barton stormed out of the City stadium prior to a key Premiership encounter with Southampton after being told by Keegan he had been dropped.

Then, during a pre-season friendly at Doncaster, he sparked a 10-man brawl with a crude challenge on Leo Fortune-West, bringing a public rebuke from a furious Keegan, who replaced the midfielder at half-time.

Barton appeared to have learned his lesson and earlier this season he was finally handed a two-year extension to his contract by Keegan, who had withheld the offer because of doubts over his temperament.

Now, Barton is back in the spotlight again for all the wrong reasons, bringing shame not just onto his club, but also on his profession in a week where players such as Gary Neville have been lauded for donating a day’s pay to Oxfam’s campaign against child poverty.

Taylor added: “The PFA has 4,000 members and 99% of them bring nothing but positive news to our game.

“Unfortunately, it is the other 1% which attracts most of the attention and players have to accept it as a situation which comes with the territory.

“There is no need to ban Christmas parties and I don’t want to sound like Scrooge, but given the high profile our top players enjoy, there is a need to act appropriately.

“If they don’t know that now they never will.”