Barton cameo overshadows irresistible Arsenal display

KEVIN KEEGAN has bemoaned Newcastle’s finishing this season, but his saviour could be close at hand.

Mike Ashley, the club’s owner, was captured by television cameras on Saturday polishing off a pint in the time it takes most punters to place an order, in cheerful contempt of the Premier League by-laws which ban the consumption of alcohol within sight of the pitch.

Then again, anyone who boasts Joey Barton his pay-roll probably needs a stiff drink now and then. The Liverpudlian is probably the only footballer capable of overshadowing a match even when he has spent less than five minutes on the field, but his appearance here as an 89th-minute substitute — his first since his release from prison, having served less than half of a six-month sentence for assault — was never going to be a bog-standard cameo.