Barton vows to bounce back from 12-match ban

Joey Barton has vowed to bounce back from his 12-match ban and help push QPR up the Barclays Premier League table after accepting he deserved to be stripped of the club captaincy and fined six weeks wages for his sending off at Manchester City on the final day of the season.

The 29-year-old was hit with a lengthy suspension and fined £75,000 by a Football Association-appointed independent regulatory commission last month after being dismissed for elbowing Carlos Tevez, then kicking out at Sergio Aguero as he left the pitch in the match on May 13, before aiming a headbutt in the direction of Vincent Kompany.