Some Newcastle United fans opted to praise former Magpies midfielder Joey Barton after he took a cheeky dig at Sunderland.
The 36-year-old, who now manages Fleetwood Town, during his post-match conference after his side drew 1-1 with The Black Cats dismissed the idea that the game having an attendance of 29,000 was impressive.
Barton instead opted to question the attendance by stating, as quoted by journalist Martin Hardy on Twitter, that Sunderland’s local rivals the Magpies would have had 30,000 people watching.
@Joey7Barton: ‘There was 29,000 in the ground? Newcastle would have got 30,000.’ pic.twitter.com/COdmAZL2D7
— Martin Hardy (@mhardysport) September 8, 2018
One Magpies fan labelled the Fleetwood Town manager a legend for his remark while another simply tweeted to suggest that Barton was simply being honest.
Nothing But Newcastle has rounded up some of the best tweets below:
https://twitter.com/Adrian____29/status/1038466081499897858
https://twitter.com/JordNufcmorris/status/1038487422668087296
https://twitter.com/paultopham2/status/1038481182248390659
He's relevant enough for your official Twitter to use his name to sell tickets during the week…
— Jacko (@ActionNUFC) September 8, 2018
Great lad end of. pic.twitter.com/NNPIEeDwhJ
— JB42 (@Doffylad) September 8, 2018
OPINION
Fleetwood arguably deserved to take all three points when they faced Sunderland on Saturday and Barton was a little frustrated over his side only earning a draw. However even if the 36-year-old had led his side to victory, he would have still found a way to pour salt into Sunderland’s wounds and mock them for one reason or another. Barton’s passion when playing for the Magpies nor his understanding of the fans could never be doubted when he featured the club as he always relished the chance of getting one over on the club’s local rivals. The 36-year-old, who played 81 times for the Magpies, clearly wanted to cheer up his former club by inflicting a miserable weekend on Sunderland but fans will just be happy at him taking a cheeky dig as they will find it humorous just like the section of supporters above. One Magpies fan even opted to jump to Barton’s aid as a Sunderland fan claimed that Barton was just trying to make himself relevant with his dig but as the supporter of Rafa Benitez’s side pointed out, The Black Cats had been advertising Barton’s involvement as a selling point of their clash with Fleetwood Town.
