Undermine Mark Warburton And You’re Done – Andy Townsend On Joey Barton Situation

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Former Republic of Ireland international Andy Townsend feels that if Joey Barton has undermined Rangers boss Mark Warburton, then the manager has no choice but to push him out of the door.

Barton, 34, joined Rangers on a two-year contract in the summer after he knocked back a new contract with Burnley, despite the Clarets' promotion to the Premier League.

However, he has been dogged by poor form in the early part of the campaign and was involved in a training ground bust-up with team-mate Andy Halliday last week, which resulted in him being told to stay away until Monday.

On Monday he met with Warburton and was handed a three-week suspension, with speculation rife his Rangers career is now over.
 

Townsend feels that if Barton did in any way undermine Warburton, then the former Brentford boss would have been left with no option but to freeze him out at once.

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"Once you undermine the manager, and I can only assume that is what's happened here, then you've got nowhere to go", Townsend said on BBC Radio 5 live.

"[If you have a go at the manager in front of the players] you're done, you've got to go.

"And Mark Warburton if he doesn't get rid of him then that's a slight on him", the former midfielder added.

Rangers and Barton have not made any further comment following the announcement of his three-week suspension, but there increasingly looks to be no way back for the 34-year-old.