Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Joey Barton's relatives prepare to sliding tackle some jail time


Some of you know Joey Barton as the misunderstood midfielder whose no-nonsense style of sound-bitery and media management gets in the way of some extremely raw talent. Some of you know him as the angry idiot who punches up punters on the way home from the pubs.

Well, today Joey got some good news and bad news. The good news: he escaped a ban from the FA for his alleged punch-up with Shawn Moloney on Saturday. The bad news: his cousins are heading to jail.

Kevin Corke and Carl Taylor stabbed and shot a man on Merseyside in a revenge attack, after the victim, Tommy Harrison, had "humiliated" Corke in a fistfight earlier on. Corke was jailed for life after admitting to the murder, and Taylor was given a five-year sentence for manslaughter.

How are the two related to Barton? Corke and Taylor are half-brothers, and also cousins of Joey's half-brother Michael, who's ALSO in jail with a 17-year sentence for a particularly vicious murder [read the link].

It's a tangled web worthy of soap operas or Inside Edition, but when you look at Joey's family life, is it any bloody wonder that he's kicking, punching and strangling players on the pitch?

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