12 match ban for Barton

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Footballer Joey Barton has been given a 12 match ban and £25,000 fine for savagely assaulting a former team-mate.

Sky's Enda Brady said the FA punishment was less than expected and the fine was less than half a week's wages for the player.

The FA disciplinary panel suspended the millionaire for six matches, and said he would be banned for a further six if he is involved in any violent conduct before the end of the season.

It comes as video footage emerged of Barton jumping a red light and illegally using a bus lane in Newcastle.

The player, who once stubbed a cigar out on a team-mate's eye, had already pleaded guilty in court to violent conduct against Ousmane Dabo at Manchester City.

The midfielder, who now plays for Newcastle United - a club already reeling from Kevin Keegan's resignation - was given a four-month sentence suspended for two years after confessing to punching Dabo to the ground.

Dabo, 31, was knocked unconscious and had to be treated in hospital for the effects of head trauma, an inflamed eye, and bruised eyelids.

Another player, Georgios Samaras, said he had never seen such a violent incident on a training pitch in all his career and that he would "never forget it".

Barton was already serving a six-month prison term for assault and affray when he pleaded guilty to the attack on his City team-mate.

The four-man FA panel took just under two hours to reach its verdict, which now sees Barton out of action until the end of October.

The 26-year-old had requested a personal hearing in an attempt to plead leniency, and now has two weeks to appeal the verdict.

A statement on the FA's website read: "Much has been written about Mr Barton over recent months.

"The Commission members considered principally the serious attack by Mr Barton that clearly cannot be accepted.

"The members also had to take into consideration the sanctions imposed by the courts and the pro-active support Mr Barton has received from Newcastle United FC and other professional bodies.

"The Commission members wanted to punish the offence appropriately but give Mr Barton an opportunity to ensure his professional conduct does not falter again and ensure he is fully aware of the consequences should he make another serious error of judgement."

He was jailed in May after a fight at a McDonald's in Liverpool in December 2007, in which he punched a man up to 20 times then left a teenage boy with broken teeth.

The assault follows a number of violent incidents involving Barton.

In 2004, he stubbed a cigar into the eye of team-mate Jamie Tandy at a Christmas party.

In the same year he was involved in a 10-man brawl after a bad challenge on a Docaster Rovers player.

Thursday's news that Kevin Keegan has resigned as Newcastle manager is bad news for Barton.

Keegan groomed the player at Manchester City and gave him a second chance at Newcastle.

Fans sent over 2,500 emails to fan website NUFC.com in the first four hours after Keegan resigned - many threatening to boycott the next game.

Hes an animal,lock him up and throw away the key.

Hes trouble with a capital T!

thought he should have got alot more than that, let hope sum1 breaks his legs when he comes back

He ogt 6 match ban with a suspended further 6 games so if he does it again he will get the extra 6.