no one looks good

No sooner does this is my england construct a defence of the use social media than somebody mentioned in that article decides to draw attention to himself by messing around on Twitter in just about the most crass way possible.

Enter QPR captain Joey Barton, a somewhat complex person able to veer wildly between acts of lunacy, acts of apparent stupidity and instances of presenting himself as an intelligent and quite interesting person. In recent interviews, the player has come across as articulate and with a well-rounded range of interests away from the game.

But Barton's chequered past is, of course, well-known. There's the two convictions for acts of violence, and further aggressive and unsavoury incidents besides. Then there's the several notable confrontations with opponents on the football pitch, some of them violent. Down the years, the midfielder has attracted opprobrium for notable clashes with the likes of Dickson Etuhu, Xabi Alonso, Morten Gamst Pedersen and Gervinho. 

When Barton joined QPR early this season, the tussle with Arsenal's Gervinho was just days behind him. Rangers manager Neil Warnock articulated the notion that on talent alone the former Manchester City and Newcastle player would have been a transfer target for higher profile clubs were it not for his "baggage". This seems pretty obviously true.

It was with mixed feelings, then, that some QPR supporters waited for the serial controversialist to make his Loftus Road début.

Thus far, on the pitch at least, Barton's performances have, for the most part, quieted the doubters. In some games, not least the recent appointment with his former employers from the blue half of Manchester, the Rangers skipper has looked excellent. That said, some QPR messageboard regulars have not been impressed with every one of Barton's outings in a hooped shirt. One common feeling seems to be that if a player identifies himself as the best English born midfielder currently playing he thereby sets for himself an impossibly high standard against which he will be judged every time he takes to the pitch. Excellence, then, becomes expected and scorn may be attracted when this expectation is not quite met. Hoisted by your own petard, Joey?

As well as signing a highly talented player capable of drawing negative attention for on-the-pitch indiscretions, Warnock and the club owners will also have been aware that they were taking on someone whose constant use of Twitter was well-documented. During his somewhat acrimonious parting from his previous club, Barton seemed to be using that medium quite skilfully to try to maintain good relations with Newcastle fans during the split.

Up to now, the player's tweeting activities while employed by QPR have seemed harmless enough - sometimes even quite amusing. Further, Twitter offers ardent football supporters the opportunity to feel closer to the players they pay money to watch. Via Twitter, we can see banter between team members that seems to provide evidence of good-humour and camaraderie. So we can feel reassured that all is well in the squad - that the new signings have bonded with the established players, that team spirit is good, that the lads are a decent bunch. So far, so good.

But yesterday Barton chose to become involved in a tedious exchange of insults with members of the 'cast' of the bafflingly popular TV freak show The Only Way is Essex. For the (blissfully) unaware (non-UK readers, perhaps), this singularly dismal series follows the lives of vacuous, perma-tanned denizens of affluent suburban  areas to the east of London. Viewers do not see 'reality'. What is offered instead is apparently real people in 'modified situations' saying 'unscripted lines' but in a 'structured way'. Wrap your head around that concept for a moment, if you will. 

These inarticulate and uninteresting people 'work' variously as nightclub promoters, models, beauticians and radio DJs. No real jobs then. No lawyers, surgeons or lecturers. No nurses, bus drivers or plumbers. Just people enabled, presumably, by their parents' wealth to do things of marginal value while apparently living quite ostentatiously. In short, these are people that exemplify a lot of what is unpleasant about today's Britain, notably that while millions of decent, hard-working people struggle to pay the gas bill and run the car, there exists an element living comfortably while contributing nothing of real worth to society or to the economy. It seems inconceivable that a healthier, happier, saner society would offer these people such an opportunity for self-promotion or further enrichment. 'TOWIE' seems emblematic, then, of a certain sickness among us.

The TOWIE cast, then, seem like people that it would be best to ignore. What can be gained from increasing their supply of the oxygen of publicity? What good can come of engaging in an argument with such vain, preening airheads? As George Bernard Shaw memorably said, "I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and besides, the pig likes it."

Barton, then, is wrestling with pigs who clearly like the extra attention. But has he got dirty in the process? Yes. Most definitely. The fact that a QPR player has now been condemned by a spokesman of learning disabilities charity Mencap for his use of the term "retard" during this undignified spat does not really do the club any credit.

Well, we knew that life with Joey Barton at the club would not be plain sailing. All that can be hoped for, perhaps, is that continued strong performances on the field of play do more than enough to compensate for this otherwise intelligent man's lamentable tendency to do his already tarnished reputation further damage.