Joey Barton

As regular followers of his ever-popular Twitter feed will testify, life is very rarely dull when Joey Barton is on his smartphone and he has been in typical form this week, reigniting an old feud and cheekily winding up others.

Barton is so outspoken on the social media site that many now take anything he posts on there with a pinch of salt but the QPR man’s musings can often be entertaining reading. He certainly cannot be accused of not speaking his mind and, at times, his openness is a welcome antidote to the often dull comments most modern-day media-trained footballers make, with most clearly so concerned not to offend anyone.

So it came as no surprise to fans of live football commentary to hear that Barton, seen as the man plenty of fans love to hate, has had a dig at old boss Mark Hughes – now the Stoke City manager.

Hughes and Barton famously fell out when the Welsh manager was in charge at Loftus Road and Barton has clearly not buried the hatchet as he wasted no time criticising his efforts while in charge of Potters this season.

Football betting pundits have credited Hughes with changing Stoke’s style of play since taking over from Tony Pulis at the Britannia Stadium – moving from an unattractive, direct style to a much more pleasing-on-the-eye passing game. It has generated some better results and they have once again proved extremely difficult to beat at home in particular, seeing off Chelsea and claiming draws against Manchester City and Everton as well.

However, they were well beaten by Liverpool 5-3 last week and Barton decided the time was right to claim he does not see this so-called new style under Hughes, tweeting provocatively: “Has Mark Hughes changed Stoke philosophy? I am currently failing to see it. Hoof.”

A legitimate assessment of the Potters under the former Man City and Fulham chief or just the chance for Barton to stick the boot in on an old enemy? You decide.

Barton also caused a bit of a storm among some of his more gullible followers this week when he claimed to be in contention to for the FIFA ‘goal of the year’award at this week’s Ballon d’Or ceremony. Most saw through his joke but some actually thought he was among those in the running for the prestigious accolade.

Barton was able to have the last laugh with them and, while plenty criticise his outspoken approach, at least with these tongue-in-cheek comments it is obvious that he doesn’t take himself too seriously.

Maybe it’s time for some other footballers on Twitter to follow his lead?