Barton is the tinpot philosopher who never seems to learn from his mistakes

Joey Barton has always tried to hide behind the mask of the troubled genius. If you believe his own narrative, Barton is a character of such depth and complexity that his constant dance with controversy is merely the collateral damage of his wisdom.

How often does that veil have to slip for the reality to show itself for what is?

How many incidents does it take for it not to matter how often you tweet quotes from George Orwell, Aristotle and Friedrich Nietzsche, or engage in debate with students on a part-time philosophy course, or adopt an intellectual French accent in press conferences, for it all to become an obvious facade.

It says much about your reputation and your character that when allegations surfaced that Barton had assaulted Barnsley manager Daniel Stendel in the tunnel following Fleetwood’s defeat at Oakwell and a hastily-deleted tweet from Tykes striker Cauley Woodrow claimed Stendel had been left with ‘blood pouring from his face’, that the initial reaction was one of shock but little in the way of surprise.

Why would you be surprised? This is, after all, a man who began his career by stubbing out a cigar in the eye of young team-mate Jamie Tandy at a Manchester City Christmas party.

Barton was fined £60,000 in wages and would have to pay Tandy £65,000 in damages.

Barton spent six months in prison in 2008 after being caught on CCTV in Liverpool city centre punching someone 20 times and leaving a teenage boy with broken teeth.

Barton managed to avoid any police action for dropping his shorts towards Everton supporters at Goodison Park in 2006, but was sent home and fined eight weeks’ wages by Manchester City a year earlier after a bar-room brawl involving a 15-year-old Toffees fan on a pre-season tour in Bangkok.

That incident ended with Barton sinking his teeth into the hand of his team-mate Richard Dunne.

Is that enough?

Barton was also suspended by City, charged with assault given a four-month suspended jail sentence, hit with a 12-match ban — of which six were suspended — and fined £25,000 after a training-ground incident in 2007 put team-mate Ousmane Dabo in hospital.

This is a man who, in 2010, drove his fist into opposition winger Morten Gamst Pedersen’s chest during a match between Barton’s Newcastle and Blackburn.

This is a man who, on the final day of the 2011-12 season while playing for QPR against Manchester City, elbowed Carlos Tevez, stuck a knee into Sergio Aguero and attempted to butt Vincent Kompany before being ushered off the field and banned for 12 matches.

For someone apparently so driven by philosophy — the quest for knowledge, understanding and the ethics of human behaviour — Barton does not appear to have learned all that much. If he had, the incidents would have stopped. They would not have followed him, like Peter Pan in pursuit of his shadow, wherever he went.

While up in Scotland in 2016, Barton was banished from Rangers’ training ground after an altercation with team-mate Andy Halliday following a defeat to Celtic.

His latest indiscretion saw him banned for 18 months and fined £30,000 after he admitted placing more than 1,200 bets on matches between 2006 and 2016.

It was upon the return from this absence that he was appointed as manager of Fleetwood Town last June. In less than a year, the mask has slipped again.

But the incident which perhaps sums up Barton the best comes from his spell at Burnley. In the grand scheme of Barton, it is easily forgotten.

During their FA Cup fifth-round clash against Lincoln in 2017, Barton stamped on opponent Matt Rhead before then diving to the floor himself in an attempt to get his opponent sent off.

And that, in essence, is what he is all about. It’s misdirection. It’s the philosopher’s new clothes.

Surely this time, if he is found guilty, his actions will be enough to show once and for all what is really behind the mask.