BAD boy Joey Barton knows he is facing a tide of abuse over his claims that he can become a more effective role model for kids than “squeaky-clean” David Beckham.

But the former City midfielder says that the stick he will inevitably get will only make him stronger and admits the chance he has been handed by Newcastle to save his career is the last he is going to get.

In a stunningly frank interview after his return to action for the club’s reserves on Tuesday evening, the 26-year-old midfielder spoke about his 18 months of hell and the jail sentence which sparked calls for him to be sacked by the club.

Barton has put himself in the frame for Saturday’s derby trip to arch-rivals Sunderland after completing a six-match ban imposed for his training ground clash with former Manchester City team-mate Ousmane Dabo.

However, he knows how lucky he is simply to have one more chance.

Barton said: “It is important to me to get my career back on track. I know I am going to get stick, I know that, wherever I go, and I have no problem with that.

Stick

“That’s stick is totally deserved. If anyone else was in my situation, I would probably be saying the same things people are saying about me.

“I have got to live with that, probably until the end of my playing days.

“I am very, very fortunate, and now I have to make the most of it.

“There are people that have been in jail longer than me. I was watching the boxing the other night and saw Bernard Hopkins.

“He had been in jail for four years and managed to turn his life around. I just have to try to take inspiration from that.

“I’m not the first person to mess up, and I have messed up on more than one occasion.

“But nothing sobers you up like the reality of going to prison.

Chance

“That’s it. I know it’s the last chance saloon. I am just thankful that I have got that opportunity. Now it’s time for me to keep my head down and let my football do my talking.”

 Barton’s chequered career reached its nadir in May when he was sent to jail for six months after admitting charges of assault and affray following an incident in Liverpool city centre.

He served 74 days and was spared a longer spell behind bars when he was given a four-month suspended sentence following his guilty plea to a charge of assault against Frenchman Dabo.

Barton was later handed a 12-game ban, half of it suspended for two years, when he admitted a Football Association charge of violent conduct in connection with the same incident.

But as he made his return in the modest surroundings of Billingham Synthonia’s Central Avenue home against Middlesbrough reserves, he was keen to make a clean breast of things.

Asked if he can rehabilitate himself, he said: “Time will be the great teller. One thing I do know is that I am sober.

“I haven’t had a drink for 10 months – since December 27. That’s a start.

Alcohol

“It’s well-documented that I have had problems with alcohol in the past, and the thing I went to jail for was alcohol-related.

“I am not using that as an excuse. It was my own stupidity. Alcohol does something to you that makes you do things that you would not necessarily do when you are sober. Things will be levelled at me that I had a fight with Ousmane when I was sober. I understand that.

“I know that if I drink again, I am putting my football career in jeopardy. I have to put everyone that has believed in me first, and that is why I will not drink again. I feel better instantly.”

Barton admits the 18 months since the incident involving Dabo at City’s Carrington training ground have been “hell” as he awaited the repercussions of that and the horrific assault he later committed in Liverpool, which saw him remanded in custody.

He said: “If I am brutally honest, I knew that I was going to jail.

“Just try to imagine for one minute having to try to go on a football pitch and at the end of the season when everyone else is planning to go to Dubai or America.

“They are all sitting there thinking about where they will be going on their holiday, and all I was thinking about was going to jail. And that was down to my own stupidity.

“But I am not asking for anyone to feel sorry for me by any means. If anything, I rightly deserve every bit of criticism that was levelled at me.

Indefensible

“I can’t stand here and try to defend myself because I am indefensible. I am the first to acknowledge that - I am indefensible.

“My reputation will always precede me to the day I die. For some people, that probably can’t be quickly enough.”

As he tries to rebuild his career, with the continuing support of the Sporting Chance Clinic set up by former Arsenal and England defender Tony Adams, Barton is hoping his experiences can help youngsters in danger of following similar paths to mend their ways before it is too late.

He said: “Now I can be a shining beacon for kids who have been in trouble before like myself. Young kids look at the likes of Michael Owen, David Beckham, who are unbelievable professionals, who are squeaky-clean, and they can’t relate to them.

“I have met people on the street and I have met people in prison, and they relate to you.

“When I speak, I speak from experience about the things I have done wrong in my life and how I have tried to change them. I think they respect that.

“Hopefully, I will be able to reach those people who have been unreachable. That’s all I can do.”

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