Newcastle midfielder Joey Barton is in the news for the wrong reasons. Having only recently recovered from injury,  Barton now finds himself out of the Newcastle side for the crucial games against Chelsea and ex club Manchester City.

Barton was arrested in the early hours of yesterday morning after an altercation in Merseyside. He was arrested and will appear in court on January 3rd 2008.

Surprisingly the player was refused bail and will spend New Years day in prison.

The problems continue to heap up for Big Sam, now the bookies favourite to lose his job in 2008.