The trouble is they spent a lot of money on him, I do not condon what he did I would like to believe his stint inside has woken him up to what he has almost lost, but i doubt it.
Even if Newcastle had made the move to sack him, ala Plymouth Arygle with McCormick another premier league club would just have given him a contract. Remember lee hughes had a contract before he even got out of the slammer, McCormick will be no different!
Its a sad state of affairs, Barton is a good player and alot was thought of him when he was younger and it was no coincedence that the 3 games he managed for newcastle towards the tail end co-incided with them returning to winning ways. Its just the fact he's a muppet with no self control and serious anger issues, just look at his brother.
Its a bizarre game nowadays Dwain chambers uses drugs to give himself a advantage and no-one in atheletics will touch him, banned for life from the Olympics. But footballers get another contract a second chance, third chance etc. What a sorry state of affairs!