Sevco are tonight counting the cost of eight games from Joey Barton.
The financially troubled club have announced that a deal has been struck to terminate his contract.
Barton had 19 months left on a two year contract believed to be worth around £25,000/week plus his signing on fee.
While the settlement figure is expected to be talked down it’s unlikely that the 34-year-old would have settled for anything less than £1m net.
As soon as the season ticket sales push was beginning at the end of last season Barton was linked to the club alongside the ludicrous #goingfor55 campaign.
Rangers and Joey Barton have agreed to terminate his contract with immediate effect. Neither Rangers nor Joey Barton will comment further.
— Rangers FC (@RangersFC) November 10, 2016
Thousands of supporters bought into the nonsense expecting to see the former Strangeways inmate take the SPFL title from Celtic.
After missing out on pre-season training Barton played in three Betfred Cup matches against Annan, Stranraer and Peterhead without making any worthwhile contribution.
Playing against full-time opponents proved much more difficult with Hamilton Accies taking a point from Ibrox in the opening SPFL match.
Single goal wins over Dundee and Motherwell were enough to convince the people of their title credentials but a draw at Kilmarnock and 5-1 hammering from Celtic brought some reality to the scene.
Three days after chasing Scott Brown’s shadow Barton was sent home from training after being involved in an argument with Andy Halliday and Mark Warburton.
A three week suspension of full pay became eight weeks. Now with a £1m pay-off, a signing on fee and over four months of wages it seems that the extra season ticket money brought in will be heading back down the M74 to Liverpool.
Barton is expected to sign a short term deal with Burnley in January.
