‘Super fit’ Joey Barton strolled through his return to English football- four months after the trauma of getting hammered by Celtic.
The 34-year-old helped Burnley to a 0-0 draw away to Sunderland in the FA Cup in his ‘second debut’ for Sean Dyche’s side.
After bad mouthing Brendan Rodgers and Scott Brown the former Strangeways Prison inmate was given the runaround when Celtic trounced Sevco 5-1 on September 10.
Barton dropped deeper and deeper during the match in what turned out to be his last ever game for the tribute act.
A training ground bust up led to a seven week suspension before a pay-off brought to an end his traumatic stint in Scotland.
Barton has an FA charge of betting on football matches hanging over his head but earned the approval of Dyche following today’s match.
“He just brings what he brought the time before he was at the club, which is his experience, his will, his demand on himself and the group, and he has made that clear by the way he goes about it,” the Burnley boss told TalkSPORT.
“We thought it was a good opportunity to play him today in a team that had a few changes but, as I said, I believe in the group and I believe in Joey – that’s why he’s here.
“I thought he did well. I thought his fitness was good – it’s not easy coming in after the break he’s had, but I thought his fitness was good. He stayed calm with the ball for us.”
Burnley are currently sitting in 12th place in the Premier League with 23 points from 20 matches as they attempt to avoid instant relegation in their third season in the top flight.
