Football Transfer Rumours: Joey Barton to Get Bounced Out of St James' Park

According to today's Sun, Newcastle midfielder Joey Barton and his caretaker manager Alan Shearer had a right old ding-dong in the visitors' dressing room at Anfield on Sunday afternoon. Raging that Barton had got himself sent off for a needless over-the-top challenge on Xabi Alonso, Shearer took Barton to task over his rash challenge, only to be told that "you're a s*** manager with s*** tactics". The endearingly coy tabloid's liberal use of asterisks means we may never know for certain whether Barton was being abusive, but considering his famously withering reviews of the literary endeavors of England's most recent crop of World Cup failures, it's probably safe to assume his critique of Shearer's managerial skills was far from five-star.

Not for the first time, Barton's position at St James' Park looks untenable and this time there's unlikely to be any more last chances, even if Shearer scuttles back to the comfort of the Match Of The Day sofa once his ill-advised eight-match jig is up. Quite how much of a return Newcastle will get on their £5.8m investment remains to be seen, as the increasingly weighty baggage Barton drags around behind him wherever he goes will no doubt guarantee that interest in his cut-price signature will be limited to no more than 10 or 15 Premier League clubs, while any Championship side would also be glad to have a poor man's Steven Gerrard on their books. Well, any Championship side except the one he's at the moment. Thus far, Joey hasn't been linked with anyone concrete, but it can only be a matter of time before one of Sam Allardyce or Gary Megson decides they can tame him with an arm around the shoulder and offer him sanctuary at Ewood Park or the Reebok Arena.

Birmingham City are set to reward Stephen Carr with a long-term contract for his part in helping them to secure promotion to the Premier League. The Irish full-back was without a club and rumored to be considering a new career as a north sea trawler skipper when Alex McLeish offered him a short-term deal earlier this season. McLeish, it says here, also wants to make the loan signing of West Ham midfielder Lee Bowyer permanent, then bring striker Kris Boyd and his defender Madjid Bougherra to the midlands from Rangers.

And having failed to save Norwich City from the drop to League One, caretaker manager and club goalkeeping legend Bryan Gunn is facing the bullet now that Canaries chairman Roger Munby has earmarked Rotherham manager Mark Robins as the man to help the club back on to its Championship perch.

Heard any transfer speculation of your own? You know what to do.