Joey Barton's autobiography 'No nonsense': I was more talented than Owen Hargreaves

SPORTS books have flooded on to the market in recent days, with autobiographies from Ian Wright, Ron Atkinson and Jonathan Trott among others.

Posted Sunday, September 25, 2016 by Express.co.uk

Then there is the tale of Joey Barton, which is likely to be the best seller of them all with its powerful story of how raw ambition and hunger lifted a boy out of the brutal world of childhood in the mean streets of Liverpool to a life of celebrity and notoriety.

It is superbly written in collaboration with sportswriter Michael Calvin, although it is much more about life and the development of character than it is about football.

Barton is bitterly certain that his sporting talent was under-appreciated in his career but that conviction will be shared by few observers.

He says, for example, that he "had more about him than Owen Hargreaves," a midfielder of the same era who earned 42 England caps to Barton's one, and who lifted the Champions League with two different clubs.

Joey Barton's autobiography is bound to cause controversy

What makes Barton's book engaging is the candour with which he describes his personal crusade against the demons of violence in his nature and the revelation of inside track details like a fierce dressing room confrontation with Alan Shearer at Newcastle.

He is always fighting battles – as new troubles over the past days at Rangers confirm – and that doesn't seem likely to change.