YOU'VE got to hand it to Manchester City for hitting Joey Barton with their own internal discipline whenever he misbehaves.

But surely the time has come for the Blues to get rid of him.

He injured one of his team-mates this week with a punch during a training ground bust-up, following a number of previous black mark offences including jabbing a lit cigar in a City youth player's eye, an altercation with a fan in a Bangkok hotel bar and dropping his shorts at Everton fans.

Everyone deserves a second chance but Barton used up his a long time ago and you have to wonder if City would have been so supportive of him was he not their best player.