Chances are even if you’re not a football fan you’ll have heard the name Joey Barton at some point. The QPR captain is never far from controversy and has graced as many front pages in recent years as he has back pages.

Barton is an outspoken man that appears to view himself on a higher plane than the players that surround him on the football field. Footballers generally talk in clichés and very rarely give any kind of insight to the world they inhabit, Barton doesn’t fit this mould. I’ve often heard him referred to as intelligent but it’s something I’ve always struggled to believe. A quick look at Barton’s twitter stream shows an individual that could find a fight in the most unlikely of places – often found insulting other low level celebrities based upon their appearance. The question is why is this supposed intelligent man getting involved in public playground spats?

On the field Barton is as much a conundrum as he is off it. On his day he’s a very accomplished midfielder showing everything necessary to play at the highest level. Unfortunately for QPR, Barton doesn’t have his day anywhere near often enough and is regularly just a passenger on the pitch. Barton has many times mentioned he had discussions with Arsenal before joining QPR but it just doesn’t seem likely. Arsene Wenger tends to go for a certain style of player and Barton isn’t it.

I find myself not quite knowing what to make of Mr Barton. We need more personality in football, we need more real opinions and less clichés and Barton is certainly on his way toward this, at the same time though he shows an immaturity that we definitely don’t need to see.