English Premiership
Barton blasts FA on Twitter
2012-01-26 14:44
London - Controversial QPR captain Joey Barton has lashed out at the Football Association (FA) after being warned about predicting the outcomes of Premier League games.
The 29-year-old midfielder received a warning letter from the organisation after he predicted what would happen in the matches involving Manchester City and Manchester United over the weekend.
Barton has over 1.1 million followers on social networking website Twitter and he used his account to vent his fury over his latest run-in with the footballing authorities.
"Just received my weekly warning letter from FA headquarters, this time regarding me tweeting about predicting the weekend's Manchester double," Barton wrote.
"According to the FA, I am not allowed to give my opinion of possible results in case that is seen as insider information. These people are so out of touch with reality it's untrue.
"What difference does my opinion of the outcome of a match have on the result? None."
He added: "The strange thing is they have probably sent me 30 letters since I started tweeting. That's 30 pieces of paper wasted. Stop sending please.
"I'll prob get a letter about the last few tweets. That's how ridiculous it's become. Drastic shake-up needed to move the game into 21st century.
"Hopefully they stop trying to be an Orwellian organisation and get to grips with the change that's happening in the world around them.
"Don't understand how they can try to police a technology they understand very little about."