Big Sam ready to tame Barton
Updated on 07 June 2007
Sam Allardyce is confident that he can tame controversial England midfielder Joey Barton at Newcastle United.
Barton has agreed to move to St James' Park in a deal which will be worth £5.5 million to Manchester City.
And Allardyce, who is closing in on Middlesbrough striker Mark Viduka, has no qualms about taking the 24-year-old midfielder on.
He said: "The bottom line is I have got a great player. The quality of the player is the most important thing. Sometimes they come with difficult characters and can be difficult to handle.
"But I have had players with worse reputations than Joey Barton's and I never found them to be a problem because of the way I communicate with them and the way they communicate with me.
"My side of the job is to temper the other difficulties he has run into in life, not so much on the field, but off the field. I have asked him, as a maturing young man in his mid-20s, to curb that side of his life and make sure he focuses on what he loves best."
Allardyce continued: "We want him to progress rapidly as a footballer at Newcastle and hopefully in the England set-up again because that's where he wants to be.
"He is good enough, but he has got to do a lot of work off the field to get back to that. I am confident I can handle him."
With chairman Freddy Shepherd agreeing to seel his 28 per cent stake in the Magpies to billionaire businessman Mike Ashley, an exciting new era looms at St James' Park.
Allardyce, who has already set his rebuilding programme in motion, has also confirmed his interest in Bolton defender Tal Ben Haim.
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