SOCCER:Newcastle midfielder Joey Barton will spend the new year in jail after being remanded in custody on charges of common assault and affray yesterday.

The 25-year-old was arrested in the centre of Liverpool at 5.30am on Thursday after an alleged altercation with two men inside a fast-food restaurant, one of whom is reported to have lost consciousness during a scuffle.

Paramedics were called and the injured man was taken to hospital but released later that day.

Barton's lawyer's request for bail was refused by Liverpool magistrates court. The player, who has one England cap, was on a night out in the city in a group including his younger brother, Andrew (19), following Newcastle's St Stephen's Day defeat by Wigan Athletic, a game Barton, who earns €60,000 a week, missed through injury.

Andrew Barton has been charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm and affray.

In a 68-minute hearing, Joey Barton spoke only once to confirm his name and address. On hearing he had been refused bail he turned to the prison guard and held his hands out to be handcuffed before being returned to the cells.

The case is due to be heard again by Liverpool magistrates on January 3rd, when it is expected Barton will appear via a video link. By then he will have missed Newcastle's vital Premier League games at Chelsea today and at home to Manchester City on January 2nd.

Barton has had a turbulent start to his Newcastle career, missing several months with a broken foot injured in pre-season and then causing a rift with disgruntled fans whom he labelled "vicious" after abuse meted out to manager Sam Allardyce and his players during a heavy defeat at home to Liverpool.

A spokesman for Newcastle United said last night that the club would not be making any comment. Barton's agent, Willie McKay, was not immediately available for comment.

Allardyce summoned his players to a special meeting yesterday, convened partly to explain Barton's absence, but also to remind the squad of their manager's priorities.

"The quicker the players understand that the biggest games for us are not the ones against Chelsea and Manchester United, the better," explained Allardyce.

Today's match is one several of his squad have said they are especially looking forward to, but their manager is concerned that too many of them raise their games for glamour fixtures only to underachieve against more ordinary opposition.

"Games against Chelsea and Manchester United are for the fans but not for us," Allardyce said. "The quicker the players get their heads round that, the better.

"The biggest games for us, the ones we should concentrate the most for, are the Derbys, the Wigans. It's about making sure we have a peak performance for the winnable matches. We could play out of our skins tomorrow, but, if Chelsea hit top form, we still might not get anything."

Considering that Avram Grant's team are without several injured key players today that sounds somewhat defeatist, but Allardyce prides himself on gritty realism and feels his team should reserve optimal displays for more run-of-the-mill fixtures.

"Our focus has to be on the winnable games rather than putting all our focus on having to get a performance against the big boys, which we did against Arsenal and I think we'll do against Chelsea," he explained. - Guardian Service