Newcastle United attracted more unwanted attention today when midfielder Joey Barton was banned for 12 matches - six of them suspended - and fined over €30,000 (stg£25,000) today after pleading guilty to an FA charge of violent conduct.

Newcastle midfielder Barton admitted attacking his then Manchester City team-mate Ousmane Dabo at City's Carrington training ground on May 1st last year.

The 26-year-old was prosecuted and given a suspended jail sentence - imposed while he was serving time in prison for a Liverpool city centre attack on a teenager - for his assault on Dabo, but the Football Association decided further action was necessary.

Barton will be suspended with immediate effect.

He will miss his club's next match, when Newcastle, reeling from the loss last night of manager Kevin Keegan, take on Hull City at St James' Park.

All of the suspended matches will be invoked should Barton be found guilty of any similar charge involving violence or be dismissed from the field of play for violent conduct, but not for serious foul play.

Independent Regulatory Commission chairman Maurice Armstrong said: "The Commission members considered principally the serious attack by Mr Barton that clearly cannot be accepted.

"The members also had to take into consideration the sanctions imposed by the Courts and the pro-active support Mr Barton has received from Newcastle United FC and other professional bodies.

"The Commission members wanted to punish the offence appropriately but give Mr Barton an opportunity to ensure his professional conduct does not falter again and ensure he is fully aware of the consequences should he make another serious error of judgment."

Professional Footballers' Association chief executive Gordon Taylor had urged the Football Association to be lenient with Barton when he appeared before the disciplinary panel.

And Barton hoped to call on Keegan, his manager at both Manchester City and Newcastle, to be a character witness, but the former England coach's resignation from his job at St James' Park yesterday made that impossible.

Earlier today, Barton's agent said the press had "hounded" his client after reports that he jumped a red light as he drove to meet his probation officer.

Pictures in the Daily Mirrorshow Barton's Range Rover Sport using bus lanes to pass vehicles on the inside lane in Newcastle city centre.