Watch Joey Barton’s press conference following his league debut for Marseille while on loan from Queens Park Rangers.   Usually better known for his “bad boy” behaviour – his career and life have been marked by numerous controversial incidents and disciplinary problems and he has been convicted twice on charges of violence and charged with violent conduct three times by The FA.

And now his latest crime – against the country that are paying his wages!  After butchering the French accent, in scenes reminiscent of Officer Crabtree in ‘Allo, ‘allo’, he also insulted his host country by criticising, in Franglais, French football, saying: ‘Maybe the one criticism of the French Ligue is it’s a leetle bit boring’.

Speaking in France before his league  debut, Barton said: ‘Perhaps I shouldn’t say it, but I’m maybe a little  too intelligent to be a footballer.’   Well he’s certainly proven to all of us that he has a degree of some kind ….. a degree of stupidity!