Sam Allardyce has signed Joey Barton for a fee of £5.8m from Manchester City, there had been some issues in completing the deal as City were reluctant to pay Barton a fee believed to be in the region of £300k.

Barton leaves the Eastlands stadium following a training ground row with Ousmane Dabo. The 24 year olds career has been blighted with incidents that have earned him a reputation of being a trouble maker. He will no doubt look to a fresh start in the north east an look to become a hero to the toon faithful.