QPR seem to have pulled off something of a major coup after Joey Barton confirmed that he is to have a medical in Shepards Bush on Wednesday night after Newcastle and Rangers came to an agreement over the midfielder.
Barton, so often a dividing figure throughout his career, fell out of favour with the hierarchy at the club after a number of outbursts during the summer. With one year left on his contract and with the club having just sold his midfield partner Kevin Nolan and, striker, Andy Carroll the Liverpudlian questioned the ambition and transfer policies of the club.
The club seeing his comments as little more than a tool to further his wage demands immediately placed Barton on the transfer list and intimated that he would be allowed to leave the club as a free transfer should any other team contact them about his availability such was their desire to remove his presence from the training ground and dressing room.
The midfielder then began something of a war of words with the club on Twitter where his comments had further impact as clubs began banning and censoring their players from the social networking site.
Newcastle's refusal to give in to Barton's wage demands and to remove him from the transfer list caused something of a transfer frenzy amongst the media, especially as Liverpool had just signed Jordan Henderson for £20 million with many feeling that Barton was a much better option.
Clubs like Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal, Everton, Aston Villa, Malaga, and Paris St. Germain were all immediately linked with potential moves for the player. However, only newly promoted Queens Park Rangers would contact the North East side over Barton's availability and with Newcastle still refusing to offer him a new contract it looks as if the midfielder could become Neil Warnock's first major signing of the season.
As the Premier League season kicked off Barton was sensationally returned to the team by Alan Pardew as Newcastle readied themselves to face the latest crisis club in the EPL, Arsenal.
True to form Barton was never too far from controversy.
Firstly Alex Song should have been sent off for stamping on the midfielders calf as he lay prone on the ground but the referee missed the incident. Before new Gunners signing Gervinho was tripped in the box as the referee waved play on.
In something of an ironic twist an irate Barton ran over to the prone Arsenal forward and dragged him up off the floor for diving. Gervinho then brushed his hand across Barton's cheek with a very feint slap but the Newcastle player immediately hit the ground as if he had been shot by a sniper.
Considering his actions just ten seconds previously this was an extremely bad show of form by the QPR bound player.
Many cynics believe that the entire episode at Newcastle was expertly orchestrated to get the player a free transfer to a larger club but as the potential move to QPR nears it looks as if the player could well be fighting in the relegation trenches come the end of the season.
The move comes as a huge surprise and has moved at such a pace that very few journalists had time to find out about the potential move. In the end, it was Barton's Twitter account, so often a well for stories, that revealed how far the move had gone.
He said; "Going for a medical now, still no contract offer from NUFC.......think that just about makes my mind up."
"Don't want to leave Newcastle........I've made that clear but my hands are tied."As far as QPR is concerned they are getting a good player who just had, most probably, his best season of all time. His previous record on and off the pitch ruled that European chasing clubs had little or no interest in the player but he will definitely bring a certain bite to Warnock's midfield as they look to stay in the Premier League.
In a side story to the Barton move but one that could have far more significance as far as QPR is concerned the clubs new owner Tony Fernandes has announced "significant reductions and refunds on ticket prices throughout the club.
The size of the reductions have yet to be finalised but many feel the price of a season ticket at Loftus Road, which had increased by 40 percent, will be reduced dramatically.
The clubs newly appointed CEO, Phillip Beard, announced that;
"These changes show how serious we are about taking the fans' views on board."Beard then went one step further by announcing that match day tickets would also be reduced and that in certain sections of the ground children under 8-years-of-age would now gain entrance free of charge as long as they were with a paying adult.
"Ticket prices are imperative to the business structure and we are confident our supporters will react positively to the news and help make Loftus Road a fortress on match-days."
All in all it has been a very good day for your average QPR fan.
