It's been tempting to ask, 'Are you OK, Joey?' these past few weeks, as a tide of effluent has flowed from an individual who, with two Championship medals, one England substitute appearance and a 37.1 per cent win rate as Bristol Rovers manager, has a surprising sense of his own importance.
Some have put their expressions of concern about his cognitive faculty more elegantly than others. Jeremy Vine was justifiably criticised for phrasing it poorly. Fundamentally, it would just be great if Joey Barton — the whining child in the corner, the fly you need to swat — would, to put it at a printable level, go away.