I was pushed over ..when I looked up Barton was there
Former Hearts boss Stendel tells of incident in tunnel after match
FORMER Hearts manager Daniel Stendel has told a trial how he was shoved into a metal post after a match – and that rival coach Joey Barton was the only person in sight.
He was giving evidence at the trial of former Rangers and England player Barton, who is accused of assaulting the German coach.
At the time of the match, on April 13, 2019, Stendel was managing home team Barnsley, who won the match 4-2, and Barton was in charge of Fleetwood Town.
Giving evidence through an interpreter at Sheffield Crown Court yesterday, Stendel – who later went on to manage Hearts – described how he was walking down the tunnel towards the dressing rooms when he was surprised by a push from behind.
He said: “I got a hard shove on my right shoulder.
“Because I hadn’t expected it, I couldn’t react very quickly.
“I then fell forward, without being able to protect myself, into the metal bars in the tunnel.”
Asked by Ian Goldsack, prosecuting, how hard the push was, Stendel told the jury of seven women and five men: “I’m quite tall and quite sporty. So, it was more than a normal push. It was a forceful shove, otherwise I wouldn’t have fallen over.”
Asked what happened immediately after he was injured, Stendel said: “I lifted my head and saw one person and it was Joey Barton, who walked around the corner. “That was the only person I saw.” Asked by Simon Csoka QC, defending, whether he had “just assumed it was Mr Barton” due to tensions in the match before, Stendel said: “I can only say that I was pushed extremely.
“And directly after that happened, I saw Joey Barton. These are the two things I can say.”
The jury was shown video footage of Stendel leaving the pitch after the match and walking into the tunnel. Barton is then shown running into the tunnel shortly after and the structure shaking slightly a moment later.
Opening the prosecution earlier, Mr Goldsack told the jury that Barton provided a prepared statement to police after he was arrested in which he accepted using “industrial language” on the touchline but denied barging into or assaulting Stendel in the tunnel.
Barton, who is now Bristol Rovers manager, denies one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
It was a forceful shove, or I wouldn’t have fallen DANIEL STENDEL TELLS COURT OF INCIDENT