Barton ‘pushed over’ rival manager
Former England internationalist Joey Barton pushed over rival manager Daniel Stendel after his team was defeated, causing him serious injuries to his face, a jury has been told.
Ex-rangers midfielder Barton, 38, went on trial yesterday accused of assaulting ex-hearts manager Stendel, then in charge of Barnsley, in the tunnel at the South Yorkshire side’s Oakwell Stadium, in April 2019, after the defendant’s Fleetwood Town side lost 4-2.
Prosecutor Ian Goldsack described tensions between the two sides when they met earlier in the season at Fleetwood – including a handshake between Barton and Mr Stendel that the German manager “took to be an intimidatory gesture” – and these continued into the match in Barnsley seven months later.
Mr Goldsack told a jury of six men and six women at Sheffield Crown Court that Barton confronted Mr Stendel during the match in April and, after the final whistle, the defendant was “still very worked up and used some foul language towards him, which Mr Stendel did not fully understand, but realised he was being insulted”.
Mr Goldsack said that the defendant ran past a number of people after the match and entered the tunnel behind Mr Stendel.
He said: “Mr Stendel felt a push from behind and fell forward, hitting his face against that tunnel structure.
“He was knocked to the ground and when he looked up he saw the defendant passing him. He believed him to be responsible for what happened.”
The jury was shown video footage which showed Barton running into the tunnel after Mr Stendel and the structure then shaking.
Further footage showed a bloodied Mr Stendel being helped back to the changing room.
Mr Stendel will give evidence by video link from Germany today. Mr Goldsack showed
the jury photographs of injuries sustained by Mr Stendel, saying the most serious were to his mouth, including an upper right incisor tooth being moved out of the bone, with some associated
nerve damage.barton, who is now Bristol Rovers manager, denies one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.