Hughes weighing up Barton Twitter ban

QPR boss Mark Hughes said he is contemplating banning Joey Barton from Twitter after the midfielder’s rant about John Terry’s court case.

The former Manchester City and Newcastle man has often been prone to controversy but, since getting himself online with Twitter, he has gained an even wider audience.

His views are currently published to over one million followers and recent posts on the website include a rant against sacked QPR boss Neil Warnock and a detailed account of his acrimonious departure from Newcastle.

However, after the Attorney General confirmed the midfielder’s tweets would be investigated in light of potential contempt of court, Hughes may not be putting up with it much longer.

Speaking to reporters on Saturday, Hughes said: “I will wait to see if that is confirmed and if it is confirmed there is a different conversation that needs to be had. We’ll see.”

The midfielder’s recent tweets are under investigation because of their references to an ongoing trial but – with a jury yet to be decided upon – Barton is likely to escape censure for prejudicing the case.

The tweets which attracted attention read: “I will gladly go to jail for a month, in the name of free speech. I have no problem with what I said. Make me a martyr”.

“What are they going to do? Put everyone who exercises freedom of speech in jail? They’ll (sic) be a revolution, if they try that s**t.”

“No amount of media or other pressure, will make me think otherwise.”