Barton faces lengthy football ban

Magpies midfielder Joey Barton is facing a lengthy football ban after he admitted an FA charge of violent conduct against a former team-mate.

The matter relates to a training ground fight he had with Ousmane Dabo when the pair played for Manchester City.

Barton has since been transferred to Newcastle United for £5.8m and jailed for a drunken attack on a teenager in Liverpool city centre.

The 25-year-old missed the club's open day at St James's Park where up to 12,000 fans braved the rain to watch their heroes train.

Barton admitted the charge at the FA headquarters in Soho Square and requested a personal hearing before an FA regulatory commission in due course.

Addressing the fans, Toon boss Kevin Keegan explained why striker Obafemi Martins was absent - attending his mother's funeral in Nigeria - but failed to mention Barton.

On July 1, Barton was given a four-month suspended prison sentence after admitting assault occasioning actual bodily harm on Dabo, 31, who now plays for Lazio.

Later that month he was released from prison after serving 74 days of a six-month sentence for beating up a teenager and Newcastle United announced the club would be standing by its £40,000-a-week star.

Barton also missed Newcastle's pre-season trip to Palma, where the team played in the Mallorca Summer Cup tournament.

Meanwhile, United skipper Michael Owen, 28, and midfielder Abdoulaye Faye, 30, who are both recovering from injuries, took part in a light warm-up session.

They enjoyed a gentle jog with the rest of the players before joining in with a small game of keep-ball.

Owen and Faye then parted from the rest of the squad as the intensity of the session increased.

© Independent Television News Limited 2008. All rights reserved.