Llambias responds with legal action against Barton's podcast rant

Derek Llambias has taken time out of his hectic schedule of generally being sleazy to unleash another one of his telegraphs of doom. The shocking thing is that this time I actually agree with him.

This one is about Joey Barton's rant last night on a QPR podcast, which came to light overnight and which you can read or listen to here.

In short Barton made a series of disparaging remarks against the Mike Ashley, Derek Llambias and, in a roundabout way, the normal working person who happens to work for Sports Direct as a job, labelling them "subordinates" which was odd considering they've nothing to do with Barton's very public feud with Ashley and Llambias.

At first the club declined to comment on Barton's remarks, which is probably a good thing given their habit of ballsing things up like this. However that has changed now and Derek Llambias has finally responded. Below, in full, is what Llambias has said, transcribed from Sky Sports News courtesy of the rewind button on my Sky + remote.

"In a week when one of Newcastle United's most beloved footballers passed away it is disappointing that once again Joey Barton makes the headlines."

"It is also unfortunate that Joey chose to draw such a disparaging comparison between himself and the employees of Sports Direct who through hard work and dedication are the recipients of one of the most generous bonus schemes in UK retailing."

"It may not be a lot of money to Joey, but over 2,000 Sports Direct employees earning £20,000 will receive shares worth over 44,00 over the next two years."

"However in this week, of all weeks, we really do not wish to engage in a public war of wards with Joey Barton. Our legal advisers are dealing with the matter now and we would encourage Joey to concentrate on his football at Queens Park Rangers."

"Our thoughts and attentions this week remain firmly with the family and friends of Gary Speed."

Now I'm not keen on Derek Llambias. I personally think a lot of the issues and ill feeling around the club stem from him, but that's just my opinion. However, I have to say that this is a well reasoned and well thought out response from the club. Fair play to them on that score.

I can only assume it was written for Del by someone!

Naturally there will be people saying that Derek is using Gary Speed's passing as a weapon against Barton, but I don't see it that way. He is just responding to criticism and is allowed to do that isn't he? I mean a lot of our fans have that commented on the earlier article (linked above, 2nd paragraph) said much the same thing about Barton attention seeking so perhaps Llambias isn't far wide of the mark?

For once, I actually agree with Derek Llambias! I need to lay down...