Joey Barton's Football Association hearing into betting charges has been postponed.
The 34-year-old Burnley midfielder was due to appear before an FA commission on Wednesday, having accepted a misconduct charge relating to 1,260 bets over a 10-year period.
It is possible a lengthy ban could ensue - though no direct precedent exists - and the Clarets were prepared for the fact that he could have played his final match for the club with his contract up at the end of the season.
But Press Association Sport understands the hearing was not able to take place as planned and, with no new date yet set, Barton is free to play in Sunday's Premier League match at Liverpool.
Charges had already been laid against Barton when Burnley re-signed him in January. though provisions were made in his contract should any ban be forthcoming.
The once-capped England international was a key part of the Clarets' Championship-winning campaign last season, but initially declined the opportunity to represent the club in the Premier League, opting instead to try his hand north of the border with Rangers.
It was a brief and tempestuous spell at Ibrox, comprising just eight matches, dissension on the training ground, suspension, stress leave and, finally, a mutually-terminated contract.
He also served a one-game ban from the Scottish Football Association for placing 44 bets between July and September.
He was invited back to train with Burnley by manager Sean Dyche, stayed to sign terms and has appeared in 11 matches to date.
The last of those came against Swansea at the weekend, with Barton substituted late on feeling his hamstring.
With the FA hearing now awaiting rescheduling, his fitness is now the only question mark against an appearance in his home city at the weekend.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel