title: Gaius Marius

text: While Sulla was on campaign in Greece, fighting broke out between the conservative supporters of Sulla, led by Octavius, and the popular supporters of Cinna over voting rights for the Italians. When Cinna was forced to flee the city by Octavius's gangs, he was able to rally significant Italian support: some 10 legions including the Samnites. Marius along with his son then returned from exile in Africa to Etruria with an army he had raised there, and they placed themselves under Cinna's command to oust Octavius. Marius demanded the tribunes lift his banishment by passage of law. Cinna's vastly superior army coerced the Senate into opening the gates of the city.


title: Gaius Marius

text: They entered Rome and started murdering the leading supporters of Sulla, including Octavius. Their heads were exhibited in the Forum. Fourteen of the victims, including six former consuls, were noteworthy individuals: Lucius Licinius Crassus (older brother of the triumvir), Gaius Atilius Serranus, Marcus Antonius Orator, Lucius Julius Caesar, his brother Caesar Strabo, Quintus Mucius Scaevola the Augur, Publius Cornelius Lentulus, Gaius Nemotorius, Gaius Baebius and Octavius Ruso. A number of those targeted by the purge were not immediately killed: show trials were set up before the victims committed suicide. Marius and Cinna also declared Sulla an enemy of the state and stripped him of his proconsular command in the east.


title: Gaius Marius

text: While Marius and Cinna were both responsible for the deaths and the headed pikes in the forum, it is unlikely that Marius and his men killed everyone in their paths, as reported in Cassius Dio and Plutarch. The killings, more likely, served to terrorise the political opposition. With competitors suitably frightened, show elections were held for 86 BC, with Marius and Cinna being elected by the irregularly. Within a fortnight of assuming the consulship for the seventh time, Marius was dead.


title: Gaius Marius

text: Plutarch relates several opinions on the end of Marius: one, from Posidonius, holds that Marius contracted pleurisy; Gaius Piso has it that Marius walked with his friends and discussed all of his accomplishments with them, adding that no intelligent man ought leave himself to fortune. Plutarch then anonymously relates that Marius, having gone into a fit of passion in which he announced in a delusionary manner that he was in command of the Mithridatic War, began to act as he would have on the field of battle; finally, Plutarch relates that, ever an ambitious man, Marius lamented on his deathbed that he had not achieved all of which he was capable, despite his having acquired great wealth and having been chosen consul more times than any man before him.


title: Gaius Marius

text: After his death, Lucius Valerius Flaccus, another patrician like Cinna, was elected as the sole candidate to succeed Marius as consul; Flaccus was dispatched immediately with two legions to fight Mithridates alongside (but not with) Sulla. While Marius is at times blamed for the purges, his sudden death more than likely was used to deflect blame, avoiding an actual change in policy. Cinna and one of his later consular colleagues, Carbo, would lead their faction into the civil war, which continued until their defeat (and that of Marius's son) by Sulla's army, eventually allowing Sulla to make himself dictator.


title: Gaius Marius

text: Marius was an extremely successful Roman general and politician. In ancient sources, he is repeatedly characterised as having unending ambition and opportunism. Plutarch says of him:


title: Gaius Marius

text: if Marius could have been persuaded to sacrifice to the Greek Muses and Graces, he would not have put the ugliest possible crown upon a most illustrious career in field and forum, nor have been driven by the blasts of passion, ill-timed ambition, and insatiable greed upon the shore of a most cruel and savage old age.


title: Gaius Marius

text: According to Evans this characterisation is not entirely fair, because Marius's attempts to win the consulship and for self-aggrandisement were not out of the norm for politicians of the middle to late Republic. Marius's legacy is heavily defined by his example: his five successive consulships, while seen contemporaneously as necessary for the survival of Roman civilisation, gave unprecedented power into the hands of a single man over a never-before-seen length of time.


title: Gaius Marius

text: However, that Marius died "so hated by contemporaries is really rather unremarkable, because to his unrealistic, even senile, dreams of further triumphs may be laid the prime cause for the disastrous civil war of 87 [BC]... His unquenchable "ambitio" overcame an unusually astute sense of judgement; the result, the beginning of the Roman revolution". Broadly, "traditional republican culture had been based on the principles of equality between colleagues in office and short terms of office holding... the inherited republic could not survive Marius and his ambitions".


title: Gaius Marius

text: In the narratives of Plutarch and Sallust, Marius's reforms to the recruitment process for the Roman legions are roundly criticised for creating a soldiery wholly loyal to their generals and beholden to their beneficence or ability to secure payment from the state. However, Evans argues this development did not emerge from Marius, and it was likely initially envisioned as nothing more than a temporary measure to meet the extraordinary threats of Numidia and the Cimbrian tribes. Moreover, the armies in the late republic were broadly similar to those of the middle republic. By 107 exemptions from the property qualifications had become commonplace and recurrent. Marius's recruitment reforms simply made plain what had been for some time commonplace, out of need for men or simply the expediency of calling up urban volunteers rather than conscripting farmers.


title: Gaius Marius

text: The willingness of the soldiers to kill fellow Romans changed after the Social War: "if Sulla's army had been unwilling to march on Rome... then the outcome would obviously have been completely different, no matter how power-hungry Marius or Sulla were". But it is unclear whether this willingness was the result of the reforms themselves or the environment created during and after the Social war, which had the related effect of breaking down the Roman government's legitimacy. Lintott, in the "Cambridge Ancient History", similarly writes that "Roman armies were only to be used for civil war after their scruples had been drowned in a blood-bath of fighting with their own Italian allies... it may as well be argued that civil war created the self-seeking unprincipled soldier".


title: Gaius Marius

text: There were political effects, however, to the promise of land after service: the decision to call up the would not be fully felt until the time to draw down the troops. As the spoils of war became increasingly inadequate as compensation for the soldiers – the spoils of war do not guarantee a long term stream of income – it became common practice to allocate land for the foundation of veteran colonies (generally abroad). While obstructionism in the senate over veteran land grants does not appear in Marius's lifetime, later passage of the legislation necessary to establish these colonies became increasingly contentious.


title: Gaius Marius

text: Marius's repeated use of the Assemblies to overturn the Senatorial commands had significant negative effects on the stability of the state. The senate generally used sortition to choose generals for command posts, removing the conflict of interest between consuls. Marius's use of the Assemblies to remove Metellus from command in Numidia spelled an end to collective governance in foreign affairs. In later years, use of became the main means by which commands were granted to other generals, adding to personal rivalries and diminishing the ability to govern the state. The size of the rewards gained from manipulating the Assemblies was irresistible to future generations of ambitious politicians.


title: Gaius Marius

text: The similar use of the Assemblies in an attempt to replace Sulla with Marius for the Mithridatic War was unprecedented, as never before had laws been passed to confer commands on someone lacking any official title in the state. Marius's legal strategy misfired disastrously because he failed to predict Sulla's reaction of marching on the city to protect his command:


title: Gaius Marius

text: It was plainly expected that Sulpicius's bill and the sanctity of the law, even if much abused, would be obeyed without question... Sulla's unforeseen rejection of the 'popular' will, which he must surely have believed to have been of equivocal legality, was made from a position of great strength since he had the means and the opportunity to impose his will on the situation.


title: Gaius Marius

text: While political violence had been increasingly normalised throughout the middle and late Republic, starting with the murder of the Gracchi brothers, the passage of the against Saturninus and Glaucia in Marius's sixth consulship normalised the use of force not only against private citizens, but also "against properly elected magistrates in order to preserve [the Senate's] own position".


title: Gaius Marius

text: Moreover, Marius's attempts to undermine Sulla's command at the start of the First Mithridatic War massively expanded the scope of that violence. No longer would only mobs clash in the streets of Rome. No longer would personal grudges just be pursued by political prosecutions in the courts: political enemies would be killed. The use of the Assemblies eroded senatorial control which, along with Sulla's decision to march on Rome, created significant and prolonged instability, only resolved by the destruction of the Republican form of government and the transition to the empire.


title: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

text: Taking the role of series protagonist Link, players navigate the floating island of Skyloft and the land below it, completing quests that advance the story and solving environmental and dungeon-based puzzles. The mechanics and combat, the latter focusing on attacking and blocking with sword and shield, are reliant on the Wii MotionPlus peripheral. A mainline entry in "The Legend of Zelda" series, "Skyward Sword" is the first game in the "Zelda" timeline, and details the origins of the Master Sword, a recurring weapon within the series. Link, a resident of a floating town called Skyloft, sets out to rescue his childhood friend Zelda after she is kidnapped and brought to the surface, the abandoned lands below the clouds.


title: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

text: Development took around five years, beginning after the release of "Twilight Princess" in 2006. Multiple earlier "Zelda" games influenced the developers, including "Twilight Princess", "Ocarina of Time" and "Majora's Mask". Many aspects of the game's overworld and gameplay were designed to streamline and populate the experience for players. The art style was influenced by the work of impressionist and post-impressionist painters, including Paul Cézanne. The implementation of Wii MotionPlus proved problematic for the developers, to the point where it was nearly discarded. It was the first "Zelda" game to use a live orchestra for the majority of its tracks, with music composed by a team led by Hajime Wakai and supervised by Koji Kondo.


title: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

text: First revealed in 2009, it was initially planned for release the following year before being delayed to 2011 to further refine and expand it. The game was a critical and commercial success upon release, receiving perfect scores from multiple journalistic sites, winning and receiving nominations for numerous industry and journalist awards, and selling over three million copies worldwide. The 2021 remaster sold a similar number on the Nintendo Switch. Feedback on the game later influenced the development of the next entry for home consoles, "".


title: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

text: "The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword" is an action-adventure video game in which players take on the role of series protagonist Link through a series of overworlds populated by monsters and navigating dungeons featuring puzzles and further enemies including dedicated bosses. Link is controlled using the Wii Remote and Nunchuk, and the Wii MotionPlus expansion device is required to play. The greater majority of gameplay mechanics revolve around use of motion controls: these include camera control with the Nunchuck and general hotkey actions and movement linked to the Remote. Jumping across gaps and scaling ledges happen automatically within context. The Nunchuck is also used to make Link perform a forward roll. In addition to his standard pace, Link can sprint for short distances. Sprinting and other actions such as climbing and carrying heavy objects is limited by a stamina meter, which recharges after a few seconds when not performing actions that drain it. When depleted entirely, Link's movement speed is reduced and he is left vulnerable until the metre refills. Standard navigation takes place from a third-person perspective, while the Dowsing search function switches to a first-person view: Dowsing scans an area for a selected object, with new Dowsing objectives appearing depending on game context.


title: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

text: Fighting enemies, which appear in both the overworld and dungeons, relies on Link's use of his sword and shield. Link's sword movements are mapped to the direction the Wii Remote is flicked by the player, and other moves include a forward thrust and a stab. Enemy movements are designed to anticipate and block Link's combat movements. By raising the Wii Remote, the sword gathers energy which can be unleashed in a Skyward Strike. Skyward Strikes are also used to trigger environmental elements such as magical switches. The shield is controlled with the Nunchuck: when the shield is raised, it can be used to reflect attacks. Spin attacks and Finishing Blows are activated by swinging both the Wii Remote and Nunchuck. Link's health is represented with Hearts, with Link taking damage whenever he is hit: if he loses all Hearts, the game ends.


title: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

text: The game is set on the floating island of Skyloft and surrounding airborne islands, and the three Surface overworlds where the majority of the main adventure takes place. Side quests for the town's citizens are unlocked as the game progresses. The different areas of the Surface are accessed through portals in the clouds. Side quests for characters of the Surface are also available and are sometimes mandatory for completing the main quest. The sky is navigated with a Shoebill-like bird called a Loftwing, while the Surface is navigated on foot. Beacons can be set on the map for Link to follow, and save points in the form of statues preserve Link's progress up to that point. During his quest, Link is aided by the sword spirit Fi, who can give hints to the player for both environmental elements and enemies: for example, when an enemy is targeted and Fi is summoned, she will give the enemy's characteristics and weaknesses.


title: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

text: Traditional series items such as Bombs used for demolition and the Bow and Arrow for ranged attacks are available as Link progresses through the game, along with new additions such as a mechanical Beetle that flies to areas beyond Link's reach for a variety of actions including activating switches: and a whip for grabbing otherwise-unreachable objects and levers. Some items and equipment will degrade and eventually break depending on their use, such as the shield taking damage when blocking fails. Items and equipment can be optionally upgraded using materials gathered from defeated monsters and within each overworld environment. In addition to consuming resources, Link must also pay for the upgrade with Rupees, the game's currency which is scattered throughout the world.


title: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

text: "Skyward Sword" takes place at the beginning of the "Zelda" continuity: according to legend, three ancient Goddesses bestowed a great wish-granting power: the Triforce. The Demon King Demise, a deity who had conquered time itself, laid waste to much of the land seeking to take the Triforce. The Goddess Hylia gathered the survivors and sent them into the sky, allowing her to launch a full-scale offensive against Demise. She was victorious, but the land was severely damaged. Uncounted years later, the outcrop is known as Skyloft, and its people believe the surface below is a myth.


title: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

text: In the present, knight-in-training Link passes his final exam despite attempted interference by his class rival Groose, who considers himself a romantic rival for Link's childhood friend Zelda. After passing the exam and on a celebratory flight together, Zelda is whisked away below the clouds by a dark tornado. After recovering back on Skyloft, Link is led into the island's statue of Hylia to the Goddess Sword by Fi, the spirit of the sword who resides within it. Link draws the sword, showing himself to be the prophesied hero who will finally destroy Demise. Opening a way through the clouds to the surface, Link is guided by Fi to the Sealed Temple, where he meets an old woman who tells him to track Zelda: this leads Link across the regions of Faron Woods, Eldin Volcano, and the Lanayru Desert. While he catches up with Zelda, he is prevented from returning her to Skyloft by Impa, a young woman guarding and guiding Zelda. Link also encounters Ghirahim, a self-proclaimed Demon Lord working towards freeing Demise. At the Temple of Time in the Lanayru Desert, Link defends Zelda and Impa from Ghirahim, buying the two enough time to depart through a Gate of Time into the past, which Impa destroys as they pass through.


title: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

text: Returning to the Sealed Temple, Link is followed by Groose and the two end up on the surface together. Link then has to defeat the Imprisoned, a monstrous form of Demise attempting to reach the Sealed Temple, after the old woman shows him a second, albeit dormant, Gate of Time. With the Imprisoned defeated, Link sets out to strengthen the Goddess Sword by passing trials set by the ancient Goddesses and using their gifts to find Sacred Flames to purify and strengthen the blade so the Time Gate can be awakened. Returning to find the Imprisoned attempting to break free, Link reseals it with help from Groose. Activating the Gate of Time and traveling to the past, he finds Zelda and learns that she is the mortal reincarnation of Hylia; Hylia could not kill Demise and was too weakened from their battle to fend him off again, so she created the Goddess Sword and reincarnated as a mortal to find someone who would fulfill her duty by using the Triforce to wish Demise's destruction, as only mortals can use the artifact. Zelda then seals herself inside a crystal to strengthen Demise's seal, granting her power to the Goddess Sword and upgrading it into the Master Sword.


title: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

text: Link locates the Triforce on Skyloft and uses it to destroy Demise. With Demise dead, Zelda is freed, but Ghirahim arrives and kidnaps Zelda: though Demise is dead in the present, Ghirahim intends to use Zelda as a sacrifice to resurrect him in the past. Link pursues Ghirahim into the past and fights through his army. He then defeats Ghirahim, who turns out to be the spirit of Demise's sword but is unable to prevent Zelda from being used to reincarnate Demise's humanoid form. Groose guards Zelda's body while Link challenges Demise: Link triumphs and absorbs Demise's essence into the sword, but not before Demise curses Link and Zelda's bloodlines to be haunted by his reincarnated rage. To complete the sword's seal, Link drives it into a pedestal in the Sealed Temple, with Fi accepting eternal slumber as a result. Groose, Link and Zelda return to their time while Impa remains behind and destroys the Gate of Time, as she is a person of that time and must watch over the Master Sword. In the present, the old woman greets them one last time before she dies and vanishes, revealing that she was Impa. The game ends with the surface now freely accessible to the residents of Skyloft, while Zelda decides to remain there to watch over the Triforce; she and Link together establish the kingdom of Hyrule.


title: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

text: "Skyward Sword"s development began in 2006, after the release of "" for GameCube and Wii. It was developed by Nintendo Entertainment Analysis & Development, a development division of series publisher Nintendo. They were assisted in development by the Kyoto branch of Monolith Soft. Its producer was Eiji Aonuma, a major contributor to the "Legend of Zelda" series. His main preoccupation during these early stages was whether the developers could continue creating "The Legend of Zelda" games using the same development mindset that had been used up to "Twilight Princess". The game's director was Hidemaro Fujibayashi: previously working as assistant director on "" for the Nintendo DS, "Skyward Sword" was his first project for home consoles. He began work on "Skyward Sword" after finishing "Phantom Hourglass", and continued working on the game alongside his work on "". When "Spirit Tracks" was finished, Fujibayashi and the game's development team transferred back to working on "Skyward Sword".


title: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

text: According to Aonuma, the team's starting point for development was the Wii version of "Twilight Princess": feeling they had not fully realized their goal of creating a vast and realistic world with "Twilight Princess", they used their previous work as a foundation for the next game. They also sought to create a memorable experience equivalent to "", by that time considered the series' most memorable game. Development lasted around five years, and according to series producer Shigeru Miyamoto, the game's budget was considered quite high for a Nintendo project. The development time was initially estimated at three years, but difficulties and changes in the game's development extended development time by a further two years: despite this, Miyamoto felt that this was not wasted development time as the first two years went into experimentation. By June 2011, the game was complete aside from fine-tuning and balancing its mechanics.


title: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

text: The script for cinematic scenes was written by Naoki Mori, who joined the project for one and a quarter years in his role: the cinematic director was Shigeki Yoshida, who was brought on at the same time as and worked on the storyboards with Mori. The initial script was proposed by Fujibayashi based on his perception of the game's structure. As the game's theme was the use of the sword, and the sword most associated with the series was the Master Sword, the team decided to make it an origin story for the weapon. An early element was whether to incorporate the creation of Hyrule, while also needing to explain the creation of Skyloft: this initial stage of story development ended up being difficult as their initial story plans were full of contradictions to established series lore due to them wanting to create an origin story for the entire series. These issues were further complicated by the third year of development with the necessity of finalizing the gameplay and environments. Feigning illness, Fujibayashi shut himself away in a hotel room and wrote the synopsis in a single day. Mori wrote the dialogue based on Fujibayashi's synopsis, who needed to work out the fine details with Fujibayashi. A scene Fujibayashi was intent on including was where Zelda jumped from the edge of Skyloft and Link caught her: this was fitted in for the two characters after the end of Link's exam. The early part of the story was quite different from earlier "Zelda" games, playing out in a similar way to a school drama. Once the script was finished, it was handed to Yoshida so his team could create the cinematics. The total number of cinematics was estimated as 79, coming to over 120 minutes.


title: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

text: The relationship between Link and Zelda was quite different from earlier incarnations, in particular the fact that Zelda was not royalty. According to Aonuma, a recurring difficulty was how contrived the necessity for Link to rescue Zelda became with each passing installment, as their contact may only have been fleeting beforehand. In response to this, the team considered how to make the player care about Zelda and want to rescue her. Having the two characters as childhood friends served this purpose and cut down on extraneous plot elements. They continued to encourage the player by having Link only just miss her on her early travels across the Surface. Mischievous elements were also added to Zelda's personality by her pushing Link over a ledge: initially intended as a rule of three-style gag, it was cut down to two during development. The figure of Hylia was a new addition to the world's lore, although her existence was linked to Zelda, with the two being essentially the same character known under different names in subsequent ages. Groose, who acted as Link's rival, was introduced to make the story more interesting within the school setting. Groose's maturation during the story was intended to help convey Link's parallel growth as a character as he was otherwise mute and static.


title: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

text: Fi was created before the implantation of Wii MotionPlus when she was going to be part of some different undefined gameplay concepts unrelated to motion control. Her design was based on the design of the Master Sword, referencing her origins as the sword's spirit. She also served as an alternate explanatory voice as Link was a silent protagonist. According to staff, Fi's technical dialogue for each area of the game was written by different people, verbal inconsistencies arose that needed addressing, so Fujibayashi adjusted them all so she sounded consistent. Nearly all of Fi's dialogue was ultimately written by Fujibayashi. Ghirahim was designed to be similar to the Dark Link character from "Ocarina of Time": he could read Link's movements, requiring players to think strategically to defeat him rather than simply swinging Link's sword around randomly. Character designs were far more detailed than in previous "Zelda" games. Clothing was frequently designed to complement backgrounds, such as Zelda's pink and red dress in the opening. The game's use of warm colors and brushstroke-like aesthetics was inspired by impressionist artwork, pioneered in the 19th century by painters such as Claude Monet: a particular element cited by Miyamoto was the sky, which he called a tribute to post-impressionist Paul Cézanne's work. The basic starting point for the art style was that it was a fantasy world. The final version was referred to as a balance between the cartoon styling of "" and "Twilight Princess", where the cartoon shading was transferred onto an older version of Link. The team settled this art style as it would properly portray the more exaggerated actions of some characters and general swordplay while preserving Link's mature appearance.


title: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

text: During development, the team faced a lot of problems when designing the game so it would be both familiar for series fans and fresh to old and new players. The pieces of gameplay experimentation meant that the development was "a more fundamental ground-up process" than earlier games such as "The Wind Waker". Their earlier games had involved lifting elements from earlier games and pasting them into a new entry, but for "Skyward Sword" the developers wanted to add a new play structure to avoid fans seeing it as more of the same. The original concept for gameplay using the Wii MotionPlus was proposed by Fujibayashi at a point when the team was already developing the gameplay around the console's standard Wii Remote and Nunchuk control scheme. When first proposed, Aonuma was highly enthusiastic, and his wish to change to Wii MotionPlus meant that work on the game needed to begin all over again. The use of Wii MotionPlus proved challenging for the developers to implement, to the point where at one point Aonuma seriously considered dropping it from the game entirely. After the release of "Wii Sports Resort", the team saw how motion controls could be used for swordplay: after talking with the development team, they were able to borrow the technology and used it to create the motion-driven swordplay. The implementation of Wii MotionPlus meant that the enemy artificial intelligence needed to be able to counter it, adjusting their stances depending on the position of Link's sword.


title: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

text: When creating Link's sword movements, the team initially wanted them to be as realistic as possible, but because it was detrimental to the character's portrayal, they had to include unrealistic movements to preserve the atmosphere. The Skyward Strike was initially born from Aonuma thinking up a possible mechanic of holding the sword above Link: these also gave rise to the game's title. Having sword fighting relying on Wii MotionPlus freed up other buttons on the controller, allowing the addition of the Dash sprinting option. So as not to interrupt the flow of gameplay, they incorporated other elements into the Dash function, such as scaling walls rather than just slamming into them. The Dowsing mechanic was created early on, based on the gameplay themes of discovery and exploration. Due to the introduction of Dowsing, the team did not have to create environmental landmarks for places and objects of importance as they had done in previous games. So players would not get lost in the terrain, they also introduced the marker beacons. Items were designed so they could be visible in any area, such as the bright blue Bombs. They were also designed based on their original location: those from Skyloft used a bird motif, while those from other Surface regions used more intricate designs. The Beetle acted as a replacement for the boomerang, as the team wanted an item that players could control. The Beetle and other pseudo-technical items gave rise to the ancient mechanical theme that appeared in the Lanayru Desert region. At Miyamoto's insistence, the more desirable items that were normally placed towards the end of a campaign were made available to players from an early stage. When designing items, the developers were faced with the usual problems of the interdependence of items and dungeons creating a chicken-and-egg scenario for the developers. The menu for Item access was also redesigned around the use of Wii MotionPlus.


title: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

text: In past "Zelda" games, the team had made numerous new fields for player exploration, but this time they limited the number of overworlds to three and expanded their content so players would be able to fully appreciate them through repeated visits. The team also created the world based on their experiences with "Twilight Princess": feeling that the overworld and dungeons were too large with puzzles too thinly dispersed, the team both sought to compact areas and have environmental puzzles in the overworld. The biggest difficulty was ensuring that players could reach areas quickly while still discovering new features and puzzles. The creation of the Skyloft overworld was due to difficulties connecting the three Surface-based overworlds due to drastically contrasting environments. The sky was initially going to be presented similar to the course selection screen from the "Super Mario" series, but this was changed to an overworld with its own quests and population so Link had a place where he could prepare for his adventures. An initial idea, when jumping down from the sky seemed unlikely to be approved, was to have a huge tower acting as a central hub, with the height at which Link jumped lengthening the duration of his free fall. Once the concept of traveling from the sky had been chosen instead, the Loftwing mounts were created so it looked and felt more rational to players. These overlapping gameplay mechanics triggered the creation of Skyloft, along with elements of the early game such as the Knight Academy. The continual movements and routines of Skyloft's people were modeled after similar time-driven mechanics from "", with similar links between character-specific side quests and the main narrative. Despite the aerial element, the mechanics necessary for free navigation meant a Loftwing racing minigame could not be implemented.


title: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

text: Each Surface overworld had a specific theme: the forest overworld revolved around landforms altering gameplay, the volcano overworld focused around changing the rules of gameplay, while the desert overworld was themed around duality between past and present. The first areas, the Sealed Grounds and Faron Woods, were created so players could be eased into the game's mechanics and navigation. While the forest areas were made to be mostly flat, the Eldin Volcano overworld was made with height differences in mind to provide a greater challenge. Elements in the volcano terrain included areas of lava and slopes where Link's sprinting ability would become necessary for reaching new areas. For the Lanayru Desert, the team created three different overworld zones due to its unique time-shifting mechanics, triggered with Time Shift stones: this shifting between different zones was inspired by similar systems in "Ocarina of Time" and "Twilight Princess". The portable Time Shift stones were one of many ideas included in the desert overworld as they did not fit with the forest or volcano environments. A difficult feature to include naturally was the remnants of Lanayru's Ancient Civilization, which used electricity to power both its technology and citizens. Enemy types that recurred in all Surface-based overworld areas were given slightly altered designs so they would be unique to each overworld. The Silent Realms were created as a new mechanic, filled with enemies that could not be defeated and relying on Link's sprinting ability rather than his weapons or items. While they had experimented with indestructible enemies in "Phantom Hourglass" and "Spirit Tracks", but this time it was changed by restricting Link's options and actions. They also created a time limit for added strategy, as knowledge of the areas where the Spirit Realms were located was key to completing them. This was also why they were set up in areas players would already be familiar with. They were originally in the form of special dungeons, but this was discarded in favor of the familiar areas.


title: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

text: The game's sound team consisted of ten people: five handling general sound design, and five handling music composition. Hajime Wakai acted as the game's sound director and lead composer, with the other composers being Shiho Fujii, Mahito Yokota, and Takeshi Hama. Longtime series composer Koji Kondo had a supervisory role, only composing a single piece by himself: the music accompanying the prologue video describing the mythical origins of Demise and Hylia. He also helped in arranging the other composer's pieces, using an electric piano and a Mac computer. Fujii was responsible for the music focused on environments, dungeons, boss battles: among her work was the music for Skyloft. She used art and environmental assets so that her compositions would fit in with their environments. A first for the "Zelda" series, the music was performed using a live orchestra rather than synthesized instruments. It was the first time Nintendo EAD had used a live orchestra. Any previous orchestral elements in "Twilight Princess", which amounted only to one track, were handled by their Tokyo division. Due to his experience, the department's musical lead Yokota was brought on to help orchestrate the score. Aonuma initially did not think of using an orchestra and was still sure the score would remain synthesized even after Wakai asked him about it. An orchestra was finally chosen after Miyamoto insisted upon it, a decision which surprised the entire team.


title: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

text: Using the orchestra enabled a greater expression of emotion, which meant that they used it when creating scores for environments, cinematic scenes, and emotional moments within the story. Conversely, the team was given less freedom to adjust tracks as they had been able to with synthesized tracks. Something new they did for "Skyward Sword" was producing unique themes for specific characters such as Link and Zelda. They also added people singing songs, another element new to the series. One notable element was the game's main theme "Ballad of the Goddess", which was a retrograde version of the recurring tune "Zelda's Lullaby". Due to the use of an orchestra and the sheer amount of extra work going into the sound design, the music team doubled in size from the standard five-person group, and became the largest sound team at the time to have worked on a Nintendo game. The positive reception of the orchestral score within the company led to the creation of " The Legend of Zelda 25th Anniversary Symphony Concert", a celebratory concert featuring orchestrated versions of classic "Zelda" themes. Music was also woven into the story and gameplay through the use of the harp Link receives, using a recurring theme within the series of music being a central part of the experience. In contrast to previous games, the instrument could be played at any time rather than at specific times and places.


title: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

text: A new "Zelda" game was first hinted at in April 2008, when Miyamoto stated that the "Zelda" development team were reforming to create new games. Miyamoto later confirmed at the 2008 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) that a new "Zelda" was in development for the Wii. The game was unveiled at E3 the following year, although its title remained unknown. Due to its in-development state, Miyamoto could not show off gameplay as he had wished. Instead, he showed promotional art featuring Link and Fi. He also announced the game's use of Wii MotionPlus, along with its planned 2010 release window. In a later interview, Aonuma's comments on the game's playability brought this release window into doubt. He also noted that his wish to focus on the new game meant that the release date of "Spirit Tracks" was shifted to the end of 2009 rather than its initial projected release in early 2010. The game's title was announced at the event, along with its revised release period in 2011 and a playable demonstration. According to Miyamoto, the game was delayed from its planned 2010 release window as the staff felt that they would be releasing an unfinished product if they put the convenience of the company ahead of creating a quality experience. They used the extra year to both finish the core elements and polish up the game as a whole.


title: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

text: Multiple promotional elements were created: a five-part online comic was written and illustrated by Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik under their "Penny Arcade Presents" series, and television commercials featuring actor and comedian Robin Williams and his daughter Zelda were made, playing on the actor's stated love for the series. "Skyward Sword" was released in all regions in November 2011. The game was released as both a standard edition and a limited deluxe edition that included a gold Wii Remote Plus. An anniversary CD was included with both editions containing orchestrated versions of various iconic musical pieces from the series. Following its release, a glitch was discovered that corrupted save files if three late-game events were taken in a certain order. Once revealed, Nintendo issued instructions on avoiding it and set up a special channel on their Wii site in Japan to gain feedback, along with offering to manually repair corrupted save files. The game was later re-released for the Wii U via the Virtual Console on September 1, 2016, as part of the series' 30th anniversary celebrations.


title: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

text: "The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD", a high-definition remaster for the Nintendo Switch, was released on July 16, 2021. A Joy-Con pair themed after the Master Sword and Hylian Shield from the game was released separately on the same date.


title: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

text: Aonuma stated in June 2016 that it might be possible to create an HD remaster of "Skyward Sword" for then-current hardware. Years prior, during the development of "The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild", Nintendo experimented with an HD version of "Skyward Sword" running on Wii U development kits when trying to settle on a graphical style for the new game. This ultimately led to the production of "", whose success encouraged the "Zelda" team to pursue other high-definition remasters. Aonuma recognized the interest in a "Skyward Sword" remaster, though a spokesperson from Nintendo would later clarify to "Eurogamer" that there were no plans to bring the game to the Nintendo Switch at that time. In August 2020, Amazon UK had listed a Nintendo Switch version of "Skyward Sword", though it was delisted soon after.


title: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

text: The remaster features high-definition graphics and now plays at 60 frames per second. The remaster features two control schemes, one of which aims to replicate the functions of the Wii Remote Plus and Nunchuck through the motion controls of the Joy-Con, while the other aims to replicate a traditional control scheme by using the right analog stick to control the previously motion-controlled sword. This secondary control method allows the game to be played in handheld mode, on a Pro Controller, and on the Nintendo Switch Lite.


title: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

text: Other quality of life features added include autosave, the ability to save to any of the three save files instead of just the original file (which also now includes giving Hero Mode its own slot upon unlocking it as a New Game Plus feature when saved into a file), many of Fi's hints now being optional, the ability to skip dialogue boxes and cutscenes, and item descriptions no longer appearing after the first encounter with an item, with the Gratitude Crystals being the lone exception. One Amiibo figure is supported, being a figure depicting Zelda and a Loftwing enabling fast travel between the sky and the surface.


title: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

text: "Skyward Sword" received critical acclaim from multiple journalistic magazines and websites upon release; it received a score of 93/100 on aggregate site Metacritic based on 81 reviews. It was the site's 10th highest scoring game of 2011, and also ranked as the 6th best-reviewed Wii game of all time. It received perfect scores from multiple publications: "Famitsu", "IGN", "Eurogamer", "Game Informer", "Edge Magazine", and "VideoGamer.com". In the case of "Famitsu", "Skyward Sword" was the third "Zelda" game and sixteenth video game in the magazine's history to be given a perfect score at that time.


title: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

text: "Famitsu" was highly positive, praising the overworld and gameplay: one reviewer felt that it would form the new standard for both the "Zelda" series and video games as a whole. "Edge" was highly positive about all aspects of the game aside from the player-driven upgrade system, and even then it was not enough to spoil the experience for the reviewer. "Nintendo Power" gave it similar praise, saying that "it's truly worthy of being called 'epic'". Ray Carsillo of "Electronic Gaming Monthly" appreciated the game's nostalgic value, but found the motion control difficult to handle and kept the game from being truly great. Jose Otero, writing for 1UP.com, praised the developers for putting effort into moving away from "Zelda" tradition and called it one of the better games in the series, but said that those detrimental elements that remained such as side quests and some item usage made "Skyward Sword" "a weird middle ground filled with genuine surprises, inessential carry-overs, and copy/paste quest structures".


title: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

text: GameSpot's Tom McShea was notably less positive than other critics, praising the storyline, dungeons, enemies and visuals while faulting the controls for being unreliable and feeling that most of the experience felt both unnecessary and overly familiar. "Destructoid"'s Jonathan Holmes called "Skyward Sword" his new favorite 3D game from the series, but noted that its exclusive use of motion controls would put off potential players. Oli Welsh of "Eurogamer" was highly positive, praising the controls, gameplay experience and additional elements such as upgrades: he gave particular praise to the game's visuals, which were impressive despite hardware limitations. "Game Informer"s Phil Kollar echoed both general praise of the gameplay and presentation, and minor issues experienced with the motion controls: he concluded by saying that Nintendo had fulfilled its initial promises for the Wii with "Skyward Sword". GamesRadar's Carolyn Gudmundson called it "perfectly balanced mix of innovation and classic Zelda gameplay" despite minor control issues.


title: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

text: GameTrailers noted that, despite its many strengths such as a believable relationship between Link and Zelda, "Skyward Sword" represented the series' "first gray hairs" due to some of its mechanics feeling dated in the modern gaming landscape. IGN's Richard George felt that the game returned "The Legend of Zelda" to being a revolutionary series in the gaming industry, praising almost every aspect of the game except for the soundtrack, which he felt did not live up to series standards despite its quality. Joystiq writer Griffin McElroy noted that a lot of the game's content seemed unnecessary and extravagant, but said that beneath this surface lay "the best "Zelda" game of all time". Steve Hogarty of "Official Nintendo Magazine" shared many points of praise with other positive journalist reviews, calling it the greatest game in the series to date. "VideoGamer.com" Chris Schilling called it one of the best "Zelda" games, praising its motion controls, narrative and treatment of series tradition.


title: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

text: Following its release, "Skyward Sword" won numerous awards. At IGN's "Best of 2011" awards, it was awarded "Best Game", "Best Graphics", "Best Sound" and "Best Story" in the Wii category. It was also given the "Reader's Choice" award in the "Best Overall Game" category: it was also among those nominated as the site's "Game of the Year". In Digital Trends' similar awards, it was named as "Best Action-Adventure" and "Best Wii Exclusive", and was nominated for the site's "Game of the Year" award. RPGamer's own "Best of 2011" awards named "Skyward Sword" "Best Console and PC Game" and awarded it for "Best Music". It also received "Game of the Year" awards from "Electronic Gaming Monthly", GameSpot, "Edge" and "Nintendo Power". It received "Excellence" and "Most Valuable Character" awards from "Famitsu", the latter being awarded for the protagonist Link. It received multiple nominations in 2012 at the Interactive Achievement Awards (now known as the D.I.C.E. Awards), Game Developers Choice Awards and the BAFTA Games Awards. At Spike, the game won awards for "Best Wii Game" and "Best Motion Game". "Skyward Sword" has since been ranked among the best games developed for the Wii.


title: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

text: Upon its Japanese debut, "Skyward Sword" sold nearly 195,000 units, reaching the top of sales charts. Sales quickly declined, dropping out of the Top 20 within a few weeks. By the end of December, it had sold less than 320,000 units: this was below equivalent sales for other recent home console and portable "Zelda" games. The game's sales were strong overall going into January 2012, with its largest sales coming from North America. Its first month sales in North America came to around 600,000 units, nearly double its Japanese sales. In the UK, "Skyward Sword" was the seventh best-selling game of November in the multiformat charts, stated as impressive given the waning popularity of the platform. It was also the region's top-selling Wii game during its week of release, supplanting the previous week's top seller "Just Dance 3". It failed to reach the top-five best-selling Wii games for that year. Its total worldwide first-week sales came to 919,119 units. According to Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime, "Skyward Sword" was the fastest-selling game in the series at that time. As of March 2012, the game has sold 3.52 million units worldwide: 360,000 of these units were sold in Japan while 3.15 million units were sold overseas.


title: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

text: Pre-orders for "Skyward Sword HD" sold out on Amazon.com and it was listed as the best-selling game on the US version of the site. It sold 159,089 physical copies within its first week on sale in Japan, making it the bestselling retail game of the week in the country.


title: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

text: While critical reception of the game was very positive overall, fan and retrospective opinions were far more mixed due to its highly traditional and linear structure. When development started on the next home console "Zelda" game, "", the developers wanted to improve on what they had achieved with "Skyward Sword" and the feedback it received from both fans and critics, along with creating a non-linear world based on player complaints about the linearity of "Skyward Sword". Aonuma and Fujibayashi both returned respectively as producer and director. Aonuma's said that his wish with "Breath of the Wild" was "to expand and make a better "Skyward Sword"".


title: Yvette Mimieux

text: Yvette Carmen Mimieux (January 8, 1942 – January 18, 2022) was an American film and television actress. Her breakout role was in "The Time Machine" (1960). She was nominated for three Golden Globe Awards during her acting career.


title: Yvette Mimieux

text: Mimieux was born in Los Angeles, California, on January 8, 1942, to René Mimieux, who was French, and Maria Montemayor, who was Mexican. Mimieux had at least two siblings, a sister, Gloria, and a brother Edouardo.


title: Yvette Mimieux

text: Her career was launched after a talent manager, Jim Byron, suggested she become an actress. Her first acting appearances were in episodes of the television shows "Yancy Derringer" and "", both in 1959, at the age of 17.


title: Yvette Mimieux

text: Mimieux appeared in George Pal's film version of H. G. Wells's 1895 novel "The Time Machine" (1960) starring Rod Taylor, in which she played the character Weena. It was made for MGM, which put her under long-term contract. However, her first film was "Platinum High School" (1960), produced by Albert Zugsmith for MGM and released two months before "The Time Machine". Her performance in "Platinum High School" earned her a 1960 Golden Globe Awards nomination for "New Star Of The Year - Actress".


title: Yvette Mimieux

text: Mimieux guest-starred in an episode of "Mr Lucky", then was one of several leads in the highly popular teen comedy "Where the Boys Are" (1960). MGM put Mimieux in the ingenue role in "Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse" (1961), an expensive flop. Arthur Freed wanted to team her and George Hamilton in a remake of "The Clock", but it was not made.


title: Yvette Mimieux

text: Mimieux had a central role in "Light in the Piazza" (1962), playing a mentally disabled girl. The film lost money but was well regarded critically. She later said: "I suppose I have a soulful quality. I was often cast as a wounded person, the 'sensitive' role."


title: Yvette Mimieux

text: Mimieux had a small part in Pal's "The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm" (1963), another commercial disappointment. Later that year, she appeared in "Diamond Head" (1963) with Charlton Heston. Mimieux went to United Artists for "Toys in the Attic", based on the play by Lillian Hellman and co-starring Geraldine Page and Dean Martin. At MGM, Mimieux guest-starred on two episodes of "Dr. Kildare" alongside Richard Chamberlain. She played a surfer suffering from epilepsy, a performance that was much acclaimed and led to a 1965 Golden Globe nomination for "Best Actress In A Television Series".


title: Yvette Mimieux

text: Mimieux made a cameo as herself in "Looking for Love" (1964) starring Connie Francis and played Richard Chamberlain's love interest in "Joy in the Morning" (1965), a melodrama.


title: Yvette Mimieux

text: Mimieux was in a Western with Max von Sydow for 20th Century Fox, "The Reward" (1965); the Disney comedy "Monkeys, Go Home!" (1967); and a heist film "The Caper of the Golden Bulls" (1967).


title: Yvette Mimieux

text: Mimieux did "The Desperate Hours" (1967) for TV and was reunited with Rod Taylor in the MGM action movie "Dark of the Sun" (1968). In 1968, she narrated a classical music concert at the Hollywood Bowl.


title: Yvette Mimieux

text: In 1969, Mimieux was top-billed in "Three in the Attic" a hit for AIP, and appeared in the critically acclaimed 1969 movie "The Picasso Summer" alongside Albert Finney. The following year, she was the female lead in "The Delta Factor" (1970), an action film.


title: Yvette Mimieux

text: Mimieux had one of the leads in "The Most Deadly Game" (1970–1971), a short-lived TV series from Aaron Spelling. She replaced Inger Stevens, who had been slated to star, but committed suicide one month before production began. For this role, Mimieux was nominated for the 1971 Golden Globe Award for Best Television Actress – Drama Series.


title: Yvette Mimieux

text: Around 1971, Mimieux had a business selling Haitian products and studied archeology; she would travel several months of each year. After making the TV movies "Death Takes a Holiday" (1971) and "Black Noon" (1971), she sued her agent for not providing her with movie work despite having taken her money.


title: Yvette Mimieux

text: Mimieux was an air hostess in MGM's "Skyjacked" (1972), starring Charlton Heston and was in the Fox science-fiction film "The Neptune Factor" (1973).


title: Yvette Mimieux

text: By the early 1970s, Mimieux was unhappy with the roles offered to actresses:"The women they [male screenwriters] write are all one dimensional. They have no complexity in their lives. It's all surface. There's nothing to play. They're either sex objects or vanilla pudding."


title: Yvette Mimieux

text: Mimieux had been writing for several years prior to this film, mostly journalism and short stories. She had the idea for a story about a Pirandello-like theme:"...the study of a woman, the difference between what she appears to be and what she is: appearance vs reality...[the more I thought about the character] the more I wanted to play her. Here was the kind of nifty, multifaceted part I'd been looking for. So instead of a short story, I wrote it as a film."


title: Yvette Mimieux

text: Mimieux wrote a thriller, which she took to producers Aaron Spelling and Leonard Goldberg, who then produced it for ABC as a television film. It aired as "Hit Lady" (1974).


title: Yvette Mimieux

text: In 1975, Mimieux starred in "The Legend of Valentino" (as Rudolph Valentino's second wife, Natacha Rambova), and in the Canadian thriller "Journey into Fear". In 1976, Mimieux made a pilot for a TV sitcom based on "Bell, Book and Candle", but it was not picked up.


title: Yvette Mimieux

text: Mimieux played a falsely imprisoned woman victimized by a sadistic guard in the film "Jackson County Jail" (1976) with Tommy Lee Jones for New World Pictures, which was a box-office hit.


title: Yvette Mimieux

text: Mimieux appeared in such horror-oriented TV movies as "Snowbeast" (1977), "" (1978), and "Disaster on the Coastliner" (1979). She also appeared in the TV movies "Ransom for Alice!" (1977) and "Outside Chance" (1978).


title: Yvette Mimieux

text: Later, she co-starred in the first PG-rated Walt Disney Productions feature, "The Black Hole" (1979). She had the lead in "Circle of Power" (1981).


title: Yvette Mimieux

text: Mimieux appeared in the TV movie "Forbidden Love" (1982) and "Night Partners" (1983) and guest-starred on "The Love Boat" and "Lime Street". She made "Obsessive Love" (1984), a television film about a female stalker which she co-wrote and co-produced:"There are few enough films going these days, and there are three or four women who are offered all the good parts. Of course I could play a lot of awful parts that are too depressing to contemplate... [Television] is not the love affair I have with film, but television can be a playground for interesting ideas. I love wild, baroque, slightly excessive theatrical ideas, and because television needs so much material, there's a chance to get some of those odd ideas done."


title: Yvette Mimieux

text: Mimieux had the lead in "Berrenger's" (1985), a short-lived TV series and had a supporting role in the TV movie "The Fifth Missile" (1986). She guest-starred in a TV movie "Perry Mason: The Case of the Desperate Deception" (1990). Her last film was "Lady Boss" (1992).


title: Yvette Mimieux

text: Mimieux was married three times but had no children. At age 17, she wed Evan Harland Engber on December 19, 1959, but kept the marriage secret for almost two years. She was married, secondly, to film director Stanley Donen from 1972 until their divorce in 1985. Her last marriage was to Howard F. Ruby, chairman emeritus and co-founder of Oakwood Worldwide.


title: Joey Barton

text: Joseph Anthony Barton (born 2 September 1982) is an English professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. He made 269 appearances in the Premier League, including 130 for Manchester City. He is currently the manager of League One side Bristol Rovers.


title: Joey Barton

text: Barton was born and raised in Huyton, Merseyside. He began his football career with Manchester City in 2002 after working his way through their youth system. His appearances in the first team gradually increased over the following five years and he made more than 150 for the club. He earned his only cap for the England national team in February 2007, despite his criticism of some of the team's players. He then joined Newcastle United for a fee of £5.8 million in July 2007. After four years with the club, he joined Queens Park Rangers in August 2011, from where he was loaned to Marseille in 2012. He returned from his loan spell the following season, and helped QPR to promotion to the Premier League via the Championship play-offs. However, QPR were relegated again, and Barton was released at the end of the season. He signed a one-year deal to play for Burnley in 2015, helping them win promotion to the Premier League, but left to join Rangers in May 2016. He was banned from football after admitting a Football Association charge relating to betting in April 2017, and upon its expiry in June 2018 commenced his managerial career with Fleetwood Town.


title: Joey Barton

text: Barton's career and life have been marked by numerous controversial incidents and disciplinary problems and he has been convicted twice of violent crimes. On 20 May 2008, he was sentenced to six months' imprisonment for common assault and affray during an incident in Liverpool City Centre. Barton served 74 days of this prison term, being released on 28 July 2008. On 1 July 2008, he was also given a four-month suspended sentence after admitting assault occasioning actual bodily harm on former teammate Ousmane Dabo during a training-ground dispute on 1 May 2007. This incident effectively ended his Manchester City career. Barton has been charged with violent conduct three times by The Football Association: for the assault on Dabo, for punching Morten Gamst Pedersen in the stomach and for attacking three players on the final day of the 2011–12 season.


title: Joey Barton

text: Born in Huyton, Merseyside, Barton is the oldest of four brothers. His parents separated when he was 14 years old and consequently he lived with his father at his grandmother's house on a different estate. He has said that his grandmother's influence helped him to avoid getting caught up in a recreational drug culture and attributes his work ethic to his father. His father, also named Joseph, worked as a roofer and played football semi-professionally for Northwich Victoria. Barton enjoyed physical education at his school, St Thomas Becket, which he represented in various sports and was a talented rugby league prospect. He left school with ten GCSEs.


title: Joey Barton

text: Barton pursued his dreams of becoming a professional footballer by joining Everton's youth system, but played for Liverpool when he was 14. He underwent trials at Nottingham Forest, but was rejected when it was decided he was too small to become a footballer. Barton said his rejection by clubs only made him more determined to succeed as a footballer and prove his detractors wrong. He made his first appearance for Manchester City's under-17s team in 1999. His first reserve-team appearance came at the end of the 2000–01 season, in his final year as a trainee. Uncertain about Barton's future prospects, the club planned to release him, but reconsidered and gave him his first professional contract in the close season. Over the next two years, he made the transition from the under-19s to regular reserve football. He was promoted to the first-team squad in the 2002–03 season.


title: Joey Barton

text: Barton would have made his debut for the City first team in November 2002 against Middlesbrough, had he not lost his shirt after leaving it on the substitutes bench at half-time. He eventually made his first-team debut for the club against Bolton Wanderers on 5 April 2003. His first senior goal came two weeks later in a 2–0 win over Tottenham Hotspur on Good Friday. He ended the 2002–03 season with a run of seven consecutive starts.


title: Joey Barton

text: After impressing in his first season at City, Barton was offered a new one-year contract at the club by manager Kevin Keegan, which he signed in April 2003. He featured in the first team more regularly during the 2003–04 season and, following a second Premiership goal, was rewarded with a call-up to the England U21 squad for their 2004 European Championship qualifiers against Macedonia and Portugal.


title: Joey Barton

text: An FA Cup match against Tottenham saw Barton receive the first red card of his career in unusual circumstances: at half-time, with his club 3–0 down, he argued with the referee and was sent off although the match was not in progress. In the second half, despite playing with 10 men, Barton's teammates achieved an unlikely 4–3 victory. Barton left the City of Manchester Stadium in anger on 17 April, after not being named in the team to play Southampton. However, he featured regularly in the 2003–04 season, which he completed with 39 appearances and one goal. His displays impressed City's supporters, and at the end of the 2003–04 season he was awarded with the club's Young Player of the Year award.


title: Joey Barton

text: Barton sparked a ten-man brawl in a friendly match against Doncaster Rovers on 25 July 2004 after "hacking" at an opposition player. Although he signed a new contract on 22 September 2004, which would keep him at City until 2007, the club considered sacking Barton in December 2004 after an incident at their Christmas party. He stubbed out a lit cigar in youth player Jamie Tandy's eye, after he had caught Tandy attempting to set fire to his shirt. Barton subsequently apologised for his actions and was fined six weeks' wages (£60,000).


title: Joey Barton

text: In May 2005, Barton broke a 35-year-old pedestrian's leg while driving his car through Liverpool city centre at 2 am. In the summer of 2005, Barton was sent home from a pre-season tournament in Thailand after assaulting a 15-year-old Everton supporter who had provoked Barton by verbally abusing him and kicking his shin. Barton had to be restrained from attacking the boy further by teammate Richard Dunne. Barton underwent anger management therapy at the order of City manager Stuart Pearce and paid £120,000 in club fines. In the autumn of 2005, Barton began a seven-day programme of behavioural management at the Sporting Chance Clinic, a charity set up to help troubled sportsmen and women.


title: Joey Barton

text: Barton handed in a written transfer request in January 2006, which the club rejected. The following day, they also rejected a verbal offer for Barton from Middlesbrough, with Stuart Pearce stating that a deal could still be made to keep him at the club. During the following week, Barton said that he had been "a little bit impetuous" in making such a request and agreed to begin negotiations on a new contract at City. He was rewarded with a new four-year deal, which he signed on 25 July, ending speculation about his future.


title: Joey Barton

text: Barton's behaviour appeared to improve after his participation at the Sporting Chance Clinic. However, on 30 September 2006, television cameras captured Barton exposing his backside to Everton fans, following City's injury-time equaliser in a match at Goodison Park. Barton had received abuse from Everton supporters throughout the match and the gesture has since been described as "light-hearted" and "inoffensive" by people involved in football. Merseyside Police looked into the incident, but announced in October that no further action would be taken, although Barton was fined £2,000 for bringing the game into disrepute and warned about his future conduct by The Football Association.


title: Joey Barton

text: In November 2006, Barton was involved in a memorable goal celebration. After scoring for Manchester City against Fulham, striker Bernardo Corradi ran to the corner flag, followed by teammate Joey Barton. Corradi proceeded to remove the corner flag and "knight" the kneeling Barton. In December 2006, Barton received the second red card of his career, for a late two-footed tackle on Bolton Wanderers player Abdoulaye Faye.


title: Joey Barton

text: Barton's agent Willie McKay said in January 2007 that if any team offered at least £5.5 million for Barton, it would trigger a release clause in his contract that would mean City would have to allow Barton to talk to the interested club. This reportedly prompted Everton manager David Moyes to make an inquiry to City about Barton's availability. The next day Barton said: "People are trying to unsettle me but I'm happy to stay here".


title: Joey Barton

text: Barton was arrested on suspicion of assault and criminal damage after an alleged argument with a taxi driver in Liverpool while going to his hotel after a match on 13 March 2007. He was cleared of this charge in May 2008.


title: Joey Barton

text: Barton displayed his outspokenness once again on 22 April 2007 when he publicly criticised City's performances during the 2006–07 season, and described some of the players the club had signed as "substandard". Following his comments, City's manager Stuart Pearce banned him from speaking to the media.


title: Joey Barton

text: Barton was fined £100,000 and suspended by City until the end of the 2006–07 season on 1 May 2007, following an incident during training when he assaulted his teammate Ousmane Dabo. Dabo said that he had been hit several times, was left unconscious and had to go to hospital after suffering injuries to his head, including a suspected detached retina. Dabo requested that the police press charges against Barton, and as a result, Barton was arrested and questioned by Greater Manchester Police. This altercation effectively ended Barton's time at City. He later cited a "relationship breakdown" with Stuart Pearce as the main reason he left the club. Barton was bailed until August and was later charged with assault, to which he initially pleaded not guilty. He later changed this to a guilty plea and on 1 July 2008 was sentenced to a four-month suspended prison sentence plus 200 hours of community service and ordered to pay £3,000 compensation and Dabo's court costs. Barton was also charged with violent conduct by the FA. Barton pleaded guilty and on 1 September 2008 was banned for six matches, with a further six-match ban suspended for two years, and fined £25,000.


title: Joey Barton

text: Following offers from Newcastle United and West Ham United, Barton joined Newcastle on 14 June 2007 for a fee of £5.8 million. The contract negotiations had become protracted after Manchester City refused to pay Barton a fee of £300,000 to which he was reported to be entitled if he left the club without submitting a request for transfer. Newcastle United consequently raised their initial offer of £5.5 million to £5.8, in effect compensating Manchester City for the £300,000 discrepancy. He said that his desire to win trophies helped him to make the decision, along with his admiration for manager Sam Allardyce. Barton made his Newcastle debut in a friendly against Hartlepool United on 17 July 2007. Four days later, he was ruled out for six to seven weeks after fracturing the fifth metatarsal bone in his left foot during a friendly match with Carlisle United. He was ruled out for a further month in October 2007.


title: Joey Barton

text: Barton eventually made his Premier League debut for Newcastle on 22 October 2007, coming on as a second-half substitute in a 3–1 win over Tottenham. During his first Tyne–Wear derby for Newcastle against Sunderland, Barton appeared to raise his foot dangerously in a challenge with Sunderland's Dickson Etuhu, leading to the "News of the World" running with the headline "Ban Him". The FA were unable to charge Barton for the incident because match official Martin Atkinson had seen the act take place in the match, and had taken no action. FIFA regulations dictate that a retrospective charge for violent conduct can be made only if the match official did not notice the incident. Barton later apologised for the tackle. Early in December, he called for Newcastle fans to give the team more time after their abuse of manager Sam Allardyce, calling them "vicious". He later played this down, saying his comments had been misrepresented.


title: Joey Barton

text: On 27 December 2007, Barton was arrested on suspicion of assault in the Church Street area of Liverpool city centre following an incident which took place at 5:30 am. He was remanded in custody on 28 December since the offence was committed whilst he was on bail for two prior offences; the presiding magistrate said: "I also have to consider the safety of the public – you lashed out indiscriminately". CCTV showed Barton punching a man twenty times, causing him to lose consciousness, and attacking a teenager, breaking some of his teeth. On 20 May 2008, he was sentenced to six months in jail after pleading guilty for his part in the December 2007 assault. Barton's cousin, Nadine Wilson, and his brother Andrew Barton also pleaded guilty to their part in the assaults and received suspended sentences. Barton admitted to being an alcoholic and claimed he wanted to achieve "total abstinence" in order to improve his behaviour. He served 74 days of his prison term, being released on 28 July 2008.


title: Joey Barton

text: Barton's subsequent conviction, a four-month suspended sentence for the earlier assault on Ousmane Dabo at Manchester City, was handed out while serving this sentence. He returned to playing action on 30 August 2008, six days before his FA hearing, as a second-half substitute during Newcastle's 3–0 defeat to Arsenal. He came on to a chorus of boos from the Arsenal supporters. Shortly into this return match, Barton was involved in an incident with Samir Nasri, putting in a strong tackle, for which the referee did not give a foul. The tackle, though hard, was legal. Minutes later, Nasri deliberately clipped Barton while tracking back, for which he was booked. At the end of the match, Newcastle manager Kevin Keegan was involved in an altercation with Nasri and Arsenal captain William Gallas, in regards to the incident.


title: Joey Barton

text: It was a brief stint back in the playing squad, with Barton banned for six matches, with a further suspended six-match ban, for his assault on Dabo. After serving his ban, he played 75 minutes in a reserve match and said he wanted to transform his image to become a role model, before he returned to action in the Tyne–Wear derby on 25 October. He was booed by Sunderland fans and had missiles thrown at him as he warmed up, as Newcastle lost 2–1. Without him, Newcastle had not recorded a league victory since the second match of the season, but Barton scored a penalty in his second match back to lift the club out of the relegation zone. The suspended six-match ban was nearly brought into action when Barton appeared to flick Aston Villa striker Gabriel Agbonlahor in the club's next match, but the FA decided not to punish Barton. However, further allegations that Barton had made a racist remark to Agbonlahor were cause enough for the FA to reconsider this decision. The remarks remain unfounded and 'professional lip-readers' claimed he said nothing racist. In Newcastle's 2–2 draw with Wigan on 15 November 2008, Barton was injured after a tackle from Lee Cattermole. It was later confirmed that Barton would be out for two months with a medial ligament injury. Returning to the first team at the end of January, he played only twice before again breaking his metatarsal, during a 2–1 defeat to his old club Manchester City.


title: Joey Barton

text: In his first appearance in over three months on 3 May 2009, Barton was sent off late in a 3–0 loss to Liverpool at Anfield for a sliding challenge on Xabi Alonso. The red card ruled Barton out of Newcastle's remaining three matches of the season, with the club in danger of relegation from the Premier League. Newcastle manager Alan Shearer raised doubts about Barton's future at the club, saying: "I think it would be wrong to discuss his future now, but I'm not very happy." On 5 May, Newcastle United announced the suspension of Barton indefinitely, and Barton was told to stay away from the club. As a result, Barton's future at Newcastle United was put in doubt. The club suspension was widely reportedly to have resulted not directly from the red card, but from a dressing room confrontation with Shearer and assistant manager Iain Dowie following the match. Shearer said he made a mistake putting Barton back into the team, and that his tackle was "a coward's tackle", to which Barton replied that he was "the best player at the club", and Shearer had to play him. Shearer said that Barton was not, and that he was "shit". Barton replied that Shearer was "a shit manager with shit tactics". When Dowie intervened, Barton called him "a prick". Barton was reportedly transfer listed.


title: Joey Barton

text: Barton stayed on with Newcastle United after they were relegated to the Championship, playing six out of Newcastle's opening eight league matches, but suffered an injury to his foot in a 3–1 win against Plymouth Argyle on 19 September. He returned in April for Newcastle, playing all nine of Newcastle's remaining league fixtures and scoring his only goal of the campaign from a free kick in a win over Peterborough United.


title: Joey Barton

text: Barton started his new club season 2010–11 as a first-team regular, playing against Manchester United on the opening day. On 10 November, in a 2–1 defeat to Blackburn, Barton again acted violently, punching Morten Gamst Pedersen in the chest. He was not punished during the match as the officials did not see the incident, but after reviewing the evidence, the FA again charged Barton with violent conduct. Barton apologised, accepted the charge, and was banned for three matches. Barton courted controversy once again during Newcastle's 3–1 win over Liverpool on 11 December 2010, when he appeared to direct homophobic remarks and a lewd gesture at Fernando Torres. Barton scored two penalties against Arsenal on 5 February 2011 as Newcastle came from a 4–0 deficit to draw 4–4. He was involved in an altercation with Abou Diaby, which led to a straight red card for Diaby. Diaby took offence to Barton's strong challenge and retaliated by grabbing Barton by the neck and shoving him to the ground.


title: Joey Barton

text: On 25 May 2011, Barton's agent Willie McKay confirmed that his client would not be signing a new contract at St James' Park after contract talks broke down between the club and player. Barton was officially transfer listed by Newcastle on 1 August 2011, and it was also stated that he could leave for free with his current contract yet to expire. Barton was set to leave Newcastle following his teammate Kevin Nolan, who had earlier joined West Ham United, but Barton insisted on not moving. Joey Barton also criticised the Newcastle board after it was decided he could leave the club on a free transfer. With Newcastle continuing to decline the offer of a new contract, after he refused an earlier offer, on 24 August 2011, Barton was given permission to talk to QPR. Thanking the Newcastle fans, he left on 26 August 2011.


title: Joey Barton

text: A week before his signing with QPR, Barton was involved in an altercation with Gervinho of Arsenal, which resulted in Gervinho being sent off on his debut. Then, Alex Song stamped on Barton, for which Song received a three-match ban. Barton later said he was on the verge of joining Arsenal but his incident with Gervinho ended his hopes of a move to the Emirates, and instead he joined Queens Park Rangers.


title: Joey Barton

text: On 26 August 2011, Barton moved to Queens Park Rangers, signing a four-year contract on a free transfer. He was handed the captain's armband by manager Neil Warnock on his debut with the club, which was a 0–0 draw with former club Newcastle. On 17 September, he scored his first goal for QPR during a 3–0 win against Wolverhampton Wanderers. Following his goal, Barton was involved in a physical confrontation with Wolves player Karl Henry. Henry and Barton had a previous physical confrontation in August 2010 when Barton was still at Newcastle. Barton accused Henry of "trying to hurt people". Henry responded by calling Barton's behaviour "embarrassing".


title: Joey Barton

text: On 2 January 2012, Barton scored the opening goal in QPR's match against Norwich City, his second for the club. He was later given a straight red card after head-butting Norwich midfielder Bradley Johnson. With QPR down to ten men they went on to lose the match 2–1. When Warnock was replaced as manager by Mark Hughes in January 2012, Hughes confirmed that Barton would remain captain. Barton's performance in QPR's 3–2 home victory against Liverpool saw him booed by QPR fans, who promptly cheered when he was substituted just after the hour mark. Barton admitted that his performance was "awful" and the "worst I've ever played in my career" but also criticised the QPR fans for not sticking with the team in their battle against relegation. After being dropped for the club's next match, an away defeat to Sunderland, he returned to the line-up for the home match against Arsenal. Barton's third goal for the club came in a 3–0 victory at home to Swansea on 11 April 2011.


title: Joey Barton

text: On 13 May, on the final day of the season, with QPR requiring at least a draw in their match away at Manchester City or for Bolton Wanderers to not win in order to guarantee Premier League safety, Barton was sent off in the 55th minute for violent misconduct after elbowing Carlos Tevez in the face. Immediately after being shown a red card, he kicked Sergio Agüero in the back of the knee and attempted to head-butt Vincent Kompany. Barton had to be dragged from the pitch by former teammate Micah Richards as he rowed with Manchester City players and staff and attempted to square-off with striker Mario Balotelli. QPR went on to concede two late goals and lose the match 3–2, but avoided relegation due to Bolton's draw at Stoke City. Barton commented after the match saying that he was trying to "take [one] of their players with me." The FA responded by issuing two charges of violent conduct against him, for the kick and the attempted head-butt, the initial foul already carrying with it a charge of violent conduct. Barton accepted the charge for kicking Agüero but denied the charge for attempting to head-butt Kompany. QPR also began an internal investigation into his behaviour, amid speculation that he would be stripped of the captaincy, fined and possibly either sold, released on a free transfer or have his contract terminated for gross misconduct.


title: Joey Barton

text: On 23 May, Barton attended an FA hearing. Punishing him for all three counts of violent conduct, Barton was handed a twelve-match ban and fined £75,000. On 25 June, QPR announced the results of their internal investigation. Barton was stripped of the captaincy and fined six weeks' wages, believed to have been around £500,000. Barton was also removed from the club's pre-season tour of Asia, and in a statement the club said that they had "also reached agreement with Barton that if he seriously breaches the club's disciplinary procedures again, the club reserves the right to terminate his contract". Barton responded by saying that "My behaviour was wrong and I accept the punishment that has been imposed upon me as a result."


title: Joey Barton

text: On 31 July 2012, Barton played 45 minutes of a friendly match for League Two team Fleetwood Town in the club's 4–0 win over Kilmarnock. He had been training with Fleetwood after being left out of Queens Park Rangers' tour of Malaysia. Fleetwood attempted to sign Barton on a six-month loan, but the deal was turned down by QPR.


title: Joey Barton

text: Ahead of the 2012–13 Premier League season, Barton was not given a squad number by QPR. Towards the end of the season, chairman Tony Fernandes identified the loss of Barton as a factor in the club's poor performance and relegation from the Premier League, saying: "We missed Joey. We needed a workhorse midfielder and we tried to get Scott Parker. We missed a real leader."


title: Joey Barton

text: Barton completed a season-long loan move to Marseille on 31 August 2012. In September, the LFP confirmed that Barton's twelve-match ban would be upheld in French football, restricting Barton to UEFA Europa League football for the first four months of the season. On 20 September, Barton made his debut for the club in an away trip to Fenerbahçe in a UEFA Europa League tie, a match that ended 2–2. Barton scored his first goal for Marseille on 8 November in the 2–2 draw with Borussia Mönchengladbach in Germany, netting directly from a corner kick in the 54th minute.


title: Joey Barton

text: Barton told ESPN that he would not return to Queens Park Rangers after the loan spell, and he also said that he only joined the club for money because his partner was expecting a child. Following the comments, on 25 November 2012, he made his league debut in a 1–0 home win against Lille. In his third league appearance on 2 December, Barton provided the assists for both Souleymane Diawara's and André Ayew's goals as Marseille defeated Brest 2–1 to remain two points behind leaders Lyon.


title: Joey Barton

text: On 6 May 2013, Barton was given a two-match suspended ban for describing Thiago Silva of Paris Saint-Germain as looking like an "overweight ladyboy" on Twitter. Laurent Davenas, the President of the French Football Federation's National Council of Ethics said that Barton was punished only for making "inappropriate" remarks, and escaped a more severe punishment because his lawyers proved his lack of homophobic intent by showing the committee Barton's appearance in the BBC Three documentary on homophobia in football.


title: Joey Barton

text: Barton returned to QPR for the 2013–14 Championship season. During a match at Burnley in October, a plastic bottle thrown from the stands hit Barton on the head. He was sent off in QPR's 1–0 home defeat to Leicester City on 21 December 2013, receiving two yellow cards in quick succession for fouling and then throwing the ball in dissent at Gary Taylor-Fletcher. He started for QPR as they beat Derby County 1–0 in the 2014 Championship play-off Final at Wembley Stadium on 24 May, a result that saw the club promoted back to the Premier League at the first attempt.


title: Joey Barton

text: On 21 February 2015, Barton received the ninth red card of his career in the 32nd minute of a match against Hull City after swinging at Tom Huddlestone's groin following a foul by Darnell Furlong. Chris Ramsey suggested that Barton, who would miss the club's next three home matches as a result, would return to anger management therapy following the incident. In May 2015, Queens Park Rangers announced the release of Barton in the summer of 2015.


title: Joey Barton

text: On 10 August 2015, following his release from Queens Park Rangers, West Ham United were reportedly confident of signing Barton. Two days later, their co-chairman David Gold confirmed that the deal was off after reported protests from some fans unhappy at the prospect of Barton turning out for the Hammers.


title: Joey Barton

text: On 27 August 2015, Barton joined Championship club Burnley on a one-year contract. He was named in the Championship PFA Team of the Year for the 2015–16 season.


title: Joey Barton

text: On 24 May 2016, Barton joined Scottish Premiership club Rangers on a two-year contract. He made his first appearance for the club as a substitute in Rangers' 2–0 victory over Annan Athletic in the Scottish League Cup on 19 July. In September 2016, Barton was suspended by Rangers for three weeks following a training ground argument with Andy Halliday. On 10 November 2016, Barton had his contract at Rangers terminated with immediate effect.


title: Joey Barton

text: On 2 January 2017, despite the threat of an FA ban, Barton re-joined Burnley; he made his second debut for the club in a goalless draw with Sunderland in the FA Cup third round. Barton made his league return on 14 January, coming on as a substitute in the 73rd minute and scoring the only goal in a 1–0 win over Southampton five minutes later. On 26 April Barton was banned from football for 18 months after admitting a Football Association charge in relation to betting.


title: Joey Barton

text: Barton represented the England under-21 team and was part of the squad for their 2004 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifiers against Macedonia and Portugal, scoring once against Portugal.


title: Joey Barton

text: Following impressive form at club level, Barton received his first call-up to the full England squad on 2 February 2007 for a friendly match against Spain, despite his recent criticism of certain members of the England squad for releasing autobiographies after an unimpressive 2006 FIFA World Cup. He had suggested such players had "cashed in" on the national team's lack of success.


title: Joey Barton

text: Barton later received support over his comments and Steven Gerrard, one of the players whom Barton had criticised, praised him for his honesty. However, Frank Lampard, who had also released an autobiography following the tournament, publicly stated his disapproval. Barton made his international debut on 7 February 2007, replacing Lampard in the 78th minute of the 1–0 defeat to Spain at Old Trafford.


title: Joey Barton

text: Early in his career, Barton mainly played a defensive role, with a game based on tackling and tracking back to shield the defence. As his career has progressed, he has begun to incorporate a more attacking approach to his play, which has resulted in a greater number of goals and assists, and his six goals from midfield made him Manchester City's leading scorer in the 2006–07 season, ahead of strikers Georgios Samaras, Bernardo Corradi, Émile Mpenza and Darius Vassell.


title: Joey Barton

text: Barton has been described as having a good work ethic and the ability to carry the ball and retain possession for the team. He has been praised for having a good passing range. This aspect of his game has shown improvement since the 2005–06 season, when he began to favour simpler passes over more ambitious ones, and his relatively high pass completion rate can be attributed to this change. Barton's passes have often proved to be crucial; in the past he has led the way in his team's assists.


title: Joey Barton

text: Barton has been described as the dirtiest player in the Premier League, a style reflected in the high number of fouls he has committed during his career. He received 39 bookings and three red cards during his time at Manchester City. This physical approach was occasionally criticised by Kevin Keegan as excessive.


title: Joey Barton

text: League One club Fleetwood Town announced in April 2018 that Barton would take over as manager on 2 June, after the expiration of his ban. He retired from playing upon taking over. His managerial career started with a 1–0 home defeat by AFC Wimbledon on 4 August 2018.


title: Joey Barton

text: On 13 April 2019, following a 4–2 away defeat to Barnsley, South Yorkshire Police launched an investigation after Barton allegedly assaulted opposition manager Daniel Stendel in the tunnel. In July 2019, Barton was charged with causing actual bodily harm and bailed until 9 October 2019. He pleaded not guilty. Two days later he won the Manager of the Month award. On 6 November 2019, Barton appeared at Sheffield Crown Court, pleading not guilty to a charge of assault occasioning actual bodily harm. A provisional trial date was set for 1 June 2020. On 4 January 2021, the club announced that Barton had left the club with immediate effect. He left the club with the side 10th in League One. On 6 December 2021, Barton was cleared of assaulting Stendel.


title: Joey Barton

text: On 22 February 2021, Barton was appointed manager of Bristol Rovers with the club in a relegation battle, sitting just two points outside of the relegation zone. His first match was a relegation "six-pointer" against Wigan Athletic that saw Rovers fall to a 2–1 defeat in the final minute of second-half stoppage time. Barton was unable to reverse his side's slip down the table and on 24 April, they were officially relegated following a 1–0 defeat at Portsmouth that saw the club sitting bottom of the league, nine points off of safety with just two matches remaining. Relegation had been all but confirmed the previous match, with Barton coming out in the press to again publicly criticise his players, as well as the two managers before him, saying that his team were going down 'with a whimper'.


title: Joey Barton

text: On 2 October 2021, Barton's Rovers side suffered a 3–1 home defeat to Ben Garner's managed Swindon Town side. This came after Barton had repeatedly criticised his predecessor, calling him "negligent" before repeating to have a number of digs at his opposing manager in the pre-match press conference, saying that he was willing to "spare 15-20 minutes for him after the game" to discuss the finer points of management. Later in October 2021, Barton was criticised by several anti-Semitism campaigners when he compared his team’s poor performance in a 3-1 defeat to Newport County to a holocaust. In a post-match interview, Barton had said, "Someone gets in for a game, does well but then has a Holocaust, a nightmare, an absolute disaster". Barton apologised for his comments the following week. After picking up ten points from four matches across the month, Barton was nominated for the EFL League Two Manager of the Month award for January 2022, ultimately missing out to Rob Edwards of Forest Green Rovers. Impressive form in 2022 saw Rovers rise up the table and following a 1–0 home victory over Colchester United on 15 March, Rovers found themselves in the play-off positions for the first time in the season. Barton was named League Two Manager of the Month for March 2022 at the second time of asking after leading his side to five wins from seven matches whilst conceding just three goals and pushing for a promotion place. The season finished in dramatic fashion with a 7–0 thrashing on the final day over Scunthorpe United giving Rovers the five goal swing that they required in order to overtake Northampton Town and move into third place, sealing promotion on goals scored.<ref name="21/22 promotion"> </ref>


title: Joey Barton

text: On 1 July 2022, Barton signed a new three-year contract extension to keep him at the club until 2026.


title: Joey Barton

text: Barton's brother Michael Barton was sentenced to life imprisonment (with a tariff of 17 years) for his involvement in the racially motivated murder of Anthony Walker in 2005. Joey made a public appeal to his brother to come forward and help with the police investigation following the attack, and also made a series of calls to Michael, enquiring about his involvement in the incident.


title: Joey Barton

text: On 28 December 2011, Barton became a father. His partner Georgia McNeil gave birth to a son, named Cassius. On 6 June 2014, McNeil gave birth to the couple's second child, a daughter named Pietà.


title: Joey Barton

text: He is a friend of the boxer Ricky Hatton and has supported him in some of his fights, and has trained with him. He is also a friend of former Oasis band member Noel Gallagher. Barton co-owns a race horse called 'Crying Lightning' (named after the Arctic Monkeys song) with fellow footballer Claudio Pizarro. He is also known for his love of Manchester band The Smiths, citing Morrissey as an idol of his. Barton appears in the music video for Morrissey's "Spent the Day in Bed."


title: Joey Barton

text: Barton is a patron of the Tamsin Gulvin Fund, a charity set up to support people who have addiction problems and no financial support. Tony Adams, who had been impressed with Barton's attitude during his involvement in the Sporting Chance Clinic, appointed him to this role. He is a part of the 'Get Hooked on Fishing' campaign, designed to keep children out of trouble by encouraging them to take up fishing. He has also taken part in a celebrity cricket match for charity to help fund a new children's rehabilitation unit at a hospital in Manchester. In 2011, he began writing a regular column in "The Big Issue", a street newspaper sold by the homeless and vulnerably housed. In 2012, Barton, along with Robbie Elliott, a former Newcastle United fullback, sponsored a shirt each from Newcastle United's women's team. Barton sponsored the number seven shirt, the number he wore in the men's side.


title: Joey Barton

text: Barton is a prominent user of Twitter, with over 2.9 million followers as of December 2021. Commenting on figures from Friedrich Nietzsche and George Orwell to Isambard Kingdom Brunel and Morrissey, his eclectic tweets have resulted in him being described by the BBC as "a philosophical sportsman to rival Eric Cantona in his heyday". Others in the media have criticised this description, with Paul Hayward, chief sports writer for "The Daily Telegraph", writing that Barton "manages to be patronised [by the media] and held up as some kind of exemplar all at once ... he is skilled at tricking us into watching him veer between the extremes of thinker and thug. Either this is a repudiation of societal hypocrisy or, more likely, indicative of a sociopathic tendency." Ellie Mae O'Hagan of "The Guardian" commented that "the problem, I think, is not the belief that Barton is a reformed character, but the notion that one cannot possibly be a philosopher and violent at the same time: that quoting philosophy should automatically be taken as a sign of reformation ... In my mind, this all boils down to class snobbery. It is automatically assumed that Barton has violent tendencies because he's a working-class man who has chosen to play football for a living. So when he shows signs of intelligence, it's treated as a sign of reform: intellect is the preserve of the gentlemanly middle-classes."


title: Joey Barton

text: On 29 May 2014, Barton appeared on the BBC's "Question Time" discussion programme where, referring to the UK Independence Party (UKIP), he said "If I'm somewhere and there was four really ugly girls, I'm thinking she's not the worst – that's all UKIP are". Barton's comments were criticised as sexist by an audience member, prompting him to apologise on air.


title: Joey Barton

text: In a television programme broadcast on BBC Three on 30 January 2012, Barton stated his beliefs in support of gay rights, in discussion with presenter Amal Fashanu, niece of Justin Fashanu, England's only openly gay footballer. He described lack of any openly gay players in English professional football as "a subject that's quite close to my heart", as his uncle is gay. He stated his belief that there would be an openly gay player "within the next 10 years" and expressed his fear that "certain managers ... will discriminate against people" but that he feels "more fool them, and their lack of social awareness and intelligence" and wants his generation's legacy to "help not only change the game for the better, and change the teams that they played in, but also change the culture and change the society and the football clubs that they played at.


title: Joey Barton

text: In an article written in "The Independent" in February 2015, Barton stated that: "If I were Prime Minister I would privatise religion. All public money would be withdrawn from religion. Taxpayers' money will cease to sponsor religion in any and every form." He said that the Church of England should be disestablished. In April of that year, he was appointed an honorary associate of the National Secular Society. A republican, Barton favours abolition of the British monarchy.


title: Joey Barton

text: In October 2016, Barton was charged with breaking rules relating to gambling on football matches. He was accused by the Scottish Football Association of placing 44 bets on matches between 1 July and 15 September 2016. In November 2016, he received a one match ban from the Scottish Football Association for breaking the rules on gambling on football matches. In December 2016, he was charged with misconduct, with the Football Association claiming he had placed 1,260 bets over the past 10 years.


title: Joey Barton

text: On 26 April 2017, Barton received an 18-month ban from football after admitting a Football Association charge in relation to betting.