Newcastle Utd v West Brom: JOEY BARTON boasts a strange knack of attracting supporters' opprobrium and managers' plaudits in almost equal measure.
It has not taken long for Joe Kinnear to fall under the troubled Newcastle United midfielder's peculiar spell, and yesterday Barton's latest boss was not about to criticise the man dubbed "football's baddest lad" for brazenly kissing the club badge on his tracksuit while warming up at Sunderland on Saturday.
Granted, Barton, newly free to play again after his release from prison and subsequent Football Association ban, had just been showered with missiles and spittle, but that provocative response suggested that turning teetotal might not have cured his behavioural problems entirely.
Kinnear, though, seemed unfazed. "I'm not worried, I don't see what he did wrong," he insisted.
"Ninety per cent of footballers kiss their badges at some time. I will probably say to Joey that he can kiss the badge again if he scores a hat-trick."
Barton will have that chance tonight when he is scheduled to replace the injured Nicky Butt in Kinnear's midfield against West Bromwich Albion at St James' Park. It is a match deemed "must win" by the interim manager in the wake of the defeat at Sunderland that left Newcastle mired in relegation waters. Barton, making his first start for six months, could prove a key figure.
Regardless of Barton's assaults on a man in Liverpool city centre last Christmas and his former Manchester City team-mate, Ousmane Dabo, the previous spring, Kinnear merely sees him as a footballer capable of saving the Tyneside club's season.
"I'm not saying what he did was right and Joey would be the first to admit that, but, judging him on football, Joey's decent. He adds something different to us," he said.
"He's got two good feet, he's a good finisher and is one of the best passers of the ball at the club. Joey sees the pass early and delivers. He likes to get forward and play quick football in and around the penalty area."
Kinnear managed his share of rough diamonds, not to mention the odd rogue, at Wimbledon, and identifies with Barton. "I had similar players at Wimbledon," he said. "These types are characters. Joey's very popular in and around our squad - but then he would be, the way he rabbits on."
Barton has received private counselling from his new manager in the art of turning criticism into a form of positive energy.
"I've said to Joey that I know what you are going through," revealed Kinnear. "I've been through it a hundred times myself with opposition fans because of the stick that went with Wimbledon and the Crazy Gang and the stigma that went with Vinny Jones and John Fashanu and the like.
"We lived with it and decided to create a siege mentality and were very successful at doing that."
Whatever about Barton, there is a growing fear on Tyneside that Championship football beckons. Kinnear is having none of it.
"Relegation is unthinkable," he declared. "West Brom is a massive game for us but mid-table is still attainable. Things can turn round quickly. Reach 10th spot and people will be asking if we can win something."
