Premier League: Burnley release midfielder Joey Barton following 18-month betting ban

London: Premier League’s Burnley have released controversial midfielder Joey Barton, who was banned for 18 months for betting. The 34-year-old – banned in April over a Football Association charge relating to 1,260 bets he placed on matches between 2006 and 2016 – was re-signed by Burnley in January after an acrimonious and premature departure from Scottish side Rangers. [caption id=“attachment_3406692” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of Joey Barton. Getty Images[/caption] Burnley had signed Barton for a second time – after an impressive year with them in the 2015/16 campaign that saw them promoted to the Premier League – even though he had the betting charge hanging over him. “Joey leaves us for the obvious reasons after he has again been a big part of what we have achieved this season,” said Burnley manager Sean Dyche, whose side finished 16th in the table, six points clear of the relegation places. Barton, whose former clubs include Manchester City, Newcastle United and Marseille, has had a chequered career. In May 2008 he was jailed for six months over a late-night attack on a man and a teenage boy in the centre of his home city of Liverpool. In July that year he was given a four-month suspended jail term for attacking his Manchester City team-mate Ousmane Dabo in training.